Billion Dollar Ipswich Motorway Opens

Hundreds turned out on 15 May to witness the official opening of the $2.8 billion Ipswich Motorway project.

Federal Transport and Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese and his state counterpart Scott Emerson joined many other dignitaries to formally open the Motorway, following completion of the final $1.76 billion stretch linking Goodna to Dinmore.

Ipswich Mayor Cr Paul Pisasale said the Federally-funded motorway, which created 5,000 jobs during the four months and two years it took to build, was a boon to Ipswich.

“This is about the entrance to one of the fastest-growing parts of Australia – now the infrastructure is in place, this is going to take a lot of pressure off Brisbane,” he said.

Cr Pisasale congratulated work crews who finished the project under budget and six months ahead of schedule.

“I congratulate the construction people because they have built one of the most magnificent highways under enormously complex conditions with the very high traffic flows.

“Every time they built a section of road, they had to build another road to divert the traffic.”

Three projects over eight years have widened the Ipswich Motorway to a minimum of six lanes from Oxley to Dinmore.

They include the Wacol to Darra stretch, including the new interchange of the Ipswich Motorway and the Centenary Highway ($824 million); the Ipswich Motorway/Logan Motorway interchange ($255 million); plus the Dinmore to Goodna stretch ($1.76 billion).

Billion Dollar Ipswich Motorway Opens