The staggering price tag of Captain Cook Highway roadworks since Cyclone Jasper have been made public by the state government as part of the recent state budget process.

A total of about $216.3m in joint Federal and State Government Disaster Recovery Funding will be needed for the section of road between Cairns and Mossman, with planned tasks also including Mowbray River Bridge “reconstruction works” set to start early next year, according to Transport and Main Roads Department figures.

Of that money, $39.6m has already been spent, and $56.6m is being spent in the 2025/26 financial year, while a further $120.1m - more than half of the budget - will still have to be found after June 2026, casting doubt on whether it is realistic to believe works will be finished before mid-2027.

TMR Far North District director Darryl Jones told an industry briefing earlier this year Disaster Recovery Funding was meant to be spent within two years of the end of the financial year in which the disaster happened, meaning June 2026, but he had secured an extension in this case.

He said he was "targeting late 2026” for the completion of the works, but he also said the damage was found to be a lot worse than TMR initially thought.