AIRPORT TRAMS RETHINK

Secret $15m plan to ensure light rail won’t hurt highway

SECRET talks are being held to figure out how the four-lane Gold Coast

Highway can stay that wide when light rail is built along it via Palm Beach to the airport. Gold Coast city council staff and Queensland government transport boffins are interrogating the tram design after federal minister Karen Andrews last week urged her government not to back the route from Burleigh to Coolangatta as it stands. Mayor Tom Tate says: “As a civil engineer, I know that is possible.”

THE council and state government are working on a secret plan to ensure four lanes of road and a light rail line fit on the Gold Coast Highway through Palm Beach.

The Bulletin can reveal council planners will work with state government transport experts to prevent traffic being reduced to one lane each way south of the Tallebudgera Creek Bridge.

The Bulletin understands the study will cost up to $15m.

Leaders are interrogating the design after federal minister Karen Andrews last week urged her government not to back the proposed $2.7bn coastal route from Burleigh to Coolangatta. She later told the Bulletin she supported light rail going to the airport, but said how it got there was the state government’s problem.

The Gold Coast Highway link is considered the most cost effective and efficient route, but residents are concerned about the effects on traffic, business and lifestyle.

Mayor Tom Tate plans to launch his plans for the rethink at next Tuesday’s full council meeting. “As a civil engineer, I know that is possible,” he said.

Transport department officers have already been directed to investigate how to retain all traffic lanes.

“It’s unbelievable as the federal member for Mcpherson’s commentary over the last 10 days has caused nothing but confusion among voters,” Mr Tate said on Friday.

“Today, on the eve of the 2022 federal election, the federal government needs to urgently advise every Gold Coaster if they still support

light rail all the way to Coolangatta and the airport.”

Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey said he had not at any stage indicated he was committed to a single lane of traffic along the Gold Coast Highway, aware that the community wanted four lanes.

Ms Andrews wrote to Palm Beach residents to tell them she had requested Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher to oppose federal funding for the fourth stage of light rail, arguing the route was “not tenable”.

“Karen Andrews has done more backflips than an Olympic diver but now is the time for her to be open about her preferred light rail route,” Mr Bailey said.

Ms Andrews wants the Mayor and the minister to talk to Palm Beach residents: “It’s good to see the Mayor and State Minister show some degree of flexibility. However, instead of talking to themselves, they need to come and talk to the people of the southern Gold Coast before any further proposals are finalised.

“I maintain my consistent position that the people of the southern Gold Coast deserve to be heard and any proposal has to be fit for purpose.”

Professor Matthew Burke, the deputy director of Griffith University’s Cities Research Institute, said retaining four lanes could be done through restricting turning lanes or movements, potentially taking some land which would be costly.

“We know the light rail would be a success if it runs north-south and it does not make sense to deviate out of the existing corridor,” he said.

“No transport expert sees any sense in that because it would be expensive, affect patronage and there would be travel delays. But if we do not get this done, then 20 years from now the next generation of leaders will be wishing it had been done.”

Daniel O’hare, associate professor of urban planning at Bond University, said a proposed rescoping of the Palm Beach section could have longterm positives for the area.

“Palm Beach has a great opportunity to be a far more appealing centre with the light rail going through it,” he said. “There is great scope to have redevelopment on the lands adjoining the highway to create wider pedestrian paths.”