fitzroy river floodplain and road planning study: …/media/projects/b/bruce highway...fitzroy river...

Fitzroy River Floodplain and

Road Planning Study

Bruce Highway

Rockhampton

Terms of Reference -

Extract

Invitation Number CEND-939

Prepared by

Rockhampton Office

Terms of Reference - Extract of 13 2 July 2009

Table of Contents

Page

1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 3

2. BACKGROUND........................................................................................................................................... 3

3. SCOPE........................................................................................................................................................... 6

4. OBJECTIVES............................................................................................................................................... 7

5. CONSULTATION........................................................................................................................................ 9

6. TIMELINE.................................................................................................................................................... 9

7. MILESTONES AND OUTPUTS .............................................................................................................. 10

8. PROJECT MANAGEMENT..................................................................................................................... 10


1. Introduction

During the 2007 Federal Election campaign the then Labor opposition made an election

commitment to fund the study to improve the immunity of the crossing of the Fitzroy River

floodplain and to investigate the removal of through rail and road freight out of the city and

urban areas of Rockhampton. Minister Albanese has confirmed the Federal Labor

Government will honour the election commitments. The 2008/2009 federal budget brought

forward funding for the early commencement of this study. The Study will investigate the

flooding, freight, road and rail transport problems associated with the Bruce Highway and its

interaction with the North Coast Rail Line through and around the City of Rockhampton.

It is further expected that the State and Local Governments will contribute to the study by the

provision of various existing and current studies and information.

These Terms of Reference provide a comprehensive definition of the scope of this project,

which broadly covers a study of the Fitzroy River Floodplain and its impact on the Bruce

Highway and North Coast Rail Line and their various capabilities through and around the City

of Rockhampton.

It also includes reference to various objectives, tasks, available Reference material and their

history, together with a broad summary of how the project will be managed.

This study is funded by the Commonwealth Government under the terms of its Nation

Building Program.

2. Background

Rockhampton is built adjacent to the Fitzroy River. The Fitzroy River basin is one of the

largest in eastern Australia, with a catchment area upstream of Rockhampton of about

140 000 km2. The basin extends from Wandoan in the south to the Carnarvon ranges in the

south west, to Moranbah-Nebo just south of Mackay in the north. This is an area larger than

the State of Tasmania and more than half the size of Victoria.

The Fitzroy River at Rockhampton and adjacent areas and townships have been subjected to

flooding on many occasions as a result of heavy rains in the Fitzroy River basin. The worst

flood since records commenced in 1859 was in 1918, when the river height at Rockhampton

reached 8.65m AHD. The second highest peak was 7.95m AHD in 1954. Rockhampton again

suffered major flooding in January 1991 due to heavy rainfalls associated with Cyclone Joy.

The peak flood level on this occasion reached 7.85m AHD, but due to changes in the

floodplain characteristics (the construction of the barrage), this level cannot be compared

directly with that of previous major floods. In river discharge terms, both the 1991 and 1954

floods had a peak discharge of about 15 000m3/s at Yaamba compared to about 18 000m

3/s in

1918 as specified in the Rockhampton Flood Management Study Report – Camp Scott Furphy

Pty Ltd (January 1992).

Major flood flows cause flooding from Yaamba (in the north) to downstream of

Rockhampton including significant flooding of the lower lying parts of Rockhampton. A

major flood breakout occurs upstream of Rockhampton at Pink Lilly which results in

significant flow in the floodplain which flows to the west and south of the city. These

floodplain flows can result in the closure of Rockhampton Airport, the Bruce and Capricorn

Highways and the North Coast Railway. Also, the Bruce Highway and the North Coast


Railway can be cut by floodwater at Alligator Creek crossing near Yaamba, some 30 km

north of Rockhampton. In the 1991 flood, all surface links were cut for three weeks and

access via aviation services for about two weeks effectively isolating Rockhampton from the

outside world for this period. Since this flood the Alligator Creek Section has been upgraded

and if the same flood event occurred today the Bruce Highway would be closed for

approximately 11 days.

Current situation

The existing southern approaches to Rockhampton (both road and rail) were cut by

floodwaters for 21 days in the 1991 Fitzroy River flood event. Disruptions to commercial

activity in Central and North Queensland were significant during this period. Following the

flood, the floodplain crossing was assessed to have a Q12 immunity. Improving the immunity

of the crossing of the floodplain is to be investigated to provide acceptable delay times.

Climate change could further exacerbate the magnitude and frequency of flood events. The

issue of immunity is critical not just for Rockhampton (including Gracemere and Yeppoon)

but for the whole long-distance and regional movement of land transport on the Brisbane –

Cairns corridor.

