MY WAY ON THE HIGHWAY
Mayor cites will of the entire city to stomp on Burleigh MP’s demand to divert route west
MAYOR Tom Tate has rejected a push to send the light rail west after it reaches Burleigh, saying the city voted to send it south.
Burleigh MP Michael Hart is backing calls for the tram network to be rerouted west to Varsity Lakes train station rather than continue down the Gold Coast Highway to the airport as planned by council.
A petition calling for the change has been signed by 1500 people.
But Cr Tate said the people of the Gold Coast had already made their wishes clear.
“They come up with other routes when they have a petition of 1500 — I took to the election that we wanted light rail to go down the ocean side on the highway and 73 per cent of Gold Coasters voted me in on that,” he said.
Mr Hart said he would prefer to see an extension of the heavy rail to the airport and argued a light rail link to the Varsity Lakes train station would service more passengers.
“I believe it is more important we have bums on seats than to take it down past the ocean,” he said.
“The state Government already owns the rail corridor all the way to the airport ... so why not use that?”
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the petition would be “given due consideration’’.
MAYOR Tom Tate has rejected a push to send the light rail west after it reaches Burleigh, saying it won’t happen as the case simply does not “stack up”.
A petition with 1500 signatures backed by State Member for Burleigh Michael Hart has called for stage 3B of the trams network to turn west at West Burleigh Road and link with heavy rail at Varsity Lakes instead of continuing south along the Gold Coast Highway through Palm Beach.
Cr Tate said the proposed change would double the cost of the project and go against the mandate he was voted in on.
“I would say it would double the project length and budget, and create less patronage,” he said. “If you were to look at it financially, the business case is not going to stack up.”
Cr Tate said the plan to have the light rail continue along the Gold Coast Highway to Palm Beach and Gold Coast Airport already had the support of the Gold Coast community.
“They come up with other routes when they have a petition of 1500 — I took to the election that we wanted light rail to go down the ocean side on the highway and 73 per cent of Gold Coasters voted me in on that,” he said.
Mr Hart said he wanted a feasibility study to weigh up the benefit of a connection to the Varsity Lakes train station and then to the airport, instead of a light rail-only option from Burleigh.
“I support the light rail now that we have got it,” Mr Hart said.
“I am for linking to the heavy rail at Helensvale and to get to the airport, but to send (light) rail down the highway through Palm Beach will cause way too much disruption and quite significant property resumptions.”
Mr Hart said he would prefer to see an extension of the heavy rail to the airport, and argued a light rail link to the Varsity Lakes train station would service more passengers.
“I believe it is more important we have bums on seats than to take it down past the ocean,” he said.
“The state Government already owns the rail corridor all the way to the airport and the expansion of the M1 has taken into account the area, so why not use that?”
Mr Hart questioned the viability of the council’s original consultation on the project.
“We are aware only there was something like only 200 people from Palm Beach contributed to it, out of those spoken to,” he said.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the petition would be “given due consideration’’.
“The final alignment has yet to be decided, nor have the final station locations been identified,” Mr Bailey said.
Infrastructure Association of Queensland CEO Steve Abson said a passenger rail extension like that proposed from Varsity Lakes could be expected to cost between $80-90 million per kilometre for capital works alone.
The cost of the Gold Coast light rail to date had run to $84 million per kilometre in total, including early development works and maintenance.
Palm Beach resident Karen Rowles, who put the petition forward, argued light rail south of Burleigh would not be used.
“Southern communities don’t want it and don’t need it. We have a great bus system. The light rail should be going west instead,” Ms Rowles said.
“We think a heavy rail extension from Varsity to the airport is a priority.”
Ms Rowles said residents were concerned about rezoning along the light rail route.
A separate online Change.org petition opposed to the light rail following the Gold Coast Highway south through Burleigh and Palm Beach has more than 8000 signatures.
A business case study for the $600 million stage 3 of the light rail, from Broadbeach to Burleigh Heads, has yet to be completed before funding is allocated.
A VOCAL minority should not be allowed to derail the best piece of city transport infrastructure put up in a generation.
Elected representatives need to harden up and not cave in whenever they feel the blowtorch of an opposing view.
The Gold Coast saw the not-in-my-backyard brigade in action in the fight over an instrument landing system for the airport, and now the people who fear anything they think might upset their comfort are railing against a plan to take the trams south from Burleigh to the airport.
The wording of one of the online petitions bouncing around the internet makes it sound like Burleigh remains a sleepy fishing village.
But as beautiful as Burleigh still is, that tram left the station long ago. The Gold Coast Highway runs slap bang through the centre of town and with that traffic and the huge numbers of locals and tourists who live at or visit Burleigh daily, what was once a village half a century ago is now a very busy business, tourism and residential hub.
Of course Burleigh must be protected, but that does not mean a clean, green transport option like light rail should be stopped because people assume planners will make an insane decision and route it south through the precious rainforest of Burleigh headland or over Aboriginal middens alongside Tallebudgera Creek.
The intention is for light rail to result in fewer cars on the roads. That surely is a big argument for taking the trams into Burleigh and then south along the highway.
Burleigh MP Michael Hart is backing a petition presented to Parliament that calls for the trams to run west from Burleigh instead of south, rumbling through areas where commuters and tourists do not want to go to link with a costly heavy rail extension to the airport that remains a long way.
Mayor Tom Tate says forget it, the trams will not go west. He is right. It makes little sense. And we’re pleased to note the response from the Transport Minister to a light rail diversion is decidedly luke warm.