Southern Coast must opt for co-ordinated transport
THE future of transport on the southern Gold Coast is very much in discussion with population growth putting more pressure on local road and rail infrastructure.
We can’t afford to lose momentum on planning to ensure the Gold Coast’s transport network evolves to meet the demands of the future. Doing nothing is not an option.
That’s why the Palaszczuk Labor Government commissioned a thorough deep dive multi-modal study to look at what modes of transport will be most effective south of Burleigh to prevent traffic gridlock.
Early works on stage three of the light rail from Broadbeach to Burleigh will start construction this year and be open by 2023, as will the next M1 upgrade six laning the highway from Varsity Lakes to Tugun. So the question is – what after that?
The two-year study we’ve just completed found extending the light rail to the airport via the Gold Coast Hwy is the most effective way of getting the most people to switch to public transport.
It will mean less cars and traffic on local roads, which benefits everyone.
That’s the experience of the first two stages of the light rail where patronage will reach 50 million trips this month since 2014 and where support for light rail is at an all-time high. Once people have experienced light rail and used it, many early misgivings give way to support.
The study found the $1 billion M1 upgrade to Tugun, starting construction straight after the Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes upgrade to be completed in the coming months, will take traffic off the Gold Coast Hwy and allow a window to build light rail.
The study also identifies a range of other community benefits as part of a future light rail project – small village Main Street revitalisation opportunities along its route, bike path and oceanway active transport opportunities for safe and easy local bike riding and an environmental fauna land bridge across the Gold Coast Hwy at Burleigh Heads National Park to protect local wildlife and reconnect a wildlife corridor long cut off by 24-hour traffic.
Crucially, the study identified the heavy rail corridor to the airport should be preserved for a future heavy rail link. This corridor does not have the space for both heavy and light rail.
The most effective way of dealing with traffic growth on the southern Gold Coast is our $1.2 billion investments in the M1, future light rail and heavy rail extensions converging at the airport to ensure different modes are coordinated, offering options and routes that work together. The last thing the southern Gold Coast needs is an unco-ordinated and piecemeal transport system that consigns the area to a choking traffic future.
In an extraordinary announcement on Gold Coast radio and on his Facebook page, senior LNP Shadow Minister and Gold Coast MP Michael Hart was crystal clear: “Forget heavy rail to the airport.” Mr Hart also said he was aware there was not enough room for both light and heavy rail along the heavy rail corridor to the airport, stating his preference was for light rail to take over the heavy rail corridor to the airport.
This confirmation that a heavy rail link to the airport would never happen under the LNP would be an unmitigated disaster for the southern Gold Coast as it grows.
The LNP’s preferred light rail route to the airport of a long, slow indirect inland route through an industrial area taking over the heavy rail corridor should worry every resident on the southern Gold Coast concerned about the future.
Why? Firstly, residents on the southern Gold Coast near the airport deserve to have access to heavy rail.
Secondly, the airport precinct has a growing uni campus and already has nearly 2000 workers as well as a huge floor space expansion right now. Heavy rail to the airport in the future will take cars off the road for these workers, passengers and uni students.
Thirdly, passengers at international airports around the world have heavy rail connection choices, for logical reasons.
MARK BAILEY, TRANSPORT AND MAIN ROADS MINISTER