Toowoomba Bypass

The project consists of a 41km bypass route to the north of Toowoomba, significantly improving driver safety and journey time reliability by removing heavy vehicles from the central business district of Australia’s second largest inland city. The project has delivered long-term benefits to Queensland and provided a safer, faster link to the ports and southeast to Brisbane, reducing travel time by up to 40 minutes.

The Toowoomba Second Range Crossing comprises of the design, build, finance, operation and maintenance of a new four-lane bypass. The project was delivered as a PPP (Public-Private-Partnership) and is the largest Australian Government funding commitment to a single road project in Queensland’s history. The Crossing connects the Warrego Highway at Helidon Spa in the east, to the Gore Highway at Athol in the west via Charlton, increasing economic activity in the region by AU$2.4bn over 30 years.

Ferrovial Construction, as a Design and Construct JV partner of the Nexus Infrastructure consortium, was awarded the contract to design and construct the $1.6 billion Toowoomba Second Range Crossing. The design and construction of the Crossing was completed in September 2019. Cintra, our highways subsidiary, is responsible for financing, operating and maintaining the new infrastructure for a period of 25 years. This is Cintra’s first asset in Australia, which helps strengthen the company’s position for future opportunities in the market.

Key Features

• Four lanes from Warrego Highway east interchange to Warrego Highway west
• Grade separated interchanges at Warrego Highway west, Toowoomba-Cecil Plains Road interchange and Gore Highway
• A grade separated connection to Mort Street
• An approximately 30m deep cutting at the top of the Toowoomba Range was constructed as an alternative to the tunnel solution detailed in the reference design to allow all heavy vehicles, including dangerous goods carriers and over-dimensional vehicles, to use the Crossing
• An 800m long viaduct built over the existing Queensland Rail line, connecting the Lockyer Valley and the Toowoomba Range escarpment and providing continuity of the New England highway through bridges over the new cutting. The viaduct also greatly reduces operational maintenance costs for not only the concession period, but beyond
• Diversion of almost 80% of heavy and super-heavy commercial vehicles away from the existing local roads
• Increasing freight efficiencies, road and driver safety and enhancing liveability for the Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley areas

About the Highway Management

Its innovative design included the construction of a viaduct instead of a tunnel, allowing hazardous and over-sized vehicles to utilize the bypass. The viaduct greatly reduced operations in maintenance costs for not only the concession period, but beyond. The Nexus design also removed at grade crossing, guaranteeing safety and efficiency for the users.

Toowoomba Bypass reduces journey times for heavy commercial vehicles by up to 40 minutes and moves it away from Toowoomba’s city centre.

Connecting communities

Our projects serve as an economic engine for growth, supporting the well-being of the communities where we work and live. We worked with the consulting firm, Steer, to prepare the Economic and Community Impact of Ferrovial’s Toll Roads report.

The study measured the economic value generated in the regions we invest in and the benefits received by travelers from the start of each concession until December 31, 2022.