There’s no greater reminder that the Central Highlands is abundant in agricultural product than lots of trucks rolling down the highways piled with grain and cotton.
October has arrived and with it the commencement of the district’s first harvest—chickpeas, which will be closely followed by wheat, cotton and sorghum.
Graincorp estimates that approximately 80 000 tonnes of chickpeas will be received through the Emerald and Gindie facilities and about 60 000 tonnes at Capella.
This means that there’ll be around 2000 trips made by trucks (b-double size) heading into Emerald and about 1200 trips from Emerald to the port at Gladstone, plus a corresponding amount of traffic in the Capella area.
Central Highlands’ Mayor Cr Kerry Hayes likens the next few months to the cane season on the coast.
‘Communities in and visitors to the sugarcane growing districts are made well aware at the start of the cane harvest to be mindful of cane train movements and cane hauling trucks on their roads during the winter and there’s no reason we shouldn’t take just as much care with public awareness as they do.
‘Unlike the coast, our harvest doesn’t have high visibility and, unless you’re connected to the land, most people would be unaware of the harvest cycle.
‘Everyone—not just people that live in the Emerald and Capella townships—should know that for the next few months there’ll be a significant increase in heavy vehicle traffic on most minor roads into town and on the highways heading out of town,’ the mayor said.
‘Often the trucks and harvest machinery will be moving in and out of paddocks directly onto the minor roads and this is when extra care needs to be taken.
‘The main message is clearly road safety. There are a few important things to remember about sharing the road with heavy vehicles that include: staying out of the truck driver’s blind spots; keeping a safe distance, not only to allow the truck a reasonable stopping distance, but also to avoid debris from the trailers and wheels; allowing trucks sufficient room to negotiate turns; and how to safely overtake a heavy vehicle.
‘The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads’ website has some useful information on these topics under “sharing the road with heavy vehicles”,’ the mayor noted.
‘The other point is that some extra patience may be required and perhaps it would be prudent to allow an extra few minutes for a trip to Springsure, Capella or Rockhampton.
‘Ideally, we’d like to see less grain on the road and more on the rail,’ said the mayor. ‘The proposal for the Central Highlands Intermodal Hub at Yamala is well-advanced and recently received some much-awaited support from the Director General of the TMR—it’s a project that’s top of the ticket when it comes to advocacy.’