NICHOLLS VOWS TO FIX EXITS
THE LNP will invest $100 million on improving ramps on the Pacific Motorway on top of its pledge to build the M2. Mr Nicholls told the Bulletin: “The M1 is the state’s busiest road but all too often it is clogged with traffic reduced to a crawl, delaying motorists from getting to work and returning home to their families.
“Traffic backs up on exit ramps, sometimes queuing on to the motorway, creating a safety and congestion issue.”
The LNP’s Better M1 Ramps Program will focus on improving Exit 41 (Yatala, Ormeau), Exit 45 (Ormeau, Jacobs Well), Exit 49 (Pimpama, Jacobs Well) and Exit 57 (Hope Island, Oxenford).
The announcement is the second major breakthrough in the Bulletin’s Going for Gold campaign, which asks major parties to commit on projects crucial to the city’s economy.
THE $500 million second Pacific Motorway promised by the LNP is the only major Gold Coast project in the pipeline after the Commonwealth Games.
After Labor had spent days chipping away at the LNP’s commitment, Opposition leader Tim Nicholls last night told the Bulletin: “We will build the road. And it will not be a toll road.”
The LNP is yet to provide a time line for the second M1 to be built from Nerang north to Stapylton, near Yatala, along a gazetted 36.5km stretch running east of the Pacific Motorway.
But an announcement yesterday of a further $100 million to fix exits on the M1 was backed by the promise to provide funding in the first budget and complete work in the first term of government.
Both the M2 build and M1 exit upgrade are wins in the Bulletin’s Going for Gold campaign aimed to get job creation projects and a legacy to prevent an economic hangover after the Commonwealth Games in April next year.
Mr Nicholls said the M2 would not require an environmental impact study, with much of the corridor next to the existing heavy rail line.
“The next steps are the acquisition of the corridor, finalise the design and call for the tenders,” he said.
The Opposition has acknowledged the two highway projects are the only large infrastructure contracts in the pipeline for the Coast.
The State Development annual report shows the Government had delivered on completing the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games venues at a cost of $320 million and finishing the $550 million Parklands athletes village, which provided 1500 jobs.
But the report notes that the integrated resort development at The Spit was terminated in August, which would have created up to 13,000 jobs.
The only project listed under “future priorities’’ for the Gold Coast was the handover of the Games village and “completing defects for a liability period”.
The other key future tasks cover the rest of the state and include public consultation on master plans for priority ports Townsville and Gladstone.
Key future tasks include the letting of work packages for the North Queensland Stadium in Townsville, supporting a $50 million integrated biorefinery project at Mackay and demolishing non-heritage buildings for the Queens Wharf Brisbane casino.
Labor yesterday continued to question the budgeting of the Opposition for the M2 and began rolling out a scare campaign that it would be a toll road.
Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey branded the M2 proposal a flop, maintaining it had a $2.1 billion costings hole.
He said the LNP announcement was a desperate last ditch move after six years of LNP inaction on the M1 by nervous LNP Gold Coast MPs who were worried it would cost them their seats.
“What’s baffling to M1 motorists is Tim Nicholls still won’t commit to any major M1 upgrades,” he said.
The Government had invested in two jointly funded major M1 upgrades, with early works underway between Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes and at the Gateway Merge and construction completed the Exit 54 upgrade, he said.
“Our M1 action plan adds a third major upgrade with $206 million more on the table to finish a six-lane minimum all the way to the border, a $25 million Oxenford interchange upgrade (Exit 57) and $16 million in planning work to prepare for more Gateway Merge upgrades.
“We’re doing the vital planning for the long-term upgrades of various interchanges on the M1 which were not done by the LNP when Tim Nicholls was treasurer, including Exit 38 (Yatala North), Exit 41 (Yatala South), Exit 45 (Ormeau) and Exit 49 (Pimpama).”