BREAKFAST AT VALERIE’S
Roads Minister invited to taste Coomera peak-hour standstill
FOR Valerie Edwards, the M1 chaos and congested feeder roads in the city’s fastgrowing north are worth frying for.
The Gold Coast retiree has invited Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey into her Coomera home for a bacon-and-eggs breakfast and challenged him to then hit the roads to feel the pain she and thousands of others suffer every day.
Ms Edwards says it has taken her up to 40 minutes to travel 4.5km as workers and families in the Coomera, Upper Coomera, Pimpama and Yatala areas go about their daily lives.
She says the traffic nightmare has become so bad that residents now dread the approval of new developments.
Desperate for answers, she is offering Brisbane-based Mr Bailey a fully cooked breakfast – as long as they leave her estate which sits on Foxwell Rd by 7am to battle the morning traffic first-hand in Coomera and on the M1.
“This has been going on for over two years and gotten to the stage where there is such a hatred for the new developments approved everywhere, adding to the congestion,” said Ms Edwards, who has lived in Coomera for 10 years. “The new Westfield Shopping Centre is just part of the problem. I refuse to shop there.
“We desperately need another M1 yesterday, to take us from the back of Coomera to the other suburbs.
“I know it is both the state and the local government involved so I want us to get together on this.
“They knew we were growing as a city. I want answers as to why there is so much construction approved at once and why we don’t have other options.”
The situation isso dire Ms Edwards said she was forced to cancel her volunteer work.
“I am in a choir that sings at aged-care homes, but I have had to write in to my conductor to let them know I won’t be able to make it some days because the traffic has made it impossible.
“I had one appointment where I just had to turn around go home and cry. It took me 40 minutes to get to the Dreamworld roundabout at 7.40 in the morning.”
The distance from Ms Edwards’ home at the Genesis Coomera estate at the north of Foxwell Rd to the Dreamworld roundabout is just over 4km.
“It is impacting everyone’s life, not just me.”
Mr Bailey said the breakfast invitation was a “kind offer” but was noncommittal.
Ms Edwards has confirmed a meeting to see local councillor Cameron Caldwell on the matter.
Traffic congestion is a major issue in the city’s northern corridor, one of the fastest growing regions in Australia.
Without a second option locals are crowding the on and off ramps of the main thoroughfare connecting the city.
A council report this year revealed congestion in the area was caused by motorists driving across the interchange bridges on the M1, with just 40 per cent wanting to access the motorway.
A little further south motorists have complained of taking 23 minutes to travel 150m on Pimpama’s Yawalpah Rd near Exit 49.
A 150-year-old church at Exit 45 was forced to close its gates in September to prevent motorists, bent on escaping congestion, from using its property as a rat run.
Coomera MP Michael Crandon, who spoke of Ms Edwards’ plight in parliament, said an LNP Government would build a second M1, to be called the Coomera Connector.
Mr Crandon said the issue needed a multi-pronged response, including more car parks at train stations and better bus services.
“Really, the M1 is now the only option for most people even though this is the fastest-growing region in Queensland,” he said.
Cr Caldwell, Council’s planning committee chair, will meet with Ms Edwards next week. “I support calls for the urgent construction of the Coomera Connector to relieve traffic congestion,” he said.
Mr Bailey slammed the previous government’s response on M1 investment and major exits.
“The invitation to breakfast is a kind offer and I certainly know there is increasing pressure on Coomera’s local road network,” he said.
“The northern Gold Coast is growing rapidly so we’re working on several projects on state-controlled roads so they can take the pressure off the local road network under council’s control.’’
IT IS IMPACTING EVERYONE’S LIFE, NOT JUST ME. VALERIE EDWARDS