By Margaret Maccoll
State Government-owned land beside Kin Kin Creek No.3 Bridge which was scheduled for auction on 27 October, has been taken off the market and an announcement made of safety upgrades to the area.
The 4128sqm property at 966 Pomona-Kin Kin Road was listed as surplus land for sale on the Department of Transport and Main Roads website and with Harcourts Noosa.
However, last Friday a Transport and Main Roads spokesperson said the land was no longer for sale.
The move follows concerns raised by residents and letters written by Noosa MP, Glen Elmes, to the Minister of Road Safety, Mark Bailey.
“Kin Kin Creek Bridge is a single lane bridge and is especially dangerous because of the hairpin approach to it on Pomona-Kin Kin Road, which could be addressed by using the State-owned land which is currently up for sale,” Mr Elmes said.
“The Department’s ability to use this land to straighten the existing road and upgrade this notorious one lane bridge is a gift and should be an integral part of their master planning and design that will ultimately address the community’s long-standing safety concerns.”
The government spokesperson said there were “no plans or funding allocated to straighten the road alignment or upgrade the bridge near the property (Kin Kin Creek No.3 Bridge).
“We are progressively replacing/upgrading the single-lane timber bridges across the state. Funding for this is carefully prioritised to ensure it is directed to locations demonstrating the greatest safety and capacity needs,” she said.
The spokesperson said an upgrade to the signage at the Kin Kin Creek No.3 Bridge to improve motorists’ awareness of the single-lane structure and tight curves as well as vegetation clearing on the southbound approach to the bridge to improve visibility, would be included in a $1 million project scheduled to start later this month.
The project of improvements will be made to a 40km section of Kin Kin Road at prioritised locations through the Pomona, Pinbarren and Kin Kin areas, focused on identified and potential crash locations.
