Lack of maintenance, a safety risk on a state road

Ian McCartney, Roselea Station, Marlborough, said his wife, Steph, drove along the road for about 50 km from their property four times a day to take their two oldest boys, Hank and Ted, to school in Duaringa. Also in the vehicle most times is their youngest lad, Chuck.

Mr McCartney said it was a worry that his family had to drive that road so often in the current condition.

"Steph's had a couple of incidents where she's had flat tyres...when the road is bad, we just drive to the conditions which extends our trip time from 40 minutes to more than one hour," he said.

Mr McCartney agreed other drivers, however, did not necessarily drive to the conditions of the road and if they were not familiar with the road it could be quite hazardous for not only themselves, but others.

He said he had lost count of how many new tyres that had been ruined through ruptures from rocks on the road.

A few years ago, Mr McCartney's sister had a rollover accident because of corrugations in the road, south of the Mackenzie River, and he fears others could suffer the same fate.

Mr McCartney said he would like to see a bit of consistency with the road maintenance.

"Bitumen would be great, but we don't know if that's realistic or not. There was a promise at one stage to bitumen to the (Mackenzie) river or the new bridge," he said.

"It's fairly demanding on man and vehicle when you're doing that trip every day, twice a day, and it takes a big portion out of your day as well."

The post master in Marlborough, Peter Campbell, who delivers mail in the area, said the road had recently been upgraded at the northern end.

Mr Campbell said he drove along the Duaringa-Apis Creek Rd for about 70 km, twice a week.

But he said up until the upgrade was done about three months ago the road was in a terrible state.

"There were severe wash outs from towards the end of last year when they'd had some rain and a little bit of minor flooding, and heaps of big rocks and gravel in the unsealed road," he said.

"It was really bad, I was getting a flat tyre there...early this year, at least once a week, a blowout, but since they've upgraded it, it's been great...it's been good for the last month or two."

A Transport and Main Roads spokesperson said the Duaringa-Apis Creek Road was a mostly unsealed state-controlled road, with low traffic volumes, catering for a minimum of 21 and maximum of 115 vehicles per day of which 35 per cent are heavy vehicles.

In the current financial year, the spokesperson said TMR had undertaken about $935,000 in maintenance activities along Duaringa-Apis Creek Road, within the Central Highlands Regional Council and Woorabinda Aboriginal Shire Council and Livingstone Shire Council areas.

"TMR is currently programming maintenance work to reinstate/repair damaged culverts/grids and provide guideposts to sections of Duaringa-Apis Creek Road to provide a safer environment for all road users. This work is expected to be undertaken in the next six months," the spokesperson said.

"Funding is not currently available to seal Duaringa-Apis Creek Road. Funding for upgrades will continue to be allocated in accordance with state-wide priorities.

"TMR does not do the maintenance work on the road, but contracts the work out to the two councils whose areas the road crosses - Central Highlands Regional Council at the southern end, and Livingstone Shire Council on the northern side."

Central Highlands Regional Council declined to comment on the road's maintenance schedule while Livingstone's Cr Glenda Mather said one of the problems for Livingstone was that it did not have a road gang in the north.

Cr Mather acknowledged the state of the Duaringa-Apis Creek road, prior to recent works, was very dangerous.

Mr McCartney, 36, who has lived along the road all his life, said more regular maintenance was done on the road prior to amalgamation.

The 104 km mostly dirt road is an access road from the south through to Mackay, and is a shortcut for heavy transport such as road trains wanting to bypass Rockhampton.

Mr McCartney said Livingstone council did not accept an invitation to attend a meeting last year with a lot of landholders to discuss the state of the road.

He said he had spoken contractors who had the job to maintain the road and they could not deny it needed a lot more maintenance work.

"But they say they're working to the funding that's given to them so most of the time it's just scratching dirt out of the gutters and running a roller over it and seeing how long it lasts," he said.