Article: Construction projects make way for Brisbane traffic

[ozbob]

From the Courier Mail click here!

Construction projects make way for Brisbane traffic

Construction projects make way for Brisbane traffic
Article from: The Courier-Mail

Bruce McMahon and Ursula Heger

February 22, 2009 11:00pm

BRISBANE city is on the move with $16.1 billion of transport infrastructure projects set to transform the landscape into a 21st century metropolis over the next 10 years.

Tunnels and extra bridges will increase cross-river traffic capacity, with fly-over interchanges, wider motorways and dedicated busways designed to ease traffic congestion.

Nearly 40km of extra snarl-busting roads - some with tolls - will bring the biggest and most defining changes to Queensland's southeastern corner.

Deputy Premier, and Infrastructure and Planning Minister Paul Lucas said the building works in Queensland were unprecedented but necessary.

"In Australia, from 1950 onwards to 1990, no one was interested in building infrastructure and we have now seen a boom in our population unlike any other state," he said.

The building boom also would benefit the state's workforce, with every $1 million spent on an infrastructure project creating about eight jobs, Mr Lucas said.

"To put more money into people's pockets: you can either give them tax cuts, but you have to pay for that out of your Budget every year," he said.

"The other way is to build another busway or road, and save people 15 minutes getting to work, you can then save two hours a week on their productive time."

Mr Lucas said co-operation between the State Government and Brisbane City Council on roads infrastructure, allowing for a more integrated approach, was unmatched by surrounding councils.

"One of the advantages we will have now, with all of these networks, is more diversity. You can go from one (new road) to another, whereas in the past we have been too reliant on the Captain Cook bridge and six lanes of the Gateway Motorway," he said.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman agreed the city was on track for a motorway-standard road network by 2014, rather than disconnected freeways pouring vehicles into suburban streets.

"My original vision was to stop the need for people to go into the Brisbane CBD to get somewhere else, to link our major arterials and to build a ring road," Cr Newman said yesterday.

"By the end of this term (2012), I'm hoping that most of the elements of that vision can be well on the way."

The city has 32 traffic lanes crossing the Brisbane River on seven bridges, from the Gateway in the east to the Centenary Bridge in the west. These crossings operate at 93-95 per cent of capacity in morning peak hours; an incident on one can lose almost 10 per cent of capacity and affect the entire network.

Cr Newman said over the next three years an extra 14 lanes would be built across the river, taking the total to 46. The Clem7 tunnel will add four, the Hale Street Link another four and the Gateway Duplication a further six.

He said council officers had been talking with financiers and construction companies around the world to restart the Northern Link Tunnel - proposed between Kedron and Toowong - which was stalled for six months when the global financial crisis left only one bidder assured of finance.

Cr Newman said he hoped the project could be completed by the end of 2013 into 2014.

"The most vital thing for me as mayor is creating the extra river-crossings capacity and linking the Western Freeway to the ICB," he said.

Comment:  More of the same.  We need to move forwards with a sustainable improved heavy rail network and introduce light rail for a capable mass transit system.  The present directions are clumsy and will just add more infrastructure costs that will only contribute yet more gridlock.  As a community we should be targeting reduced road use not encouraging it.  The way that will be achieved will be by an efficient, frequent mass transit system.  Rail is the key component.  Active transport has its part to play.  Bus and river are also critical but the bulk capacity will be gained from rail.  This is where we need to focus.

[O_128]

Honestly how hard would it have been to widen the Clem 7 build 2 rail lines in and link it from park road or buranda. Stops at wollongabba, Kangaroo point, one say 200m after story bridge and one in spring hill before going to Bowen hills. But that would be to hard for the smart state wouldnt it instead of a maximum of a billion extra dollars its now costing 14.2 billion with a 6 year later opening!

[stephenk]

Honestly how hard would it have been to widen the Clem 7 build 2 rail lines in and link it from park road or buranda. Stops at wollongabba, Kangaroo point, one say 200m after story bridge and one in spring hill before going to Bowen hills. But that would be to hard for the smart state wouldnt it instead of a maximum of a billion extra dollars its now costing 14.2 billion with a 6 year later opening!

A new rail line need to serve the CBD. That suggestion would miss it.

However, I do agree that we need more heavy rail construction, not more road construction.

[O_128]

people don't just work in the CBD and i do not see the need of why the cbd need practically the same stations underground.Instead the western tunnel could cater the cbd and the southern cater for other areas.

[stephenk]

people don't just work in the CBD and i do not see the need of why the cbd need practically the same stations underground.Instead the western tunnel could cater the cbd and the southern cater for other areas.

I think you will find that the majority Citytrain passengers travel to the CBD. Thus it would be pointless for the line to go anywhere else. It would be impractical to make most passengers have to change trains to get to the CBD because their line bypasses it!

[ButFli]

But that would be to hard for the smart state wouldnt it instead of a maximum of a billion extra dollars its now costing 14.2 billion with a 6 year later opening!

I love these lay-person cost estimates. If you can build an under-river rail link with 4 stations for $1billion why don't you put in a tender for say $10billion. The Guv'ment will get a $4.2billion discount and you'll make a $9billion profit. The truth is you'd be scratching to build two stations for that price.