M2 push, but who pays?

A SECOND motorway is needed to relieve traffic congestion for Gold Coast commuters on the M1, according to the State Opposition.

However, the LNP has failed to commit money to help build the “M2”.

The Opposition yesterday launched a petition calling on the Government to build a second M1 on a 36.5km corridor set aside for the Intra-Regional Transport Corridor (IRTC).

The IRTC, gazetted last year, is a proposed arterial road which would run from Stapylton-Jacobs Well Road in the city’s far-north to NerangBroadbeach Road.

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls said a second major arterial was long overdue. “It would be a game changer for the northern Gold Coast and ease the burden on the M1.”

The IRTC was first proposed in the 1990s but was canned by the LNP Newman Government when developing the SEQ Regional Plan.

Asked if he would build the project, Mr Nicholls was noncommittal. “Obviously I wouldn’t be calling on people not to get behind what is a worthwhile project, but we are not the Government at the moment. Annastacia Palaszczuk is in Government and I am calling on people to sign the petition to bring pressure to bear.”

Acting Main Roads Minister Steven Miles called the announcement a “stunt”.

“The Nicholls-Newman government not only failed to invest one single dollar in the M1 during their record majority but they also failed to plan for the future by taking the unprecedented step to remove the Intra-Regional Transport Corridor (IRTC) from the SEQ Regional Plan in 2014,” he said.