FAJWeB - Fast-track AJ Wyllie Bridge Petrie - The Westerner Newspaper.

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Enough is enough! That is the message from motorists and business owners frustrated about the inaction to begin construction works to repair the flood damaged AJ Wyllie Bridge.

Since January, traffic delays around the bridge, which links Petrie and Lawnton (and spans 111 metres) and is one of only a few routes traversing the North Pine River, has caused headaches for Community and local workers.

A-Mart Lawnton manager Rudi Burgers said his business had suffered a marked decline since the the road access was reduced from four lanes to two, with the closure of the old northbound bridge.

'It's certainly hard work at the moment - it's been very tough,' Mr Burgers said. 'In the past 10 months my foot traffic has and retail customers coming through the door has been down about 25 percent. Businesses are struggling and some have even closed and it seems to be getting worse, as the number of patrons that are frequenting the area is dropping.'

'It's only going to hurt the local community if people shop further afield.' Mr Burgers said sometimes traffic congestions caused his staff to get to work an hour late. 'When there's chaos on the Bruce Highway the traffic will (try to) detour through Petrie and the roads (and the bridge) just can't take it,' the Eatons Hill resident said.

Mr Burgers believes the delays in repairing the bridge is unacceptable. 'I don't know why it takes so long to get the wheels rolling. The communication lines have been poor in passing on information and we're none the wiser. We need action so we can get back to a sense of normality and maybe (the governments) could even look at helping the businesses back on track by covering some of their losses. They seem pretty good at compensating the ordinary person and reseidents, but what about the businesses that are facing foreclosure or staff layoffs?' Mr Burgers said.

Kallangur resident and Left Right Out - Community Action Business owner Ian Moses has started a Petition urging the State and Federal Governments to Fast-track the replacement of the northbound bridge. Mr Moses said there had been no urgency from the governments to fix the bridge and solve the problem of bottlenecks. Construction of the new bridge is likely to be finished by the end of 2012 (that's what Labor say) two years after the floods made the old bridge unusable.

'It's gone to tender but it won't be revealed until January, a year later, who's going to be awarded the tender.' Mr Moses said. 'One year after after the event that's as far as we've got in the proccess, which is absolutely pathetic.'

Mr Moses has also presented a seven-part Question with Notice to the Federal Transport and Regional Development Minister Tony Albanese, who is involved in the reconstruction works, about the issue.

Please visit Left Right Out's website, the links are to the right, to sign the petition.

Reporter and photo - Lee Oliver.