Rookwood Weir Project – Construction

The Thirsty Creek Road upgrade was delivered by Rockhampton Regional Council and will ensure that the local road network can safely accommodate future construction traffic. This $7.5 million construction project provided 28 jobs for Central Queenslanders and was completed in July 2020. Works included:

• widening a 16.2km-long section of Thirsty Creek Road to 6.5m, from the intersection of Riverslea Road to the Rookwood Weir site
• applying a bitumen seal to identified road segments
• upgrading existing culverts.

The Capricorn Highway Intersection upgrade at Gogango has enabled construction traffic to safely cross the Capricorn Highway when travelling to the site. This $2.2 million construction project was delivered by Civil, Mining and Construction Pty Ltd (CMC) and provided 26 jobs to Central Queenslanders. Works were completed in September 2020, and included:

• relocating the existing intersection approximately 200m west from the Capricorn Highway to the Riverslea Road rail crossing
• widening the pavement to create a new intersection layout, including resurfacing and line marking.

A new, single-lane bridge has replaced the existing crossing at Riverslea that would have otherwise been inundated when Rookwood Weir reaches full supply.

CMC was appointed as the constructor in June 2020 and works begun in July 2020. The $12.5 million project created 25 jobs for Central Queenslanders and was completed in June 2021.

Construction works included:

• building a 260 m long, 21 m high concrete bridge structure with a single 3.5 m road lane 
• up to 300 m of new road connecting the existing road with the bridge and passing bays at both ends
• demolishing the existing culvert crossing.

Hanrahan Crossing, located 10 kilometres downstream of Rookwood Weir, will be upgraded to offset water releases from the weir and to maintain environmental flows.

The crossing upgrade will be undertaken by Rockhampton Regional Council and improvements include raising the crossing to 1.2 metres above riverbed level, the realignment of the abutment on the southern bank and sealing of both approaches leading up to the crossing.

Sunwater will invest up to $2 million for the crossing upgrade with the project creating 12 construction jobs and will take approximately four months to complete. Work on the project is scheduled to start late September 2021 and be completed in 2023.

Raising the height of Rookwood Weir by 700mm in March 2021resulted in a new project to upgrade Foleyvale Crossing and approaching roads.

A contract has not yet been awarded for this enabling project. The Foleyvale Crossing project will create at least 15 jobs.