CONNECTOR ‘FLAWED’
Council warns of safety and capacity issues on Coomera Connector
GOLD Coast council has warned the State Government its Coomera Connector has flaws which could prevent it taking an estimated 60,000 vehicles off the Pacific Motorway.
Council officers have also questioned how the project was costed and if critical design elements would be removed to meet that budget.
THE Gold Coast Council is warning the state government the Coomera Connector has flaws which could prevent it taking an estimated 60,000 vehicles off a bursting Pacific Motorway.
Council officers have told Main Roads bureaucrats the planned stage one from Carrara to the Coomera Marine Precinct will not meet “all of the strategic objectives”. They have questioned how the project was costed and if critical design elements would be removed to meet that budget.
In a detailed briefing to TMR, officers concluded shortening the route of the highway could lead to “resultant safety and capacity impacts on the local road network”.
In a letter to Transport Director General Neil Scales, council transport director Alton Twine said the council supported the Coomera Connector from Loganholme to Nerang as a “city-shaping” piece of infrastructure.
“However, the city is seeking clarity on how the $1.5 billion funding package has arisen, given the business case has yet to be finalised and subsequent cost estimate calculated,” he wrote.
“The city has concerns critical design elements of Stage 1 may be reduced or removed from the project scope to match the funding that has been identified.”
In the lead-up to the October 31 state poll, Labor announced $755 million and the federal government later followed with a $750 million pledge for a six-lane 16.6km road from Carrara to the Coomera Marine Precinct. The LNP has pledged a fourlane road between Helensvale and the marine precinct.
Mr Twine said the northern link needed to be included in government infrastructure pipelines “in order to unlock significant job growth and freight productivity prospects” in the Coast’s fast-growing northern suburbs.
He indicated the entire highway needed to be built “to guarantee the Coomera Connector has an optimal return on investment”.
Key concerns by residents included: visual impact on suburbs; noise levels; road lighting; barrier impacts, both physical and psychological; and localised flooding caused by the new six-lane highway.
Mr Twine wrote it was expected community concerns would be captured in consultation and resolved in the design process. TMR was advised to consider using different pavement along with the possibility homes could have doubled-glazed windows and airconditioning.
Modelling by councils shows Shipper Drive would be used by 50,000 vehicles each day, way above the carrying capacity for a two-lane road.
Given the change in traffic volumes, council has asked TMR to consider three key local government roads — Foxwell, Shipper and Helensvale — for future state-controlled road status.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said he was pleased council “had publicly backed” the project and “huge” $1.5 billion state-federal funding commitment.
“The Palaszczuk Labor Government’s full 16km stage 1 second M1 will be the largest single road project in Queensland if we are re-elected,” he said. “Anyone wanting to get this project right can see the puny LNP proposal to only build a 6km stage one and send an extra 60,000 cars a day onto the Gold Coast Highway will mean gridlock from day one on the Gold Coast Highway corridor.
“The LNP’s incompetence on this no doubt stems from their current Shadow Minister for Transport and Main Roads Steve Minnikin, who was Campbell Newman’s Assistant Minister for Public Transport when the LNP ordered 75 trains made overseas which were not disability compliant.”
Mr Bailey said it was “normal” for the council to have initial queries over the design of the project given the “massive financial commitment” recently confirmed.
“We’ve based our preliminary designs on the advice of TMR’s planners and experts, and those designs will be examined in further detail during the development of the business case and detailed design phase of the project,” he said.