10 Nov 2019 - TMR Consultation

Have you been to the Transport and Main Roads (TMR) consultation in Carrara? What do you think? The next one is in Arundel Plaza on Wednesday, 9am–5pm - I will add an event for that.

Here are my impressions from the chat with the TMR employees. I may be wrong of course, and if anybody from @TMRQld would like to correct me, or provide links to studies, reports, etc, please do. I am always happy to learn and stand corrected.

……..

It seems that the goal number 1 is keeping M1 moving:
“The optimal performance of M1 is the priority for the Queensland Government.”

The unwritten assumption here is that the car traffic will be increasing. That assumption does not have to be true. Even a moderate reduction in our extremely high share of car trips, would allow the 8-lane M1 traffic to flow, and it could be done for much less money. The TMR, as experts in the area, should be driving this transformation.

Goal number 2 seems to be enabling of the population growth between Gold Coast and Logan.

Gold Coast is a car dependent city: overall 85% of trips are by car, more in the north. It has a relatively small number of residents (630 thousand), but it stretches 55 km north to south and about 10-20 km east-west. There are cows grazing near the Nerang train station in the middle of the city, while the government is pushing for clearing the land in the north populated by koalas to build a motorway and tens of thousands of single family homes on blocks as small as 250m2. A city can be both livable, walkable, and not feel either like a concrete jungle, or a suburban desert. Come on, Queensland, we can do better!

Ok, rant over... so, what did TMR consider before finalising on building Second M1?

They considered widening M1 to 10 or 12 lanes. Yup. Luckily (or not), there is not enough space to do that. They considered making M1 a Smart Motorway, which means controlled access, variable speeds, and using the shoulder as an extra lane at busy times. I think that’s it.

They are open to the public telling them if Second M1 should be a 4-lane or a 6-lane road. They are open to the public telling them if it should be an 100 km/h or 80 km/h road.
They are open to the public telling them what public transport options should be included, and if I understood correctly, they looked at extending light rail from Helensvale to Pimpama, but more likely they are just thinking about putting buses there.

They have not seriously studied the negative effects of that road. They do not know off the top of the head how effective the sound barriers are. They may buy the most affected properties.

I think the bottom line is: this road would be too close to houses, would take the nature corridor that is badly needed in our city, is expensive, and is not needed, if we plan the city and the transport better.