A $20 million upgrade of Chambers Flat Road will raise Norris Creek Bridge near Greenvale Street intersection by a massive eight metres in an exercise designed to make the crossing near floodproof.
The upgrade extends from Mount Lindesay Highway at Munruben to just past Kings Way at Chambers Flat.
Logan City Council roads and water chair Phil Pidgeon said it was a massive project but more works would be needed.
“Chambers Flat Road needs to be upgraded its entire length from the highway through to Kenny Road and the dairy farm Pleasant View,” he said.
“Due to the cost involved, it has to be done in stages and the most critical section has to be done first.”
Cr Pidgeon said the lift would keep the bridge out of most floodwaters that closed it for days at a stretch, though in extreme cases it could still go under.
“This upgrade … will make the road safer and reduce the number of times the road has to be closed due to flooding,” he said.
Cr Pidgeon said the project would also:
- widen existing traffic lanes to 3.5 metres
- build new 3m wide bitumen shoulders to improve property entries
- re-align some intersections, including Kings Way, improving safety and turning lanes
- smooth out some bends
- build new drains
Detailed designs will be complete by year’s end. Community sessions will be staged in coming months. The build will start mid 2019 pending final approvals.
Cr Pidgeon said there would be resumptions to widen the road but could not yet say how many. He said letters notifying residents of the project had been sent to 200 addresses but not all would be effected.
He said the upgrade was good news for residents of Chambers Flat, Munruben and Munruben Forest.
“While this work is going forward I am pushing the council to upgrade Chambers Flat Road from Kings Way through to the dairy farm as a next stage,” he said.
Cr Pidgeon said long term city planning showed Chambers Flat Road would eventually be four-laned from Park Ridge through to the farm and continue to Waterford Tamborine Road.
The section of Chambers Flat Road from farm to Mount Lindesay Highway would remain two lanes, he said.
