Article: Milton Road to become 10 lanes

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Milton Road to become 10 lanes

Milton Road to become 10 lanes
Tony Moore | August 13, 2008 - 5:00AM

A stretch of Milton Road running through residential Toowong will be widened to 10 lanes as part of Brisbane's Northern Link tunnel project.

The works will swipe close to 40 metres from the parkland on the southern side of Milton Road and swallow most of the houses on the northern side.

Residents have described the plans - which are still in the development stage - as "overkill" and over-development.

The Caltex service station, the Mitsubishi car dealership and the homes on the outbound side of Milton Road will all be resumed at the western end of the project.

A tunnel entrance and exit will be built near the Toowong roundabout.

Some residents are already considering leaving Toowong.

Levon Blue and her two sons were yesterday using Quinn Park, which will be significantly reduced if the project goes ahead as planned.

"We live in Quinn Street ... this [park] is pretty much our back yard, so we come here very often," Ms Blue said.

"With what they are proposing - if it goes through - I think they are really forcing us out of this community."

Under the plans for the Northern Link project - a tunnel project running underground from the Toowong roundabout through to the Inner City Bypass at Kelvin Grove - ramps taking people in and out of the tunnel would be built opposite the Toowong roundabout.

Milton Road will be widened from four lanes to 10 lanes from the intersection with Croydon Street at Toowong to the intersection where Sylvan Road joins Milton Road.

Croydon Street will be widened from four lanes to seven lanes.

A community group, the Toowong Tunnel Solutions Group, is already questioning whether the initial plan is effectively channelling traffic into the tolled tunnel, an issue they plan to raise with the State Government.

Ms Blue believes the roadworks will destroy the atmosphere of the community.

"There will be so much construction it won't be a nice area to come with the children to play anymore," she said.

She said her husband had attended a recent community meeting to learn how the Northern Link project would afffect their home.

"They are going to take 40 metres or 50 metres of this park.

"And we are not sure about the parking of vehicles, if they are going to use the reminder of the green area for the parking of their trucks."

In Brisbane City Hall yesterday afternoon Lord Mayor Campbell Newman was forced to "rescue" Toowong councillor Peter Matic after he was grilled by Labor councillors about him supporting his constituents' concerns about the proposed ramps at Toowong.

"I don't have a problem with him mounting an argument about the ramps for Northern Link," Cr Newman said.

"I think that is appropriate for a local councillor, because we are nowhere near making a decision.

"I, for the record, don't particularly like the way the ramps have been put forward at the moment myself."

Councillor Helen Abraham and Labor Opposition leader Shayne Sutton pointed out that Cr Matic had publicly questioned the ramps for the project, despite it being backed by Brisbane City Council.

The Federal Labor Government also backs the project, promising $500 million during last year's election campaign.

On the opposite side of Milton Road, 88-year-old Una Lyngkuist, who is legally blind, will lose her Valentine Street home of more than 35 years.

She said no one had spoken with her about the project, though her son, Wayne, said he had been in contact with Brisbane City Council planners.

"When it first happened, I feel that (Brisbane) City Council should have come to speak with us to break the news about what was happening," Ms Lyngkuist said.

"That is all that I have got to complain about."

[#Metro]

Trains not lanes!

Toowong residents must make formal submissions on the impact of the Northern Link project if they want their concerns to heard, Brisbane City Council deputy lord mayor Graham Quirk said yesterday.

Locals believe they are being squeezed by plans to widen Milton Road to 10 lanes because the council plans to use Toowing as the hub for two underground tunnels: the 5.5 kilometre Northern Link tunnel, from Kelvin Grove, and the longer-term cross-river East-West Link, from Buranda.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/speak-up-on-milton-road-deputy-mayor/2008/08/13/1218306994342.html