The Capricornia Integrated Regional Transport Plan 2004-2030 (2004) (CapIRTP) inter alia

provided for:

- Planning for the provision of alternative freight routes for through traffic

- Planning for increased cross river capacity and intersection requirements

- Preservation of future land transport corridors (alternative through route)

- Planning and funding grade-separated rail and road crossings

The recent strong growth in traffic (since the 2002 traffic census and CapIRTP traffic

modelling) suggests that lane capacity on the Bruce Highway including the two existing

bridges through Rockhampton will be reached sooner than that projected in the CapIRTP.

The Brisbane Cairns Corridor Strategy (2006) prepared jointly by the Australian and

Queensland governments indicated the following relevant strategic priorities:

Short-medium term Strategic Priorities (to 2015)

- The need to improve safety and efficiency on two-lane sections of the Bruce

Highway by continuing to address emerging road and rail capacity issues in

growing regional centres such as Rockhampton – Gladstone and determine future

need and route preservation requirements for road and rail town bypasses where

supported by the community

- Improve the interaction between export rail lines and the National Network to

ensure an optimised integrated network

- Address high priority flood locations along the corridor

Longer Term Strategic Priorities

- Increase the capacity of the Bruce Highway to handle a range of issues - growth in

population, tourism, rapid traffic growth, proportion of heavy vehicles, safety and

flooding

- Improve management of road and rail issues in growing regional centres at high

priority locations including Gladstone – Rockhampton


- Ensure planning is undertaken for road and rail bypasses

- Improve the interaction between west-east rail lines and the National Network to

minimise export delays. Liaison with QT and QR will be needed as part of this

study to ensure that the future needs of both road and rail are fully integrated.

- Continue initiatives to improve the competitiveness of the North Coast Line and its

capacity to handle long term growth in freight

- Improve reliability and connectivity along the corridor including identifying and

addressing longer- term high priority flood locations

Likely Future Situation (including possible scenarios)

Regional and National Development

- Likely continued strong growth of the coal mining industry in Central Queensland

with consequent impacts on Rockhampton, Gracemere, Yeppoon and Gladstone

- Likely development of intensive animal industries and processing facilities in the

area just west of Rockhampton

- Likely industrial and energy development in the Gracemere-Stanwell industrial

precinct

- Likely continued strong growth of Gladstone involving massive port development

(both bulk materials and containers), rail infrastructure development and integrated

rail/road inter-modal facility near Mt Larcom for state-wide distribution, and

minerals processing industries

- Likely continued strong growth of population and tourism in coastal Queensland

including Rockhampton/Yeppoon/Gracemere and Gladstone/Calliope

- Likely continued strong growth in freight transport on both rail and road

- Likely technology changes in respect to larger road and rail freight vehicles

Issues

• Transport System issues –

- Need to develop greater rail road integration for long distance freight and

passenger movements and regional distribution,

- Increasing road conflict in Rockhampton on account of the rail crossing of the

Bruce Highway in Rockhampton where high road traffic volumes prevail and the

length and frequency of trains is planned to increase in order to achieve

efficiencies.

- Need to facilitate improved road and rail access to export ports.

- Planned inter-modal road/rail/sea transport facilities in Gladstone that will require

collection and distribution routes that pass through Rockhampton

- Transport Industrial Area located in South Rockhampton is an intermodal

exchange area, and includes the rail freight centre, the regional administration of

QR and the QR passenger terminal. A large number of heavy vehicles currently

access this area and importance of the road/rail integration aspects are considered


an important part of the Study. The part of the rail network covered in the study

has a complicated ownership arrangement being part coal and part non-coal.

• Road Network issues – Limitation on alternate north - south routes to maintain

essential and emergency services including major defence training exercises.

• Road Capacity issues – constraints on the existing highway and bridges through

Rockhampton,

• Transport Immunity issues –

- vulnerability of central and north Queensland economies to disruption from

flooding of the Fitzroy River floodplain and closure of road & rail services.

- This includes both north – south movements and east – west movements that also

rely on movement across the floodplain.

• Road Freight issues -

- increasing number of truck freight movements through Rockhampton.

- Connection to the proposed Gracemere – Stanwell industrial corridor.

- Planned introduction of longer trains.

• Amenity issues

- increasing road traffic noise and pollution from heavy vehicles and high traffic

volumes through the Rockhampton City.

3. Scope

The project covers an area of the Bruce Highway commencing in the south at Midgee /Archer

and extending north of Rockhampton to the intersection of the Bruce Highway and Atkinson

Road, Canoona. The east is defined generally by the identified eastern corridor via Dairy Inn

and Artillery Road, while the west is defined generally by the Kabra/Stanwell area just west

of Gracemere.

