WE MUST FINALLY GET TRANSPORT RIGHT

GRIFFITH University academic Matthew Burke paints an intriguing, futuristic picture of a transport revolution to transform the Gold Coast in the coming decades. In today’s The Interview (Pages 38-39), he talks of how light and heavy rail, and remarkable advances in driverless electric buses and trackless trams, can help the Coast avoid the gridlock that is inevitable in any major city where commuters rely on cars.

That future will be built on technology which in large part has yet to be fully developed and trialled – and that should happen elsewhere. Our linear city craves new transport ideas but should avoid being the guinea pig for modes of public transport still on the drawing board. When we know it works, go for it, but we cannot risk the huge cost of white elephants.

Road transport meanwhile remains the heavy lifter and our rapidly growing city cannot afford to wait. Neither can governments when the state’s second biggest city is already struggling with traffic. Delays on the M1, the network of feeder roads and even back streets are having a huge impact on business and industry, not to mention quality of life for the city’s residents. Our economy, already shaken by the pandemic, cannot weather the constant hold-ups caused by accidents on any of the highways and arterials vital to keeping the city humming.

The bipartisan funding announcement by the State Labor Government and the Federal Coalition Government to cover the $1.5 billion to get the six-lane Coomera Connector alternative motorway under way has been embraced by the city and its business leaders. The pressure is on the State LNP Opposition to dump its inferior, shorter four-lane option. As we said earlier this month, the Coast does not need a repeat of the short-sighted decision to build a smaller M1 in the 1990s. Taxpayers are still bearing the cost.

The city council, however, has raised serious concerns about the Coomera Connector. It acknowledges the project as “city-shaping’’ infrastructure but asks how the $1.5 billion figure was arrived at, since a business case has not been completed.

And of course there is the matter of major feeder roads that would have to handle enormous volumes of traffic for the alternative motorway. They are not up to the job even now, so is the city stuck with a major upgrading without having the budget to fund it, or will these critical routes become state roads?

We agree a mixture of light and heavy rail and new technology will be hugely important, but our transport needs will also hinge on alternative motorways and major road upgrades.

This time we must get it right.