Drivers travelling between Gympie and the coast will have to take a detour with Gympie Connection Road to be shut for three months as part of work on the $1 billion bypass. The stretch of the road between Old Goomboorian Road and Tin Can Bay Road will be closed from Monday April 12 for three months to allow construction to continue. Vehicles will instead be diverted along Ascot and Tin Can Bay roads. Traffic management will also be in place between the North Coast rail line and Ascot Road for a 14 month stretch. Traffic detours and delays will be common on Gympie Connection Road for several months.
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Subscriber only A speed reduction has been endorsed for a 3.75-kilometre stretch of road near the site of a fatal crash that killed a 29-year-old man at Wolvi last week. Josiah William Stevens was a passenger in a 4WD when it collided with a school bus full of children at a T-intersection on Kin Kin Road and Wilsons Pocket Road about 4pm last Tuesday. Josiah died at the scene. The driver of the car, Josiah s 68-year-old father Alan, was flown to the Royal Brisbane and Women s Hospital in a critical condition and with life threatening injuries. Alan Stevens (inset) is recovering in hospital after being injured in crash that killed his son at Wolvi last Tuesday.
 I came home past it as the ambulance was leaving and can t see how they survived, Mr Stewart said. Must have been airbags that saved them. The look made me feel sick, he said. Emergency crews at the scene of the crash on Rainbow Beach Road on Tuesday. Photos: Scott Kovacevic Mr Stewart has spent years campaigning to get more pullover bays and overtaking lanes on both roads, which have only become busier as the local population has grown and visitations from the south east corner have skyrocketed since COVID. He said he had still had no word from Gympie Regional Council on the fate of a petition to demand those changes but will keep trying .
He also said Ms Laffey represented the high quality bus drivers across the state who take the responsibility for children’s safety very seriously. Bus driver Jullie Laffey has been praised for her actions during a fatal crash near Gympie on Tuesday
“From reports, it appears that had she not acted as quickly as she did to attempt to avoid the accident, there could have been many serious injuries or even deaths.
“On behalf of the bus industry and all of the families who had children on the bus, I’d like to thank Jullie and commend her.” Mr Tape said that more than 150,000 Queensland school children rely on buses to get them to and from school every day, and the industry is proud of its safety record.
“Traffic control measures will be in place around Bolcaro Road to keep road users safe, and I encourage all drivers to please be mindful of these roadworks and the changed conditions,” Mr O’Brien said. Construction is underway on Bolcaro Road, East Deep Creek to build a new two-lane, 60m bridge over the Bruce Highway as part of the $1 billion Cooroy to Curra Section D Gympie Bypass
A series of bridges is also taking shape as part of the first contract of the Section D project, with work about to begin on two 250m two-lane bridges over Six Mile Creek, two 105m, two-lane bridges over Tin Can Bay Road and Moody Creek, and a 50m two-lane underpass at Keefton Road.