Critical roadworks keeps communities connected
Situated approximately 80 kilometres west of Toowoomba, the town of Dalby has a key role as the administrative centre for the Western Downs region.
With a population just north of 12,700, Dalby punches well above its economic weight supporting a variety of industries including agriculture, large-scale engineering, power generation, and coal and gas mining.
Keeping Dalby connected with the Western Downs region is vital to the local economy, particularly for small towns like Cecil Plains.
The fertile black soil around Cecil Plains, named after a pastoral station established there in 1842, is ideal for cotton production.
In fact, Cecil Plains is home to one of the largest cotton gins in the southern hemisphere with a further two cotton gins situated within 10 kilometres of Dalby itself.
Recognising the importance of keeping Darling Downs communities connected, Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) has worked to improve the resilience of a key rural transport route.
The Dalby–Cecil Plains Road runs south-west from the Warrego Highway at Dalby to Cecil Plains, about 40 kilometres away.
The road’s location on the Condamine Floodplain, one of the largest catchments in the Murray–Darling Basin, leaves it vulnerable to flooding.
Heavy rainfall in late 2021 followed by record-breaking rainfall events in 2022 significantly damaged the road surface with the Ashall Creek bridge severely impacted.
Emergency works following both events kept the Dalby–Cecil Plains Road open.
Between November 2023 and October 2024, reconstruction works were completed on various flood damaged sections of the road.
Funded through the joint Commonwealth-state Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA), these works were vital to keeping Cecil Plains connected to Dalby.
Further works to address the challenges of this flood-prone road were completed in April 2025 with extraordinary disaster assistance provided through the DRFA.
As part of the DRFA funded 2021–22 Betterment Program, a floodway and the Ashall Creek bridge section were strengthened and their flood resilience improved.
Flood water up to two metres deep often flows over the Ashall Creek bridge while the floodway is prone to deteriorating quickly during floods due to saturated ground conditions and slow-moving water in the table drains.
To address these issues, TMR designed and implemented a range of solutions including pavement and drainage improvements, increased batter and drainage protection, foam bitumen and the installation of new guardrail.
These Betterment works, which commenced in late October 2024, are keeping Dalby connected with the Western Downs region.
