Bells Creek Arterial Road opens up hinterland gateway to booming Caloundra
THE $70 million Bells Creek Arterial Road providing a direct link from Glasshouse Country to the booming population of Aura is set to open in a matter of weeks.
The road, described by Caloundra MP Jason Hunt as a “very big deal” for the region, will see drivers able to reach Beerwah from Aura in just nine minutes with the upgrade creating critical time savings, social and business opportunities.
GC&M News has been told the road could be open as soon as mid-September with construction complete and signage and paint now being applied.
The long-delayed road – a victim of the 2022 floods just as construction was beginning, as well as supply and labour constraints – will benefit the hinterland communities at “multiple levels”, Mr Hunt said.
“The ‘mighty’ Bells Creek Arterial Road will be eight kilometres of good news,” Mr Hunt said.
“There’s the transport and congestion aspect with the new road gives a second connection to the Bruce Highway, something Caloundra has never had before,” he said.
“And it unlocks all sorts of infrastructure located in Caloundra South but also out into the hinterland.
“There are also people working on the emergency services precincts, a new fire station, police and ambulance and because of the location will be able to service Caloundra and the hinterland.”
Division 1 Councillor and Deputy Mayor, Rick Baberowski, said there was significant upside in terms of accessibility of new customers to Glasshouse Country towns.
“From the centre of Beerwah to the centre of Aura is nine or 10 minutes by one road,” he said.
He said Glasshouse Country towns had created important and high quality brands over many years that would bring people from the suburbs of
“In my view the quality of the townships now are that they are attractive enough to be on the list of somebody living in Baringa or Nirimba… to go ‘we’ll go to Glasshouse, Beerwah or Landsborough…’ the nice thing is the mix,” he said.
“As long as you’re on the list that’s all that matters.
“I’m confident we’ve given ourselves a really good shot of being on that list.”
Barry Butchers, situated on Roys Road, will be one of the first retail outlets for vehicles travelling west to Beerwah and co-owner, Narelle Barry, said they were hopeful of benefiting from the opening.
“We’re hoping that it will impact us by heaps,” she said
“I believe that there will be a lot more traffic on the road and we can only hope that some of them will turn into and off Roys Road and down to us.
“We are right in the perfect position for people to come down to us so we are hoping and thinking that may be the case, we’re certainly not discouraged by it happening that’s for sure.
“We believe that it will have an impact positively on the business, that’s certainly what we’re hoping anyway.”
Ms Barry said she believed there would be a strong flow-on affect.
“I think other businesses in Beerwah would have to gain more business from this road opening, it’s just been a big change to our little community over the last 20 years but I expect there will be more customers coming to Beerwah,” she said.
“We’ve got a lot of people coming in that use that road now and say they saw our sign and have always meant to come down and haven’t, so there may be others that think like that when they start travelling in as well.”
Baringa resident, Kylie Towle (pictured bottom left), said it would be great to avoid the highway to get to Beerwah.
“I think it will save time going down to Brisbane and Beerwah, so I think giving another access road is great to not be so gridlocked,” she said.
“At the moment, the Nirimba-Aura Boulevard turn-off is quite congested of an afternoon and I think that will decrease when that road opens.
“I live in Baringa, so for me I will be using it more to go down to Brisbane, that’s my primary purpose, but I think it’s necessary.”
Aura resident, Sam Truloff, said the road opening will improve travel times to work in Brisbane, and to the Hinterland for weekend trips.
“To have it open will be fantastic, because there’s one road in and one road out currently, getting home from work is a bit hectic at times, so it definitely will help,” he said.
“We plan on going to the Hinterland when the road opens.
“Obviously it’s always tricky with the little one trying to keep him occupied in the car, so the less time we can spend in the car the better.”
Glasshouse Country Chamber president, Tamara Hazelden, said it was an exciting opportunity for local businesses.
“To have tens of thousands of potential new customers just minutes from our doorstep is a genuinely exciting prospect,” she said.
“The good news for us is we offer something that nowhere else on the coast can provide with our unique townships, uncongested roads and friendly service.
“Once people from Aura and Caloundra get a taste of this, we know they’ll be back for more.
“While changes might not happen overnight, we think the potential is huge, and it is up to us to make our services as appealing as possible.”
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