Veteran owner-operator Chris Duncan has slammed Queensland’s general road infrastructure and challenged Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to spend a day on the roads as a truck passenger.
“Queensland’s roads need a major rebuilding program and if the Premier is in the truck, she’s going to experience it for herself,” he said.
Duncan runs Sensational Transport and has been driving since 1985. He drives a 2019 Coronado with a 2021/22 three-wheel cart and a road train set of belly dump trucks, hauling grain – currently busy at harvest.
He said urgent work was needed on every major motorway at least 1000 kilometers west of Toowoomba.
“Potholes and faulty infrastructure are just band-aided. This procedure only adds to the damage to the vehicle,” Duncan added.
“It also has the potential to cause fatal accidents. People who travel on these goat trails every day believe that if it’s not in the greater Brisbane area, we don’t get a lot of money allocated.”
The angry driver wondered how the problem could be rectified.
“We have to have roadworthy vehicles to drive on roads that are not roadworthy. The hypocrisy of this anomaly is getting out of hand,” he said.
Duncan also blasted the trucks’ high registration and fuel costs.
“There’s not a lot of money for roads. Is there a process to fix this? What is it?” he asked.
A Transport and Main Roads spokesman recently told ABC News that roads in Queensland have been affected by nine natural disasters in 2021-22, with 66 of 77 local government areas receiving financial relief measures.
“The task of assessing the damage was very difficult,” the spokesman said.
“The extent and severity of the damage will require a major rebuilding program over the next two years.”
South East Queensland floods in late February 2022 and March 2022 will cause the most damage, including many major landslides.
