These plans are intended to guide the planning of "an efficient and responsive transport system" in Queensland over the next 15 years.

They hope to do that by establishing common transport priorities between the state and local governments, communicating planning intent, and guiding future transport planning and investment.

The plans are certainly glossy and full of management speak and in the case of North West Queensland 70 pages long, but I wonder if they will achieve much.

The NWQ plan covers 30,000 people and includes the local government areas of Burke, Carpentaria, Cloncurry, Doomadgee, Flinders, McKinlay, Mornington, Mount Isa and Richmond.

Works it says already carried out under the plan are safety upgrades to the intersection of the Kennedy Developmental Rd and McLaren St in Hughenden, projects along the Barkly Highway, upgrades to Mornington Island airport, the replacement of the Beams Brooke Bridge on Wills Developmental Road and culvert upgrades on the Flinders Hwy.

It's a lot harder to find out what is happening next and you have to scroll through pages of "planning context", "regional overviews" and "goals" to find much that is tangible in a language most can understand.

Even the three listed priorities, "Greater resilience, reliability and connectivity, Improved supply chain efficiency and a safer transport network that meets different users' needs" are a bit wishy-washy and resemble motherhood statements.

Even a useful practical one such as improve mobile coverage on highways doesn't really spell out how we get there.

I understand these planning documents need to exist and form part of a greater suite of tools.

However it's hard to see how everyday readers can see them as anything other than box-ticking exercises when our transport systems are so poor and there is so little financial investment to improve them.

Derek Barry