WE ALL HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN TRANSPORT PLAN

LAST weekend’s launch of the GC2018 transport information was a significant moment in time for our Games and our city.

The launch detailed how our roads, heavy rail, tram and bus networks will run during the April 4-15 event but, as our Chairman Peter Beattie so honestly said, its success relies heavily on buy-in from all of us.

We should all take the time to look at where we need to be at Games time and what we need to do to get there. As with every major multi-sport event anywhere in the world, things will be different and adjustments will need to be made to how we get about.

This will be one of the biggest transport logistics exercises in our state’s history, with an extra six million trips on our roads.

But, take it from me, the excitement and energy that we’ll feel in this city over the 11 magic days of GC2018 will make it all worthwhile.

The launch, in conjunction with the Department of Transport and Main Roads and the City of Gold Coast, also highlighted how much thought and planning goes in to finding traffic solutions and how their discovery can lead to better traffic management in the future.

The reality is GC2018 will be the biggest event in Queensland’s history.

The athlete and sport program will be considerably bigger than Brisbane 1982 which featured 11 sports compared to our 18 and seven para-sports and

TAKE IT FROM ME, THE EXCITEMENT AND ENERGY THAT WE’LL FEEL IN THIS CITY OVER THE 11 MAGIC DAYS OF GC2018 WILL MAKE IT ALL WORTHWHILE

just over 2000 athletes and team officials compared to the 6,600 who will take part in GC2018.

We’ll see the largest police deployment ever in Queensland with approximately 3,500 police required for eight weeks, some 10,000 security personnel and one of the largest deployments of volunteers in our nation’s history.

It’s massive, it’s exciting and it’s all just two months away.