Traffic lights planned for dangerous Woombye intersections

WCBA President, Milo Frawley, Nicklin MP Marty Hunt, Police Minister Dan Purdie & Transport and Main Roads Minister Brent Mickelberg.

Two dangerous intersections on Nambour Connection Road are set to receive traffic lights under proposed safety upgrades now open for community consultation.

The State Government has released concept plans to signalise the Diddillibah Road and Blackall Street intersections, following years of community concern about crashes, near misses and difficult turning movements.

The plans were announced at Woombye on Friday (August 28) by Transport and Main Roads Minister Brent Mickelberg, Nicklin MP Marty Hunt, Ninderry MP and Police Minister Dan Purdie and Woombye Community and Business Association president Milo Frawley.

Mr Hunt said the Diddillibah Road intersection had emerged as a major concern during his discussions with residents before the 2024 state election.

However, those discussions also revealed that problems at Blackall Street were contributing to unsafe movements further down the road.

Motorists currently cannot turn right from Blackall Street towards Nambour, prompting some drivers to travel south and perform a U-turn at Diddillibah Road.

“It became clear that this intersection is affected by the intersection above here, Blackall Street coming out of Woombye,” Mr Hunt said.

“That’s causing U-turn problems down here. It was great for TMR to take that community feedback and put that in the concept layouts.”

Mr Frawley said including Blackall Street was particularly welcomed by the Woombye community, which had advocated for improvements there since 2009.

“This has been a long time coming,” he said. “We’re so glad that we’re at a point now where this is real and we’re going to see some action from it.”

Mr Purdie said the need for improvements went beyond reducing congestion, recalling the triple fatality in which a grandmother and two twins were killed on the road.

“There’s been not only too many lives lost on this stretch of road, but there’s been too many near misses,” he said.

Mr Mickelberg said signals at both intersections were intended to create safer turning movements, improve traffic flow and increase the capacity of the local road network.

Consultation will take place over the coming months, allowing residents, businesses and other road users to comment before the designs are refined.

However, no construction commencement date has been set.

When asked whether work could begin in 2027, Mr Mickelberg said the Government would not pre-empt the consultation outcome. Significant community-requested changes could affect the design and delivery timetable.

He said construction would follow detailed design “in coming years”, with the immediate priority being to determine whether the proposed layouts properly addressed community concerns.

• Residents can view the concept plans, provide feedback and subscribe for updates via www.yoursay-projects.tmr.qld.gov.au/nambour-connection-road-diddillibah-road-intersection

Marty Hunt Brent Mickelberg and Dan Purdie at the media conference.