Urgent review needed into management of PDR

More of this is needed along the PDR before bridges are built.

SOMETHING has gone terribly wrong in the last 12 months of the Peninsula Developmental Road upgrades and it’s time for a major review to make sure that the job isn’t completely bungled.

The state government was happy to take the credit when the sealing works were taking off, but nowhere to be seen now that things are going badly.

A lack of local knowledge is part of the problem.

The decision to build bridges along the PDR before extending the bitumen is one that will surely come back to bite TMR and the Palaszczuk government.

What good is a bridge going to do if you can’t go anywhere?

When the bridge over the Archer River is finished, where will you be able to go when the wet season is in full force?

To Coen, if you’re lucky to get over the Myall Creek.

To get to Lakeland, you must get across the Hann, Morehead and Laura rivers – all of which flood regularly in the wet season.

Bridges will eventually be needed, but they are not the priority for local people, who want more sealing works and regularly graded dirt roads.

We’re in mid-May and there are still massive washouts along the PDR.

With the cost of freight rising and the region relying on the tourism dollar, TMR should have pulled out all stops in April to fix the road.

We’ve seen a handful of small crews out in the last fortnight, but they are moving slowly. It’s easy to blame the wet, but the reality is we’re just not a priority.

It’s time for an urgent review to assess the priorities of the PDR to make sure we get the best bang for our buck and a safer road for our region.