Barron River Bridge Night Works Trial & Kuranda Range Road Recovery

Barron River Bridge – November Night Works Trial

Transport and Main Roads (TMR) is trialling night works for the November Barron River bridge inspection and maintenance program to minimise traffic disruption during peak travel times.

What’s happening: Starting Monday 3 November through Friday 28 November 2025, maintenance works will shift to night-time hours between 9pm and 4am.

Traffic arrangements:

The bridge will operate as single lane traffic between 9pm and 4am throughout the four-week period
During weeks 3-4 (16-27 November), short intermittent full closures of up to 10 minutes will be required
Full closures will be halted during the midnight let-through to allow queued traffic to clear
Important: The bridge will operate normally during Friday and Saturday nights when the Kuranda Range Road is open

Why the change? Moving to night works, when traffic on the Kennedy Highway is at its lowest, will significantly reduce delays for the majority of road users who travel during peak daytime periods. While this means some inconvenience for residents travelling to and from Kuranda during evening hours, overall traffic delays will be considerably shorter than those experienced during day works.

If this trial proves successful, TMR will consider permanently shifting the quarterly inspection and maintenance program to night-time hours.

Kuranda Range Road – Cyclone Jasper Recovery Update

Recovery works continue at more than 30 geotechnical sites along the Kuranda Range Road following Tropical Cyclone Jasper.

Progress to date:

13 landslips completed overall (12 within traffic control areas, 1 outside traffic control)
7 additional sites to be completed by end of 2025 (weather and site conditions permitting)
17 remaining sites scheduled for completion in 2026 (weather and site conditions permitting)

Current progress by location:

Traffic Site 1 (Henry Ross Lookout area):

Five slips completed (three upslope, two downslope)
Stabilisation works continue at one upslope slip and two downslope slips
Day and night works ongoing on the major downslope slip approximately 200 metres towards Cairns from the lookout

Traffic Site 2 (Streets Creek area):

Seven slips completed (three downslope, four upslope)
Line marking has been reinstated
Two-way traffic flow has been restored

Traffic Site 3 (Bottom hairpin bend area):

Stabilisation works at two upslope slips on the Cairns side are ongoing
A new traffic control site has commenced with one-way traffic flow between 7am and 5pm from Monday 20 October 2025

Scheduled Night Closures

The Kennedy Highway continues scheduled night closures from 9pm to 4am Sunday to Thursday until December 2025, weather and site conditions permitting.

Traffic will be let through once in each direction at midnight (12am)
No scheduled closures on Friday and Saturday nights
TMR will coordinate to ensure Barron River Bridge full closures don’t coincide with the midnight let-through