Toohey Road in Salisbury is among the roads included in a $110 million resurfacing program covering almost a million square metres of road surface across Brisbane, with the works branded “Operation Smooth” forming part of a broader $1.9 billion transport and infrastructure package for the coming year.
For Tarragindi and Salisbury residents, the resurfacing arrives on a road that has already seen significant recent investment of a different kind, just metres from where koalas and other wildlife now cross safely beneath the bitumen.
A road that runs through Toohey Forest
Toohey Road carries traffic along the edge of Toohey Forest, one of Brisbane’s most significant urban bushland reserves and home to a resident koala population that has long faced the basic problem of needing to cross a busy suburban road to move between habitat areas.
Salisbury sits roughly 12.4 kilometres south of the Brisbane GPO, with Toohey Mountain and its surrounding reserve forming the suburb’s north-eastern boundary.
A purpose-built wildlife underpass on Toohey Road was completed recently, giving koalas and other native animals a dedicated, safe crossing point beneath the road rather than forcing them to navigate traffic at ground level.
The project involved installing fencing fitted with wildlife escape hatches on either side of the underpass to guide animals toward the crossing, along with mulch and natural material placed at the base of the culvert to encourage use and help the structure blend into the surrounding habitat. Some minor finishing touches around the site were completed in early 2026.
The resurfacing works now planned for Toohey Road sit alongside that wildlife infrastructure, meaning the road corridor through this stretch of Salisbury has had a genuinely active year of construction activity, addressing both surface quality for motorists and safe passage for the animals living in the forest beside it.
Connecting suburbs, commuters and bushland
Toohey Road functions as a key connector for residents and commuters travelling between Tarragindi, Salisbury and the broader southern Brisbane network, linking through to Toohey Mountain Reserve and onward toward Sunnybank and Macgregor.
Bus route 120 runs along the corridor, connecting Garden City to Brisbane City, with a stop directly at Toohey Forest that has seen its own temporary adjustments during the underpass construction period.
The combination of through-traffic, bus services and proximity to bushland recreation areas makes Toohey Road a road that genuinely earns its place in a resurfacing priority list, carrying enough daily use to justify the investment in a smoother and safer surface.
Next steps for the project
Brisbane’s standard approach to resurfacing involves advance notice to residents and motorists before works begin, with councils typically flagging in advance whether disruption will include night works, temporary lane closures, reduced speed limits or vehicle relocation requirements. A detailed construction schedule for Toohey Road has not yet been released, so the exact timing and duration of works remains to be confirmed.
Once complete, the resurfacing is expected to deliver a smoother, safer driving surface on a road that already represents one of Brisbane’s better examples of balancing traffic infrastructure with wildlife conservation in the same stretch of bitumen.
For updates on roadworks and closures, residents can check QLDTraffic’s live traffic alerts or click here.
Published 17-June-2026
