Cape Tribulation Road danger

The worst spot appears to be down from the Alexandra Lookout where a large tree has been cut down with a knife like pointed stump remaining above the steep incline.

The result could be catastrophic for the occupants of a car if it left the road.

Peter Eldred who lives in Forest Creek and manages the Daintree Discovery Centre has travelled the road regularly and he was straight to the point.

“It’s always been a goat track, it’s a real shame, I’ve been a ratepayer up here for twenty years and although there are some sections that are very good, others are shocking”

David Harrison from Cow Bay reckons “I’m a rev head so I love it and besides if you drive a road to its conditions you’re going to get there, I don’t see a problem”.

Who is responsible for the road? 

Douglas Shire Council took ownership of Cape Tribulation Road from the State Government in 1992 under former Douglas Shire Council Mayor, Mike Berwick.

Grant Renshaw told Newsport ‘I think the road is in 'poor' condition myself and sometimes as you make a turn you can see on the left-hand side where the road has eroded underneath and it’s dangerous”.

The Cow Bay resident went on to blame the former Mayor and Councillors who voted to acquire the Cape Tribulation Road from the State Government 30 years ago.

“If it was still a State Government Road the road would be maintained a lot better”, an angry Mr Renshaw said.

Andrew Flaws and Hanna Bee who are travelling around Australia in their bus said they were terrified driving their vehicle on the Alexandra Range section of Cape Tribulation Road.Andrew says, “The road could be made a lot safer because in some sections it’s a sheer drop”.

Hanna backed that up and added “I think the range section needs more guard rails while being sensitive to the environment”.

Andrew was driving a four-wheel vehicle recently and says “the road there was very slippery and you couldn’t get traction because of water on the surface from waterfalls, all in all it’s quite scary” he said.

Assessment of the road

Trinity Engineering & Consulting from Cairns completed an Alexandra Range Geotechnical Risk Assessment in August 2020 and part of their recommendation to Council was for their to be 'improved maintenance of the road and existing geotechnical remediations with improved monitoring of high-risk sites'.
 

The company also recommended Council create a ‘register’ to record all failures along the road, which is to be updated with information as it becomes available. Ideally this would be recorded in a GIS based database, to allow for easy identification and interrogation of data.

According to a Council spokesperson that ‘register’ was created.

“Council has construction-ready drawings to widen Cape Tribulation Road and add safety railings at a number of hotspots at Alexandra Range and will be applying for funding when the appropriate opportunities arise.

Subject to funding approval, Council has also scheduled re-surfacing and drainage repairs for the 2022-23 financial year."

A number of improvements were identified in the Alexandra Range Geotechnical Risk Assessment completed in 2020."

It is also important to note that any proposed works in the World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics rainforest are subject to environmental approvals."

Council has two staff based north of the Daintree River who actively monitor roads in the area. We are aware of the listed locations and all defects observed are recorded on Council’s internal systems."

The following maintenance schedule is conducted by Council:

• Maintenance staff inspect the road weekly for minor defects
• Technical Officer inspects the road monthly
• Bridges and major culverts are inspected annually.
• An external company inspects the road pavement and surfacing every two years.
• Qualified arborist checks the trees along the road every four months to identify hazards