‘Prisoners in our postcode’
YOU’VE slogged out the fiveday grind, the Gold Coast is turning on postcard-perfect weather and you hop in your car to soak up the weekend vibes.
Except you can forget about going anywhere. Because Gold Coast residents say they have become “prisoners” in their own postcodes due to the horrific weekend traffic on our roads reaching an all-time high.
For an understanding of just how fed-up Gold Coast residents are, look no further than a Palm Beach community Facebook group, which has been flooded with vitriol over the weekend’s sorry state of traffic affairs.
And while the residents say it is a whole of city issue, a sympathetic Mayor Tom Tate says the delayed delivery of a major highway upgrade is to blame.
Residents are complaining of three-hour-plus commutes from one end of the coast to the other, with some resigning to not leaving their homes on Saturdays and Sundays unless by foot.
But the worst is yet to come. Gold Coasters can expect to be trapped in gridlock groundhog day until completion of light rail Stage 3 from Broadbeach to Burleigh and the M1 upgrades from Varsity Lakes to Tugun.
In February, new data revealed Gold Coast traffic had almost doubled in the past seven years.
In June, the Bulletin reported the $1 billion widening of the 10km section of the M1 between Varsity Lakes and Tugun was expected to be completed by the end of the year. However, this newspaper later learnt it would be delayed at least another full year.
Construction on the light rail’s $1.2bn third stage began in January as the Gold Coast Highway from Broadbeach to Mermaid Beach was cut to two lanes in each direction.
Alex Caraco posted on the Palm Beach Locals 4221 Facebook page at the weekend that it had taken him one hour and 30 minutes to get from Hope Island to Palm Beach on the M1, with the bulk of the jam through Burleigh.
Nicole Glennon said the traffic nightmares were the result of “poor planning, over development and a lack of infrastructure upgrades.”
“It’s totally wrong that we are prisoners in our own postcodes,” she said. “My mantra ... never travel outside my postcode on a Saturday.”
Annastasia Itzstein said it took her nearly two hours to drive from Robina to Currumbin Valley on Saturday, avoiding the M1 but the “backstreets were just as bad”.
Mayor Tate said he “hears the frustration of residents every day as they navigate the M1 exits and upgrades”.
“It may be a joint state-federal project, but it is taking too long with the Tugun section upgrade,” the Mayor said.
“Council will upgrade and build local roads that feed into the major state entry and exit points and we will co-ordinate this work so the delays from roadworks only occur once.
“Motorists get upset when they see one road project completed only for another one to start right beside it a few weeks later. A seamless approach is the only approach.”