A Shorten Labor Government will invest more than $100 million in the second stage of the Mackay Ring Road – the Mackay Port Access Road, creating up to 250 new jobs for locals in the construction phase alone.

Stage 1 of the Ring Road, first announced by the previous Federal Labor Government, and jointly funded with the Queensland Government is already underway - but we don’t want the work to stop. That’s why we are locking in the second stage right now.

The Mackay Port Access Road involves the construction of a new 8.2 kilometre highway from the Bruce Highway North intersection to the Harbour Road intersection – connecting Mackay’s northern suburbs to the Paget Industrial Area and mining locations west of the city.

The Ring Road will establish a connection between the Port of Mackay, Racecourse Mill and the mines – improving the links between where people work and where they live.

Mackay is a growing regional city, with a forecast population of more than 155,000 residents by 2031.

Daily cross river traffic is expected to increase by 50 per cent and the city’s existing bridges will exceed capacity at peak periods.

Imports at the Port of Mackay are also expected to double, which will greatly increase the number of trucks on local roads.

Without better road infrastructure, Mackay’s roads will be heavily congested. This means Mackay residents will spend more time stuck in traffic, and it also puts a handbrake on the local economy.

To make sure Mackay can keep growing as a liveable regional city, it needs more road infrastructure – and that’s exactly what Australian Labor will deliver.

Labor’s investment gives Mackay residents and businesses more certainty that their future infrastructure needs will be met – with better roads and more jobs.

The Mackay Port Access Road project is part of Labor’s Plan for Real Jobs in Regional Queensland.

Labor will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure projects in regional Queensland to grow local economies and create thousands of new jobs for Queenslanders.

Labor’s number one priority for Queenslanders is jobs. It always has been and it always will be.

Bill Shorten and Labor have spent a lot of time in regional Queensland, holding town hall meetings and listening to locals about what matters to them. Now we are delivering – with new infrastructure and new jobs.

Labor can fund these job-creating projects because unlike Turnbull and the Conservatives, we aren’t giving new tax handouts to multinationals and millionaires.

A factsheet with more information can be found here.