Article: 5.5km tunnel to link Western Fwy to Inner City Bypass

[ozbob]

From Courier mail click here!

5.5km tunnel to link Western Fwy to Inner City Bypass

5.5km tunnel to link Western Fwy to Inner City Bypass
Article from: The Courier-Mail

May 21, 2008 02:01pm

BRISBANE is set to get another road tunnel, linking the congested Western Freeway with the Inner City Bypass under the inner-western suburbs.

The Brisbane City Council has asked a SKM Connell Wagner conglomerate to plan the 5.5km tunnel under Rosalie, Kelvin Grove and Toowong.

Of all the tunnels this one probably makes some sense, the rest of tunnel-mania sure don't!

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail click here!


Northern Link's tunnel torment

Northern Link's tunnel torment
Article from: The Courier-Mail

John McCarthy

May 22, 2008 12:00am

THE Brisbane City Council's planned Northern Link tunnel will burrow under some of Brisbane's most expensive suburbs, raising fears about its impact on home valuations and what compensation will be offered.
The council's concept design plan for the 4.7km tunnel will also include ventilation stacks next to the Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens at Toowong.

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The route, released yesterday, will start at the Toowong roundabout and head northeast towards the city, running under suburbs such as Red Hill, Auchenflower, Rosalie and Paddington before joining up with the Inner City Bypass.

A final design will not be done until the construction tender is announced late next year. Yesterday, the Brisbane City Council said it had asked a Sinclair Knight Merz and Connell Wagner conglomerate to plan the total 5.5km road project, expected to open in 2014.

About 100 houses are expected to be resumed as part of the project, many of which are near the Toowong entry.

The tunnel will also deposit traffic on to the Inner City Bypass, near the Victoria Park golf course ? which one resident activist said would lead to further traffic headaches around the Royal Brisbane Hospital.

Previously the tunnel was to follow a Milton Rd route but the council's latest design is well north of that.

Brisbane City Council infrastructure chairman Graham Quirk said: "Originally that's where we were looking but geotechnical issues came into play. The overwhelming majority (of homeowners) will not be impacted at all."

Cr Quirk said the only realistic alternative to the tunnel would be a major road expansion and that would affect significantly more residents.

The council had previously said about 600 homes would be affected by volumetric resumptions, where the tunnel's route went directly under the property and, in some cases, might prevent further development.

Kelvin Grove resident and activist Anne Boccabella said many property owners in Paddington were concerned about how the project would affect valuations, particularly when a volumetric resumption would appear on titles.

The proposed tunnel would only move traffic from one congested road (Milton Rd) to another (Kelvin Grove Rd).

"With the combination of Northern Link and the Hale St bridge it will spell doom for Paddington," she said.

Northern Link will be the fourth project in the Lord Mayor's TransApex ring road vision. Work has already started on the Clem Jones (formerly North-South Bypass) Tunnel and the Hale Street Link, while the preferred tenderer for the Airport Link was named on Monday.