The Queensland Government has announced a $1.1 billion road closure to cope with the coronavirus outbreak, with drivers advised to take a detour to the nearby West Coast Highway instead.
The closure comes amid concerns about the coronaveal disease outbreak, as more than a million people travel across Queensland every day, as well as the threat of further pandemic travel to New South Wales.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the closure yesterday.
Queenslanders travelling on the West Coast Road are advised to avoid all public transport, particularly for extended periods, as the road remains closed for several hours each day.
“We are advising motorists to use other routes to get home,” she said.
Road closures are the latest in a string of measures to be introduced by the Government to tackle the coronavesc virus outbreak.
A number of Queensland Premier Annalisa Palasza s plan to shut down public transport is set to be reviewed by the Federal Government, after it was revealed that a number of the state’s roads were in a state of shutdown due to the coronaval disease outbreak.
Queans travel to Melbourne and other major centres in the state is already restricted by the closure.
On Tuesday, Queensland Premier Lisa Neville said the Government would continue to work with the Federal authorities to manage public transport in the region.
Ms Neville said: “We have a lot of people who travel to these big cities in the north and the west, but we have a very limited number of public transport services that are available.”
We need to get our roads back to normal and we will do that, but I don’t want to get into the details of how we are going to manage the state.
“She added that it would be up to the Government, which will also consider a proposal to increase the toll toll from 10 to 25 per cent.
Ms Palaszu cabled the emergency closures as part of a broader package of measures announced yesterday to help combat the coronovirus pandemic.
Topics:covid-19,health,government-and-politics,health-policy,federal—state-issues,parliament,law-crime-and,australiaFirst posted January 27, 2020 16:58:08Contact Adam HargreavesMore stories from Queensland”
Queenslander families should have confidence that Queensland’s roads are safe and our roads will remain open, and the Government has now committed to ensure Queenslanders get back to work as quickly as possible,” he said.
Topics:covid-19,health,government-and-politics,health-policy,federal—state-issues,parliament,law-crime-and,australiaFirst posted January 27, 2020 16:58:08Contact Adam HargreavesMore stories from Queensland