If you’re heading up the east coast of Australia these holidays then be prepared to add an hour or two onto your travel time due to roadworks and increased speed restrictions.
A couple of weeks ago we drove from Hervey Bay in Queensland down to Newcastle in NSW and here is what we found.
Expect to see plenty of this for much of your trip in New South Wales:
North of Newcastle there’s over 50km of single lane highway with very limited overtaking possibilities. The speed limit is down to 80km/h.
North of Taree there were numerous interruptions to traffic due to more roadworks. You’ll start to see traffic controllers in your sleep!
Around Ballina there are even more interruptions and traffic controllers as work on the Ballina Bypass progresses and cuts the highway in a number of places. We estimate that our travel time from the Queensland border to Newcastle was increased by an hour due to all those roadworks.
The Tugun Bypass was opened earlier this year and the delays that were so common as you drove through Tweed Heads are a thing of the past. It’s a breeze now.
Coming through Brisbane you can expect some delays on the Gateway Motorway as work on a second crossing of the river continues.
There are more roadworks around Gympie and it can take a few extra minutes to get through there.
The biggest delay north of Brisbane these days is a very long stretch of the highway that has now been reduced to 90km/h. It stretches from Cooroy south of Gympie right through to Curra on the other side of Gympie.
You can be sure that there will be plenty of police on the road along with plenty of idiots too so be patient, take plenty of rest stops and you will arrive alive.