HEALTHY LIVING OLDER & WISER FAMILY LIFE HOME Pothole in road plan

THE northern Gold Coast will need up to $200 million in road and bridge upgrades for the $2.4 billion Coomera Connector to be a success and reduce congestion on the M1.

Gold Coast City councillors were given a private briefing in a closed transport committee session late this week, during which they were updated on how roads would be affected by the first stage of the six-lane highway from Nerang to Coomera.

A map produced at the session shows the key upgrades ticked off by the council, which will require state input, include:

• An overpass at Beattie Rd to ease congestion at the Oxenford interchange.

• The Coomera Connector being extended to Yalwalpah Rd to reduce the impact on Foxwell Road.

• A bridge other than the connector east of the M1 to link Hope Island with Coomera.

The Bulletin understands that if these changes are not backed, the current $25 million upgrade on the notorious Exit 57 would experience gridlock again within a decade.

The M1 at that section is at capacity, with latest figures showing 162,000 vehicles using the section each day – the maximum hourly design capacity of 2300 cars an hour.

A council source told the Bulletin that the state was using “value engineering” – in other words doing the bare minimum required – at the Exit 57 upgrade. But the Coomera Connector required a different approach.

“Exit 57 is a classic example of value engineering,” they said. “What we need the state to avoid with the Coomera Connector is value engineering here.”

Councillors at this week’s transport committee backed a recommendation not to duplicate Heathwood Dve and its bridge crossing, immediately west of the M1, which would have cost up to $86 million.

Officers instead recommended building the Beattie Rd overpass further north, which they estimate will cost the state more than the Heathwood Dve project.

“This outcome will provide the additional capacity over the Coomera River that the duplication of Heathwood Dve would, whilst diverting local and inter-suburban traffic away from using the M1 Exit 57, free up capacity on Heathwood Dve,” the report said.

Area councillor William Owen-Jones said the Government had nominated both Hope Island and Helensvale roads as possible connection points to the southern side of the Coomera River, and Beattie Rd to the north.

“The city’s preferred position is that in addition to any interchanges, any future state road should also include a new service bridge across the Coomera River to facilitate traffic movements away from the M1 and Exit 57,” he said. “This would be similar to the new service bridge built to the west of the main M1 bridges near the Oxenford Lake.”

The Coomera Connector had to include improvements to eastwest connections, he said.

“There are almost 10,000 students in the nine schools within 3km of the Coomera River M1 and connector crossings,” Cr Owen-Jones said. “A ‘flyover’ that crosses the M1 and connects Reserve Rd and Beattie Rd would help relieve pressure on both Exits 54 and 57.”

Residents’ responses agreed the highway needed to finish further north.

“The roads are jam packed at peak times now, so many homes yet to be built in Coomera east. Foxwell-Yawalpah roads need that option in place now,” a resident said.