Relief is in sight for Mount Isa road users with the roadworks through town on the Barkly Hwy going ahead of schedule.
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Transport and Main Roads minister Mark Bailey was in town on Friday to meet with contractor BMD and see progress for himself.
Mr Bailey said the $8.3 million project to upgrade nine intersections in town from Camooweal St to Abel Smith Pde was going better than planned.
"Things are going really well, we were due to finish by the end of the year and we're making fantastic progress," Mr Bailey said.
"We're aiming for August at the moment, we've still got to see how we go with weather and in terms of progress but if it can be done by time of the Rodeo it will be, and if we don't quite get there, it's going to be 95% done."
Mr Bailey said the initiative would improve safety in town.
"Obviously what we want to see is less crashes," he said.
"Particularly the issue has been where people are turning and the big industry trucks not being able to stop in time and they've not been able to get out of the way.
"So we are putting in much longer turning slots so people can turn and get out of the way when things are coming through, when some of these triples are fully loaded it takes a while for them to pull up.
Mr Bailey said this would also help tourists who might not know the local road system too well.
"So we'll will see less crashes on the Barkly and that's really positive for everybody," he said.
"This will also support our (transport) of mineral production and the budget we've just brought down has a fair bit of money for other upgrades such as the Cloncurry to Dajarra Road."
Mr Bailey defended TMR notification to local businesses affected by the upgrades which were done simultaneously rather than staggered.
"We wanted to get it done as quickly as we can, getting it done earlier means it's safer earlier," he said.
"Road construction is always ugly whenever you do it, but getting it done earlier means the benefit is there earlier."
The upgrades are financed under the jointly state and federal funded Northern Australia Roads Program.
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