Another smashing day on the roads
MAIN Roads Minister Mark Bailey has promised work to upgrade the M1 will begin “straight after the Commonwealth Games”.
But after another day of chaos on Coast roads yesterday member for Mudgeeraba Ros Bates slammed the upgrades as “too little too late”, saying the city faced gridlock during April’s sporting extravaganza.
“We are going to have to accept that we are going to be an international failure for the Commonwealth Games because we can’t even cope with our own domestic traffic,” she said.
“We’ve had very bad gridlock for the past six days and rail fail when someone hit a tram.
“The road should have been upgraded three years ago but Labor spent that precious time debating about it and now look where we are, we are in absolute gridlock.”
A car burst into flames in the southbound lanes of the M1 near the Yatala exit at 4.25pm yesterday, causing peak hour traffic to back up for several kilometres.
The occupants of the car escaped unharmed.
Matters were little better closer to the city after a car crashed into a tram, causing tailbacks on nearby roads and disruption to public transport.
Witnesses said the vehicle, a red Audi hatchback, was attempting to perform an illegal U-turn when the accident happened at 12.30pm.
The tram driver said the crash came as a shock and had interrupted his lunch.
“I’ll be having an extended dinner tonight,” he said.
There were also accidents at Currumbin Creek Bridge, Hope Island and Reedy Creek.
Currumbin MP Jann Stuckey said the situation was “beyond a joke”.
“Fixing the roads is the most important thing to do on the Gold Coast and I think if Labor was serious about it they would have made Meghan Scanlon assistant minister for roads not tourism,” she said.
“What good is having even more people in the city when southern Coasters are virtually trapped in their own suburb?
“They put a lot of emphasis on using the rail but do you really expect a tradie to grab his tools and get on a tram?
“I’m banging my head against the wall, it is beyond a joke.”
However Mr Bailey said some relief was on the way, with major works to commence immediately after the Games on upgrading the M1 between Mudgeeraba and Varsity Lakes and at the Gateway merge.
“The Palaszczuk Government is committed to upgrading the M1 by ensuring a minimum of six lanes from Brisbane to the border after no upgrades were funded by the Queensland LNP and their record majority when in government,” he said.
“We’ve also put $206 million on the table to six lane the last M1 section from Varsity Lakes to Tugun to attract federal funding, and we’re investing $25 million to upgrade the Oxenford interchange and ramps (Exit 57) and $16 million on the business case for upgrades between Eight Mile Plains and the Logan Motorway.
“We’re also nearing completion of $160m worth of Gold Coast local road upgrades ahead of the Commonwealth Games, with completion of the Gooding Drive roundabout imminent.”