The Palaszczuk Government's $21.8 million Bundaberg rail resignalling project is surging full steam ahead, with works commencing this week on the Bourbong Street crossing upgrade.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said Bourbong Street was the second of four Bundaberg crossings to commence upgrade works, which will improve pedestrian safety, reduce ongoing maintenance and reduce the risk of road traffic delays.
"It's great to see the Bundaberg resignalling project progressing well, with a new pedestrian maze, flashing lights and audible alarms now being installed at the Bourbong Street pedestrian crossing," Mr Bailey said.
"Over the course of the entire project, more than 150 local jobs will be supported, providing a boon for the local economy. Additionally, traffic control will be in place to guide pedestrians through a detour around the construction site to ensure their safety, and so works can continue unobstructed.
"Already, works have commenced at the Perry Street crossing, which is expected to be commissioned later this year.
Works are due to commence on the upgrade of the Walker Street pedestrian crossing in April, and on the final crossing at Hanbury Street in August 2019.
Mr Bailey said in addition to the pedestrian crossing upgrades, the wider $21.8 million project would replace the region's signalling system with a more modern and reliable system that required less maintenance and could reduce road traffic impacts in the event of a fault.
"Currently, Bundaberg's rail signalling system is linked, which means that when there is a power fault or other unprecedented failure, all of the rail crossings in the area are activated as a safety precaution, with the potential to cause widespread traffic impacts.
"By installing this new signalling technology across the Bundaberg rail network, the railway level crossings at Hanbury Street, Perry Street, Maynard Road, Thabeban Road and Verdant Siding Road will then operate independently of one another.
"This means that any incident or fault at one level crossing will be isolated, reducing unnecessary wider impacts to motorists and pedestrians at other crossings in the area.
"I'd like to thank the community for their ongoing patience while we undertake these important works, which will improve the safety and reliability of Bundaberg's rail network."
