BLAME THE CANALS
WHY GOLD COAST TRAFFIC SUCKS
THE Gold Coast’s transport network has a fatal historical flaw which unless fixed will see the Glitter Strip doomed to gridlock.
Figures provided by GPS maker Tom Tom reveal the Coast rates fifth of the small Oceania cities (population under 800,000) with a congestion level of 27 per cent, which means motorists are waiting 25 minutes longer in peak times.
Traffic hot spots are Surfers Paradise, the Pacific Motorway exits at Reedy Creek south, Helensvale and Robina south and Southport on the Gold Coast Highway opposite the Broadwater Parklands.
Congestion on the Coast roads is increasing by four per cent annually, 95 hours are being lost by motorists each year and Friday at the evening peak rates as the worst time to be driving.
Leading Southport businessman and engineer John Howe believes there are solutions but it will require unprecedented funding support from all levels of government.
The Bulletin conducted its own road tests late this week during the evening peak. We found traffic stopped on Smith Street outbound at 5.30pm, while Coomera to Nerang southbound on the M1 around 6pm became a 30km/h crawl (see breakouts).
A 15km commute on the Pacific Motorway south from Coomera took 35 minutes, which compares to a clear 10km ride at 8am in New York’s Manhatten only taking 37 minutes.
During the Coast test drives, traffic experts on the radio warned the road congestion was worse from Robina to Tugun southbound on the M1 and along the Gold Coast Highway.
Both Mr Howe and the RACQ were asked for traffic solutions after new data shows the Pacific Motorway could grind to a halt within a year and its ramps were overcrowded.
“The way the Gold Coast developed, there were two roads. There was the one out west (the Pacific Highway) and the one through the sand dunes at the front (the Gold Coast Highway),” Mr Howe said.
“Bundall Road came later. You only have three northsouth roads. Because of the canal system there was a reluctance to build the link bridges.
“It’s like having a heart with three arteries and they’re all clogged. The light rail can be likened to putting a catheter through to unclog it.
“With Bundall Road, they’ve done some patchwork. It needs some serious more money on those intersections. The M1 will need millions of dollars as well.”
Mr Howe does not believe extending light rail south to Coolangatta is a one-stop fix to the Coast’s traffic problems.
The $104 million being spent on six-laning Bundall Road before the Commonwealth Games gives context to the ballpark figures for future funding.
“I don’t think there’s one solution. The light rail has worked very well. A lot of us were sceptical at the start. I don’t think anyone now doubts that it’s a good system,” he said.
An Australian Infrastructure Report in 2015 first uncovered the spread of traffic congestion on the tourist strip and called for a doubling of spending on infrastructure.
The study located the top ten corridors for costs caused by delays and among the worst included the Pacific Motorway from the city to Beenleigh, Southport to Burleigh Heads and the Helensvale to Southport stretch.
In terms of the busy road “arteries”, council data predicts the Gold Coast Highway at the Sundale bridge will increase from 51,000 vehicles a day to 66,000 by 2031.
The Southport-Burleigh Connection Road is expected to increase from about 21,000 vehicles to more than 30,000 a day. About 11 intersections
around Robina-Varsity Lakes need upgrades.
But funding remains a challenge with council admitting there is nothing in the finances to upgrade a key connection road between the M1 and Pacific Pines until 2031.
Mr Howe said a light rail connection to the Gold Coast Airport would take five to ten years to build and other options had to be considered.
“A good bus network combined with light rail and more bus parking stations (on east- west routes) is very important. The cost is important. It has to be affordable,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s unsolvable. It will take money, time and patience for it to work.”
RACQ spokesperson Renee Smith agrees with Mr Howe, urging authorities to put the right transport infrastructure in place to meet continuing growth.
“There is limited northsouth and east-west corridor capacity and, on top of that, public transport and active transport options are currently limited on the Gold Coast,” Ms Smith said.
“We expect the $160 million Commonwealth Games funding for upgrades and Stage 2 of the Gold Coast light rail will help address some of these issues.”
Ms Smith said additional capacity needed to be created on the north-south and eastwest corridors by improving intersections along the Benowa Road, Wardoo Street and Kumbari Avenue corridor.
“The Smith Street Motorway needs to be upgraded to cope with current and future pressures and of course we need to increase the capacity of the Pacific Motorway and improve interchanges,” she said.
The State Government should investigate alternative corridors to add capacity and redistribute traffic like the Intra-Regional Transport Corridor, from Logan to Carrara, on the eastern side of the Pacific Motorway, she added.
Asked what could give immediate relief to congestion, Ms Smith said constant checking of key intersections.
“We’d like to see City of Gold Coast and the Department of Transport and Main Roads continue to monitor congestion and peak traffic flows ... to see if improvements to timing and synchronisation of traffic signals can be made to improve traffic flows,” she said.