A LONG ROAD TO FRUITION
The M1 has finally been widened to six lanes down to Varsity Lakes, nearly 25 years after the project was proposed
THE widening of the M1 reached a major milestone this week with the completion of the latest stage of its upgrade.
The Pacific Motorway is now six lanes as far south as Varsity Lakes after years of funding battles between the state and federal governments.
It’s particularly welcome news for motorists who are about to witness the final stage of the work occur between Reedy Creek and Tugun.
It comes nearly 25 years after the project was first proposed and nearly 90 years after the original highway opened.
It was two days after Christmas 1933 when the Pacific Highway opened but locals came from far and wide to see the opening of the crossing at Flat Rock Creek.
Fast forward six decades and then Queensland Premier Rob Borbidge was calling for an eight-lane Pacific Highway between the Gold Coast and Brisbane.
Borbidge, who attended The Southport School and worked at his family’s motel business on the Coast before becoming the local member for Surfers Paradise, had been caught in many a traffic jam on the trip up to George St.
The Bulletin started reporting major complaints about traffic in 1996.
In April of that year, a shock report unveiled to the Gold Coast City Council revealed the true state of the roads. Commuters were found to be taking up to three times longer to travel to and from work than they had been just three years earlier.
The report went before the council’s co-ordination committee and revealed that most trips taken during peak periods in the mid-1990s took up to 37 per cent longer than they had in November 1993.
In a massive understatement, the council’s planning development and transport director, Warren Rowe, said it was fair to say the increased traffic on the Gold Coast roads was making trips slower.
“The results show that the majority of the city’s major traffic routes have had an increase in congestion over the past two years,” he said.
The report compared travel times from November 1993 to November 1996. The worst affected areas were between Southport and Burleigh Heads and Ashmore Rd, extending to Southport-Nerang Rd.
Congestion at Carrara’s Ross St had also made that area slower to navigate. Between Southport and Burleigh Heads in both morning and afternoon peak traffic periods, the trip was 40 per cent slower than it was in 1993.
Traffic in Surfers Paradise, in particular, was slow, with most cars travelling between 4.30pm and 5.30pm slowing from 46km/h to just 16km/h. In its editorial to mark the tabling of the “significant” report, the Bulletin declared the city needed to guard against traffic congestion.
“Although alternative road links have either been developed or improved in recent years, it is obvious increasing traffic, linked to the region’s remarkable growth, will be an ongoing challenge for council and government planners,” it said.
“Development of a more efficient internal road network for this city will require hefty funding – and the report provides plenty of ammunition to convince the Department of Transport that increased allocations for roadworks are essential.”
But just days later the State Opposition took aim at plans from Mr Borbidge to build an eight-lane Pacific Highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Deputy Labor leader Jim Elder said a six-lane highway would be a more practical aim within the government’s three-year self-imposed time limit for the project.
“I hope Premier Rob Borbidge will recognise that the only sensible solution to the Pacific Highway impasse is to provide six lanes and upgrade the service roads,” he said.
Nearly 25 years later, the road upgrades to achieve even six lanes are still going.