The Government of Queensland in Australia has announced that the works on the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing have been initiated.

The works include construction of twin arch bridges that will carry traffic coming from New England Highway traffic to the top of the A$1.6bn ($1.2bn) Toowoomba Second Range Crossing where it cuts through the Toowoomba Range at Mount Kynoch, on Toowoomba’s northern edge.

Australian Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester said: “The New England Highway bridges will be an iconic feature of the project, each towering 30 metres above the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing and will be built using a very interesting ‘top-down’ approach, where the bridges will be built first and the ground under them excavated later.

"The new bridges will carry about 20,000 vehicles a day on the New England Highway over the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing."

“Once built, the new bridges will carry about 20,000 vehicles a day on the New England Highway over the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing.

“This project in Toowoomba will have a major impact on the national road network, saving time and money for freight operators as far and wide as Darwin and Melbourne.”

Chester further explained that the arch bridge is not a regular structure in Australia and their position on Mount Kynoch would be prominent on the Toowoomba skyline.

Queensland Main Roads and Road Safety Minister Mark Bailey said: “We’ll also be building a three-span ‘super-tee’ bridge which the project team will be able to construct without stopping traffic, or altering the current alignment of Toowoomba-Cecil Plains Road.

“The three-span bridge will take the TSRC over Toowoomba-Cecil Plains Road, where there will be a grade-separated interchange.

“There is so much taking place on the TSRC this year, and along with these major bridge projects, we will also see works continue on the Gore, Warrego East and Warrego West highway interchanges.”

Bailey also said that the construction works of bridge over Toowoomba-Cecil Plains Road at Wellcamp would begin this week.

The Australian Government will be offering a financial assistance of A$1.137bn ($85.6m), which would be 80% of the total cost of the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing project.

The Queensland Government would be contributing A$321m ($241m) that is equivalent to 20% of the total project cost through public-private partnership contract arrangements.