POLLIES NEED M1 MATURITY

BOTH side of politics need to stop playing games with the M1.

It is not a political football.

Each week, tens of thousands of motorists are stuck in gridlock traffic on the state’s busiest road because LNP and Labor governments have not had the clout or vision to come up with alternatives.

On Tuesday, Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls said spending $500 million on a 36.5km corridor set aside for the Intra-Regional Transport Corridor in the city’s northern suburbs would help alleviate the problem. Great idea.

Trouble is, for two days Mr Nicholls has refused to commit money to help build it.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday played semantics with the Nicholls rhertoric by saying it would cost $2.4 billion, not $500 million, to build a new motorway from the Gold Coast to Brisbane.

Gold Coast motorists rolled their eyes last year at this childish debate when the federal and state governments could not agree on who would pay what for vital M1 upgrades.

They finally relented and announced a $500 million upgrade after months of pressure from the Gold Coast Bulletin.

A congested M1 is costing Queensland millions of dollars each week in lost productivity. Gridlock is also driving motorists crazy. They are late for work, missing flights and getting home well after dark.

The LNP and Labor both agree the road is a problem. Act like grown ups and sort it out.