PREMIER NEEDS PLAN FOR M1

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk says she understands the issues close to the heart of Gold Coasters after recently spending a week in the city.

Ms Palaszczuk should thus be well aware of the need to do more about the heavily congested M1 motorway.

From Coomera to Coolangatta and everywhere in between, Gold Coasters with four wheels are united in frustration by the recurring traffic nightmare on this most vital road.

When pressed on the issue yesterday, Ms Palaszczuk’s first instinct was to resurrect her row with the Federal Government over funding for upgrades.

Partly this is understandable – with an election looming it does the Premier no harm to deflect blame to the other side of politics for the mess Gold Coast motorists find themselves in.

But such party politicking is not what Gold Coast drivers want to hear.

We want our elected representatives to get working on solutions – and fast.

It is not in any way helpful to point out the difficulty of wringing funds from Canberra without first outlining what needs to be done.

The LNP has suggested building a duplicate road on a corridor of land in the northern Gold Coast might offer some solution. But oddly, they have not yet committed to building the road if they win power.

Labor have dismissed the idea as excessively costly. But they have failed to put forwards any serious alternative proposal.

Meanwhile, despairing motorists are left to fume in endless traffic snarls.

The vacillation of both parties is similarly frustrating.