Scope includes both the north / south transport corridor (Bruce Highway and North Coast Rail

Line), and the east / west transport corridor to / from Yeppoon / Emu Park and Capricorn

Highway and Central Western Line to Gracemere and Stanwell (Map 1).

Options shall be defined by the consultant in consultation with Main Roads, the Rockhampton

Regional Council and other key stakeholders in the project steering committee. They could

include for example the investigation of:

• Alternatives for the upgrading of the existing Bruce Highway and North Coast Rail

Line crossing of the Fitzroy River floodplain to the south of Rockhampton including

raising the Highway and substantial intersection improvements in the flood prone

areas of the highway within Rockhampton City (Map 3).

• a high level relatively flood free western route (Midgee – Canoona route) from the

Bruce Highway south of Rockhampton (Midgee/Archer area), crossing the Capricorn

Highway near Kabra, and then by way of high ground west of the flood plain to

Ridgelands and Garnant before crossing the Fitzroy River just east of the Eden Bann

Weir and then the Bruce Highway at Canoona (intersection of the Bruce Hwy and

Atkinson Road). This route could entail staging of the component south of the


Capricorn Highway and utilising some existing and proposed infrastructure to the

north in the short term

• a high level flood free eastern route (Artillery Road route) from the Bruce Highway

south of Rockhampton (Midgee/Archer area), crossing the Fitzroy River south of

Gavial Creek and connecting to the Emu Park Road in the vicinity of St Christophers

Chapel Road. The route would utilise part of the Emu Park Road to Nankin Creek

before turning north-west to the Dairy Inn Road, Artillery Road and Fourteen Mile

Road and rejoining the Bruce Highway just south of The Caves.

• a third bridge crossing to the east of the city near Stanley Street/South Street (Stanley

Street route).

• a third bridge crossing to the north-west of Albert Street and below The Barrage

(North Street route) adjacent to the existing rail corridor.

• investigation of a heavy vehicle bypass of the CBD (Pink Lily route) skirting the

western extremity of the city commencing at the intersection of the Bruce & Capricorn

Highways, passing adjacent to the airport and crossing the Fitzroy River above The

Barrage to rejoin the Bruce Highway between Farm Street, Norman Gardens and

Olive Street, Parkhurst.

• six-laning of the existing Bruce Highway from Stanley Street, Allenstown to Farm

Street, Kawana including substantial intersection improvements; where the corridor is

constrained. Alternatives should be investigated for increasing the flows for through

traffic in mid-block sections with restrictions to on street parking.

Options should also include non-infrastructure measures – land use/spatial development

planning, integration with rail, public transport, cycle and pedestrian facilities.

They should further include the minimalist option that defines the "do nothing case" in order

to provide comparative assessment of the costs and benefits of different project options and

impacts on Central and North Queensland socio-economic development.

4. Objectives

The general objectives of this study are to develop and evaluate options and prepare a

comprehensive strategy to address issues of flood immunity, road capacity, freight movement

and amenity of the southern approaches to Rockhampton, capacity of the Bruce Highway

through Rockhampton and an additional crossing or crossings of the Fitzroy River. This study

will provide recommendations as to the preferred combination and staging of infrastructure

improvement projects as well as non-infrastructure measures. The study should consider both

the short term capacity needs of the network and the medium to long term strategic

development of the road and rail network.

Some specific objectives include the following:

a) Recommendations for the improvement in the flood immunity of the north /

south transport route by comparing the upgrading of the existing crossing and

the Fitzroy River Floodplain and alternative options including potential eastern

or western routes. (see map showing preliminary identified options)


Current Options:

i. Do nothing

ii. The raising/bridging the existing Bruce Highway and North Coast Rail Line

where they cross the Fitzroy River Floodplain between Scrubby Creek and

Yeppen Yeppen Lagoon.

iii. Duplicate high level crossing of the floodplain and increasing the capacity of

the existing Bruce Highway from the intersection of the Capricorn Highway

through Rockhampton CBD to Farm Street, Kawana including intersection

improvements. Alternatives will be investigated for increasing the flows for

through traffic in mid-block sections with restrictions to on street parking.

iv. Crossing the river at Stanley Street / South Street site

v. West of Albert Street and crossing the river below the barrage.

vi. The provision of an inner Rockhampton ring corridor from the vicinity of the

Yeppen Roundabout, skirting the airport, a new crossing of the Fitzroy River

and linking back to the Bruce Highway in the Yeppoon Road to Parkhurst area.

vii. The provision of an eastern route entailing a new southern crossing of the

floodplain and river, and utilising existing road corridors to the east from

Midgee to the Caves.

viii. A relatively flood free western road route from near Gracemere/Kabra to

Canoona/Atkinson Road.

ix. Other options as appropriate and agreed.

b) Recommendations on heavy vehicle issues including capacity and safety

improvements to the Bruce Highway through Rockhampton. This will include

investigations of options to move heavy vehicle traffic out of the urban area,

improved intersections such as the Bruce and Capricorn Highway and cross river

capacity.

