Regular users of the Bruce Highway between Howard and Childers now have more opportunities to pull over and take a break or catch up on sleep following the completion of work on two rest areas.
About 10 kilometres out of Howard on the way to Childers, we have built a new 2,700 square metre rest area for southbound traffic fully equipped with tables, shelter and toilets while just down the road the surface of the existing northbound rest area has been sealed.
Last year in Queensland, 52 people died in crashes involving trucks, with fatigue a factor in many of them.  We must do more to prevent these tragedies, and providing new and upgraded rest areas is one of the practical ways we are helping truck drivers fight fatigue and arrive at their destinations safely.
In partnership with state and territory governments around the country, as well as the trucking industry, we’re addressing the unacceptable lack of safe, modern roadside facilities along the nation’s highways, which over time will make them safer for everyone.
On the Bruce Highway alone, we are already building twenty new rest stops and upgrading a further nine as part of Federal Labor’s unprecedented $2.8 billion capital works program.  Indeed, compared to the former Howard Government, we are investing more than twice as much in half the time.
In addition to the Nulla Flats rest areas—built and upgraded at a cost of $1.5 million—two new overtaking lanes are being installed nearby, yet another fully-Federally funded project which will make this section of the Highway even safer.
Every day, the Howard to Childers section of the Bruce Highway is used by 5,600 cars and almost 1,500 trucks.
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