Bitumen to bog – Kennedy Developmental Road

 A fuel price crisis and supply chain pressures are amplifying calls to bring forward sealing works on an 11km stretch of a critical inland highway which has become an impassable boggy mess.
The Kennedy Developmental Road has increasingly become a favoured route for truckies travelling between Cairns and Melbourne, shaving 800km and big dollars off the coastal route.
With the Iranian conflict pushing fuel costs skyward sealing of the road has never been more important but work on the infamous stretch between Hughenden and The Lynd, known as the “missing link”, isn’t set to start until October.
CEO of economic advocacy group Advance Cairns, Jennifer Spilsbury, said that was too late.
“We need to see machines on the ground during the dry season. “To start in October doesn’t make sense because the rain starts to set in during November. “That’s three, potentially four wet seasons, if construction blows out. “We need a year-round, all-weather route that ensures we don’t experience critical supermarket shortages and limits flow-on price hikes,” Ms Spilsbury said.
Owner of Werrington Cattle Company, 250km west of Townsville and 200km north of Hughenden and a director of Meat and Livestock Australia, Russell Lethbridge, said while primary producers including the Far North’s cattle industry and banana growers would absorb costs initially, they would eventually flow through to consumers.
With road trains burning one litre of fuel every kilometre, the added costs were unsustainable, Mr Lethbridge said.
It’s not hard to understand why the number of fridge vans using the KDR over the past few years had grown and why Mr Lethbridge has joined Advance Cairns’ call to seal the road sooner.
“When you can shave 800km off the trip from Cairns to Melbourne – you can see why they want to use it,” Mr Lethbridge said. “That’s fresh horticulture heading south and frozen goods travelling north.”
Grazier David Murphy, whose cattle property Clothes Peg on the KDR is south of the offending stretch, said the road had been cut in two places last week.
The worst spot, near a lagoon, was closed to traffic and – painfully – within eyesight of the end of the bitumen on the Hughenden end. It literally turns from bitumen to bog.
“It’s crazy the road hasn’t been done, particularly when the coast road (Bruce Highway) gets cut and we’ve also had the Charters Towers to Greenvale road shut too.”
Mr Murphy was concerned the October construction start would be adversely affected by weather.
“By the time they get the gear here and get started it will be starting to rain.” Mr Murphy said he also owned a Tablelands property where he would like to shift some of his cattle.
However, he said he couldn’t afford the extra cost of taking the alternative, longer route through Charters Towers.
Like most producers, Mr Murphy is tackling the challenging conditions with a keen eye on operations and taking a commonsense approach.
“We’ll need to use Urea soon and I’ve heard it’s double the price. “You just need to run the numbers and do the best you can.”
Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Catherine King earlier this year announced the missing link works would be completed in 2029, after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged the fix in February 2025.
Advance Cairns has been a staunch campaigner for the ongoing upgrade to the road due to its importance in strengthening northern Australia’s economic resilience and promoting growth in key sectors such as agriculture, mining, tourism and freight.
CAPTION: The unsealed 11km stretch of the Kennedy Developmental Road is an impassable bog and is adding to fuel costs and supply chain pressures.

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