Tri-ing times on our roads

NORTHERN Gold Coast motorists faced unprecedented traffic yesterday morning – and the same is expected today.

Road closures for the Gold Coast ITU World Triathlon were to blame for the gridlock as motorists shouted at each other, had slow speed bingles and children were late to and from school.

Labrador resident Carrie Sylva said she had never seen traffic as bad in her 11 years living on Gordon St.

“A young fellow was just yelling at the person ahead of him to move but it was ridiculous because he couldn’t move anywhere, nobody could move,” she said.

“It was chockers all the way up the main street (Turpin Rd) and now there is an accident there.”

A Queensland police spokesperson said two cars had collided on the corner of Gordon and Turpin streets at 9.55am with no injuries.

One of the worst areas for congestion was the Gold Coast Highway and Government Rd intersection and streets in the surrounding area.

Motorists were advised to divert onto Government Road but traffic was at a standstill for long periods.

Children travelling to schools were also caught in the traffic chaos and then had to queue at administration blocks to get late slips.

A Department of Education spokesman said he was aware students experienced delays getting to school yesterday and recommended parents contact their principals if they were concerned.

In the afternoon, Coombabah State High School posted on Facebook that buses to pick up children were running up to 20 minutes late due to the triathlon.

Despite the delays, Southport councillor Dawn Crichlow said she had not received any complaints.

“No, it has been flowing all right, I went out to Olsen Ave, Nerang Southport Road and back down Queen St,” she said.

“We haven’t had any complaints, everybody loves us today.”

She said the event was great for the Gold Coast with about 500 competitors from the US and more than 400 from the UK among the massive field of entries for the two-day event.