Wednesday 20 April 2011

Captain Cook gets $3.4m upgrade

: $3.4 million will be spent on improving the safety of the Captain Cook Highway. Photo by wettropics.gov.au.

The notorious stretch of the Captain Cook Highway between Palm Cove and Craiglie is set for a multi-million upgrade.

Cook MP Jason O'Brien has welcomed the start of preliminary works on the $3.4 million project.

"Safety improvements are being made to 26 kilometres of winding coastal road, a section where there is very little room for driver error," he said.

"This is very important work, and I ask motorists to be patient while it is completed. There will inevitably be some disruption to traffic, but Main Roads is keeping it to a minimum."

The work will include some special measures to increase safety for motorcyclists.

More than two kilometres of new and upgraded guardrail will be installed at 18 priority locations on the road and more than 200 metres of "rub rail" installed at selected locations.

Improvements will include maximising traffic lane widths, and installing high visibility reflective pavement markers to help improve visibility at night and during rain or fog.

Additional high visibility warning signs will also be installed at various key locations.

Mr O'Brien said the safety works were being funded by the Bligh Labor Government's $66 million Safer Roads Sooner program.

"Preliminary work has already started and is expected to be completed by the end of June, weather permitting," he said.

"Works will be carried out during the day and night, to minimise disruption to motorists.

"Traffic will be reduced to one-lane through the work sites, with manual traffic control in place to minimise waiting times for motorists. I urge motorists to drive with due caution in and around the road works," he said.

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mick lawler, 22-04-11 12:44:

Joombi you dont happen to drive one of those airport shuttles do you.

Joombi O'Flaherty, 20-04-11 16:57:

I always cut the corners if there's no-one coming the other way as it's the only way to straighten out the road - especially at night - my record for Oak Beach to Palm Cove is 17 minutes. Mind you, that was at 2 in the morning and I had the road to myself.

Tony Woodall, 20-04-11 15:08:

Number 1 priority for the Captain Cook Highway is to paint arrows at strategic places to remind oversea tourists which side to drive on. After twice being crunched head on by tourists on the wrong side of the road, to me its number 1.

The road is only notorious because so many drivers drive badly. The road itself is safe. Cutting corners over double white lines seems to be a sport for some.

Yes the guard rails are necessary because so many drivers get distracted by the scenery. The solution is to erect large advertising hoardings along the highway and of course no one will look at them. So the road will be a lot safer.

Mathew Churchill, 20-04-11 15:02:

Couldn't agree more Gordon. You can pretty much guarantee that on every trip on that road you'll need to hit the brakes to avoid a head on. Geez, how old am I getting!

Gordon , 20-04-11 14:49:

Any chance they can put a fence up down the middle of the road to stop the cars crossing over the centre line all the time..? The amount of people who cut the corners astounds me !!