Bruce Hwy ranked Australia's worst road

Pockmarked with potholes, lacking overtaking lanes, and prone to flooding, the Bruce Highway has taken out the unenviable top spot for Queensland’s most despised road in RACQ’s 2024 Unroadworthy Roads Survey.

The single-lane, undivided sections of the Bruce Highway from Gympie to Childers, Gladstone to Proserpine and Townsville to Cairns received the most complaints from respondents.

RACQ Head of Public Policy Dr Michael Kane said rural sections of the Bruce have an average ‘per kilometre travelled’ fatal or serious injury (FSI) crash rate three times higher than rural sections of the Pacific Highway and five times higher than rural sections of the Hume Highway.

“The stretch between Childers and Gin Gin is the most dangerous, where you are almost 10 times more likely to be involved in a fatal or serious injury crash than on the Hume Highway in NSW,” he said.

Dr Kane said the results were disappointing, but sadly not surprising with the survey adding to the mounting body of evidence showing urgent action was needed from both levels of government.

“We’ve been running our Unroadworthy Roads Survey for more than two decades and the Bruce Highway has either been the worst or second worst road every time,” he said.

“Rough surfaces, such as potholes, were the most common issue highlighted by Queensland motorists, followed by poor shoulders, narrow lanes, lack of overtaking lanes and sections prone to flooding.”

In the lead up to the State and Federal elections, RACQ is calling on both levels of governments to work together to Fix the Bruce.

“The Bruce is the backbone of our State, but it’s broken. So far this year, 30 people have lost their life in crashes on the Bruce Highway - we’ve already surpassed the five-year average of 29 deaths and it’s only September,” Dr Kane said.

“We need the State and Federal Governments to commit to a 10-year funding arrangement to upgrade all poorly rated 2-star sections of the highway

“We’re also calling for the Federal Government to return to the pre-existing 80:20 infrastructure funding spilt with the State Government. This is a national road, and the Federal Government must do the heavy lifting to bring it up to standard with other national highways.”

The Kennedy Highway in Far North Queensland ranked second in RACQ’s 2024 Unroadworthy Roads Survey, surging up from 11th in the previous 2022 survey, with landslips, winding slippery surfaces and the condition of the Barron River Bridge topping the complaints.

Mount Mee Road and the Brisbane Valley Highway rounded out the top four most hated roads with rough surfaces, narrow lanes and lack of overtaking lanes named among the issues.

“We need targeted investment to ensure upgrades are dedicated to safety, maintenance, resilience and strengthening of regional roads, especially with traffic increasing and more frequent and extreme weather events expected in years to come,” Dr Kane said.

For the full report and map head to the RACQ 'badroads' web page...