Current Deficiencies to be addressed:

i. Network Issues – Limitation on alternative routes to the north / south to

maintain essential services.

ii. Capacity Issues – constraints on the existing highway through Rockhampton

iii. Immunity Issues – vulnerability of central and north Queensland economy to

disruption from flooding of the Fitzroy River floodplain and closure of road

and rail services

iv. Freight Issues – increasing number of truck freight movements through

Rockhampton. Connection to the proposed Gracemere – Stanwell industrial

corridor.

v. Amenity issues – increasing traffic noise and pollution from heavy vehicle

travelling through the city.

An alternative rail crossing of the Fitzroy River will need to be identified to remove

slow train movements from the urban street network including the Bruce Highway in

Rockhampton.


c) Investigate the strategic connections of the Bruce Highway with freight

generating hubs within the city of Rockhampton.

i. This shall include industrial, commercial, institutional precincts as well as

major industries and the road/air and road/rail inter-modal interfaces.

ii. A strategy for protecting the functional integrity of the Bruce Highway and

North Coast Rail Line as a national transport corridor for through traffic

(regional and long distance rather than local) by improved spatial development

planning covering adjacent land use as well as the strategic location of urban

and industrial development.

5. Consultation

Community and key stakeholder consultation and engagement will be a key measurable for

the Fitzroy River Floodplain and Road Planning Study. Three specific stages of consultation

have been identified in this documentation, however it will also be expected that individual

project milestones are promoted and communicated, and should be included as part of the

published project Communication Plan.

Stage 1 of public consultation for the planning study will be expected to include a

comprehensive community feedback and submission process. At a minimum, this will

involve mass media advertising or other form of promotion to inform stakeholders of

the project objectives and a period lasting no less than 31 days in which the community

can provide formal submissions or representations. Key stakeholder groups identified

by the project team will also be expected to receive personal invitations to provide a

project submission. Upon completion of Stage 1, a record of all submissions and

summary report will be provided to the Principal.

Stage 2 of the study’s public consultation phase will be expected to communicate and

seek public feedback on the shortlisted selected options. It is intended that all

stakeholders have the opportunity to receive information more directly and

communicate with project representatives. This phase is likely to include both manned

and unmanned displays, community engagement meetings and mass media

announcements. Similar to stage one, it is expected that the communication elements of

Stage 2 last for a period no less than 31 days.

Stage 3 of public consultation for the study is scheduled to coincide with the publishing

of the study’s final report. This stage is expected to focus on providing information to

the community on the preferred transport corridor. On completion of Stage three, the

Principal will also receive a Record of Communication and Community Engagement

Report which will detail all of the communication related activities undertaken as part

of the study and review of how these activities succeeded/measured against the study’s

communication objectives. A record of all submissions, feedback and media clippings

should also be included in this report.

6. Timeline

The study shall commence as soon as practical and should be completed by March 2011.


7. Milestones and Outputs

The key output is a Planning Report and Strategy that is intended to address a series of major

issues highlighted above and provide definitive guidance with respect to the future

development of Rockhampton’s north – south road infrastructure and related matters. The

study shall deliver a number of reports reflecting the various stages and components of the

study. It will be necessary for a Multiple Criteria analysis to be undertaken at various times in

the study. A draft of the Multiple Criteria should be prepared by the Consultant as part of

Milestone 2. Cost Benefit analysis maybe be undertaken on Road, Rail and both Road and

Rail.

The package of individual reports should be prepared documenting the investigations and

findings of the study. These reports should include appendices recording each of the options

investigated, costing of the options and the benefit cost analysis. Separate Appendices should

be provided for the major studies including flood modelling and traffic modelling.

8. Project Management

Overall Project Management will be by the Department of Main Roads

Steering Committee

A Project Steering Committee will be established to provide overall high level direction.

It will be a relatively small group comprising senior management representatives from:

• Department of Transport and Main Roads

• Department of Infrastructure and Planning

• Queensland Rail

• Rockhampton Regional Council

• Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.

The Steering Committee will be chaired by the Representative from Main Roads.


Fitzroy River Floodplain and Road Planning Study

Map 1 – Locality map of study area

ATKINSON ROAD

PROJECT SITE

MIDGEE CREEK


Map 2 - Rockhampton City and Gracemere urban areas


Map 3 – 1991 Rockhampton City Flood Map

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