Nicholls ramps up motorway pledges
THE LNP will invest $100 million on improving ramps on the Pacific Motorway on top of its pledge of $500 million for a new M2.
Opposition leader Tim Nicholls made the promise at a media conference at Movie World yesterday during campaigning on the Gold Coast.
The announcement is the second breakthrough in the Bulletin’s Going for Gold campaign in which the major parties are being asked to commit on projects to ensure the city’s economy does not hit a pothole after the Commonwealth Games.
When launching the campaign on November 2, the Bulletin asked that a new government within 12 months of office, to prevent a fatality, fix five of the exits on the M1.
Opposition transport spokesman Andrew Powell said the Better Ramps program would be delivered during the next term of government.
“By contrast, Annastacia Palaszczuk’s half-baked announcement about upgrading the M1 past Varsity Lakes won’t begin until 2020 at the earliest. We will start rolling out our program as part of the first budget,” he said.
The Coast’s LNP MPs, Michael Crandon in Coomera, Mark Boothman in Albert and Sid Cramp in Gaven, have been lobbying the Palaszczuk Government for more than a year to improve the exits.
Mr Crandon had taken video footage of vehicles stalled on the far left lane of the M1 as trucks passed at 110km/h, and predicted a fatality would occur.
The pledge does not come as a surprise because the noise of the Opposition campaign along with lobbying by the Bulletin meant the LNP would have to offer a solution.
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 onto the motorway, creating a safety and congestion issue.
“Our Better M1 Ramps program will look at ways we can make improvements to onand off-ramps around the growing northern Gold Coast region.
“This could be lengthening existing ramps, making intersection improvements or fixing local feeder roads to get traffic off the ramps faster.”
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).