Townsville Ring Road Stage 4 ahead of schedule

The final section of the Townsville Ring Road is expected be completed six months ahead of schedule.

Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Government Paul Fletcher said the $200 million Townsville Ring Road Section 4 (TRR4) project was scheduled for completion by mid-2017, but is now expected to be completed in January 2017.

“Once completed, the Townsville Ring Road will allow heavy vehicles to divert along the new 11.5 kilometre alignment, helping ease congestion along Woolcock Street," Mr Fletcher said.

"From June, there will also be a temporary diversion onto TRR4 to reconfigure Shaw Road."

Queensland Minister for Main Roads and Road Safety Mark Bailey said the early completion date for the TRR4 project was the result of a collaborative working relationship established between the State Government, the contractor and the local community.

“This project has provided a boost to the local economy with an average of 299 direct jobs being supported over the life of the project,” Mr Bailey said.

“TRR4 has a strong focus on local employment, sourcing local products and services - more than $58 million in contracts have been awarded to local suppliers to date, supporting more jobs and the Far North Queensland economy.”

Federal Member for Herbert Ewen Jones said now that the Veales Road and Bruce Highway intersections are completed, the new Kalynda Parade and Dalrymple Road extension is expected to be open to traffic by June 2016, weather permitting.

"Not only will the new network reduce congestion, it will also support future economic growth and local jobs in the North Queensland region," Mr Jones said.

"TRR4 is an impressive piece of infrastructure that will improve travel times, provide reliability for industry and be an absolute boon for the Townsville and broader North Queensland regions.”

State Member for Thuringowa Aaron Harper said more than 80 per cent of workers currently on the project site are from the North Queensland area.

“Currently, there are around 137 workers on the TRR4 site, 82.5 per cent (113) are from the Townsville area and an additional 13 workers are from the Far North and Central Queensland regions,” Mr Harper said.

“This project is supporting the future economic growth of the North Queensland region. I’ve had the pleasure of touring the site a few times and the construction standard by local companies has been of the highest standard.”

The Townsville Ring Road Stage 4 is a jointly funded project with the Australian Government contributing $160 million and the Queensland Government $40 million.