Article: Tunnel may replace Brisbane's scrapped western bypass

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail click here!


Tunnel may replace Brisbane's scrapped western bypass

Tunnel may replace Brisbane's scrapped western bypass
Article from: The Courier-Mail

Robert MacDonald

April 03, 2008 12:00am

THE State Government has scrapped a congestion-busting but highly controversial western bypass for Brisbane.

Instead it is proposing a radical tunnel option, linking the Western Freeway at Toowong, in the inner west, to the northern suburbs as part of a long-term solution to Brisbane's growing transport problems.

The plans are the result of a year-long $17 million government study being released today for public comment.

They come a day after The Courier-Mail revealed that finding a solution to southeast Queensland's traffic and public transport woes have just become Premier Anna Bligh's new No. 1 priority, now that the water crisis has eased.

She has created a special unit in her own department to co-ordinate the Government's response to the problem.

However, the new proposals are unlikely to to ease traffic congestion any time soon. The Government has not yet committed to any of the projects.

Mr Lucas acknowledged yesterday that "most would be long-term".

Some are unlikely to be built within 25 years, depending on demand.

But Mr Lucas said it "was important to begin proper planning as soon as possible".

"The State Government is planning improvements for 2026 and this is an important opportunity for communities to have their say about western Brisbane's transport future," Mr Lucas said.

It was unlikely the Government would settle on any final preferred options before the end of this year.

Mr Lucas defended the decision to scrap the option of constructing a western bypass on the basis of projected low traffic volumes and constraints on the regional plan.

Two possible corridors for a western bypass of Brisbane had been previously identified. One followed the Brisbane Valley Highway corridor, well to the west of the city and had been previously championed by Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman.

The other far more controversial proposal was for a link running just to the west of Mt Coot-tha between Brookfield and The Gap. It has been strongly opposed by local residents and politicians for years.

Instead, the tunnel proposal is designed to address similar congestion problems to those the scrapped Route 20 upgrade would likely have fixed two decades ago.

Mr Lucas said yesterday: "The numbers for a western bypass simply do no stack up but we are actively looking at a range of options that will make a significant difference to traffic and public transport in southeast Queensland in the future.

"Even in 20 years it would only carry from as low as 5000 vehicles a day on one option to 25,000 on another.

"Given that's only a quarter of the number of vehicles using roads like the Ipswich Motorway and the Gateway every day, it's just not feasible."

The Government's new preferred solution to solving the bottlenecks plaguing western and northwestern Brisbane is a range of projects including at least one tunnel and new roads on existing government-owned traffic corridors.

The major options in the study are:

? A future, 8km-long tunnel from the Western Freeway at Toowong to Stafford Rd at Everton Park

? A future major road link from Stafford to Aspley, using the Government's existing Trout Rd corridor, which would connect to the Toowong-to-Everton park tunnel

? Upgrading Stafford Rd between Everton Park and Kedron, including a tunnel for private vehicles.

? Future upgrades to service Samford Valley and Moggill.

Mr Lucas said all of the proposals would be "subject to further analysis of traffic volumes, engineering and environmental considerations, costing and public consultation".

The Government has not attempted to price any of its proposals but if Brisbane's $2 billion, North South Bypass Tunnel is any guide a Toowong to Everton Park tunnel alone could cost $2.5 billion, or more.

Nor has the Government indicated where the funding for these long-term projects might come from.

But private sector involvement by way of tollways would seem likely.

[ozbob]

No surprise. In 25 years roads as we know them won't be an option.  I doubt whether the tunnel will ever be built.

What should go ahead is a western bypass rail line to take freight out of the CBD axis.

I doubt though they have the vision and wisdom to do that.

As characterises so much of the decisions from Australian Governments, short term expediency and political self interests rule the day.  Just look around at the already transport mess in all major capital cities to see the results of those policies. 

[Mozz]

When I heard this information last week I must admit I was quite angry. The people of Queensland rightly expect that our elected governments are capable of appropriate planning and then execution and delivery of infrastructure to support needs of the community. The western bypass road is not a recent invention, it has been touted, investigated (many many times), discussed, been the subject of many reports and has formed part of many studies involving future road infrastructure as one of the most needed "pieces of the future road puzzle" for many years.

But now it seems as a recent standalone piece of road tarmac "the numbers don't stack up" - 5,000 vehicles in one study, 25,000 in another (maybe if they commissioned another it might report that 50,000 vehicle a day would use it and maybe even provide some data on the beneficial impacts on other road networks - oh dear. What action did the current state government take when a "study" found that the Ipswich motorway was servicing some 110,000 plus vehicles a day, some 10 - 15,000 more than was thought (from memory they lowered the speed limit). I suppose my point is that numbers by themselves on a particular bit of road need to be interpreted as part of the whole transport infrastructure mess.

Hmmm something smells fishy, Brisbane as a local council area has perhaps 50,000 left available blocks of land to develop. The area just west of Brisbane in SEQ has many hundreds of thousands of blocks available for development. But somehow the previously identified, required and needed western bypass transport corridor doesn't stack up.

My limited understanding of road tranport requirements lead me to believe there was and is an identified need (as part of the whole road transport picture in SEQ) to take vehicles, particularly heavy transport, from the west including cunningham, warrego highways and ipswich motorway through to the north of brisbane without taking them through the current ratrun of suburban streets. It's not about the traffic current or proposed on a single bit of black tar, but how it all fits together in an integrated manner to achieve the best solution.

I suppose the moggil ferry at Riverview, will soon be decommissioned as well, as it's obvious there is little demand for vehicles to cross the river - I mean it only carry's a few hundred vehicles a day

Perhaps tunnels are easier to whack a toll onto eg no where else to go or escape.

Of course as an avid public transport advocate I wouldn't have raised my concerns with this current post if there was an announcement that the $2.0B which was going to be spent on the western bypass was quarantined and put directly into public transport infrastructure.