GROWTH FUELS TRAFFIC CRISIS
A TRANSPORT crisis is threatening the quality of life for Gold Coast families and is having a major impact on the local economy as frustrated commuters spend ridiculous amount of time in long lines of traffic.
And that is before they get anywhere near the M1, which can be turned into a car park in an instant by even the most minor accident.
The crisis lies within the dormitory suburbs along the length of the city, created by successive city councils and state governments that have failed to ensure adequate council and state roads infrastructure.
And it will grow considerably worse before it gets better, and that will only happen if the tiers of government find the funds to fix the mess caused by past inaction and buck-passing, and find the courage to demand developers cough up adequate funding to build feeder roads that are able to handle the thousands of new residents who fill their subdivisions and pockets.
As the Bulletin reports today, the greater Gold Coast grew an astounding 16,338 people last year, with the total population topping 663,000.
A demographer has confirmed that the soaring figure means the greater Gold Coast — which includes Tweed Heads — now has the second highest growth rate in the country outside of greater Melbourne, which includes Geelong. The Australian Bureau of Statistics predicts Melbourne will overtake Sydney’s population within eight years.
Our city fathers might consider these figures with glee. All those extra bodies arriving here largely from interstate, with a sizeable number from the outer suburbs of Sydney, mean extra rates dollars.
But they should not be so quick to congratulate themselves on a job well done.
As we’ve flagged, a major downside to this stems from insufficient development of an adequate local roads system to handle the growth.
Building a light rail system has been an inspired move on the Glitter Strip, but it is not helping suburbs like Pimpama, where a local complained it took 23 minutes to crawl 150 metres and where the bank-up can stretch back two, three or more kilometres of a morning as people from the new estates drive at snail’s pace along the single-lane Yawalpah Rd just to reach the ramp down on to the M1 or to cross to the western side.
As another Bulletin reader told us, her area in the northern suburbs has a high school with about 1500 students, a primary school, thousands of houses, a shopping centre and a one-lane road for everyone to use. “It was OK six years ago when none of this existed,’’ she said, “but did someone forget to use their brains and say to themselves, ‘we need another road?’’’
The problem is not confined to the north. There are traffic bankups the length of the city, with service roads heavily congested as workers and parents doing the school run battle for space in the morning and afternoon peaks.
All of this is happening daily, before much of that traffic has a chance to spill on to the motorway. For all those who believe a local council’s job is “roads, rates and rubbish’’, this crisis is already fuelling considerable debate.