Brisbane’s new underground gold mines

Buried on page 40 of the Transurban’s 2022-23 presentation to investors, released to the market last week, is a sign the company’s vice-like grip on south-east Queensland transport could yet become just that bit tighter.

The monopolistic toll road company, which already controls south-east Queensland’s Gateway and Logan motorways, the Clem7, Airport Link and Legacy Way tunnels and the Go Between Bridge, now has its sights set firmly on Brisbane’s northern suburbs.

The Legacy Way tunnel in one of six Transurban-run toll roads in Brisbane.Credit:

And if the Queensland government is smart, it could leverage the proposed Gympie Road bypass to get a better deal for motorists across the region (but more on that later).

In the same week Transurban’s presentation was released, this masthead revealed the Queensland Investment Corporation’s “Project Polaris” plans for twin 7.2-kilometre tunnels between Carseldine and Kedron had been under way well before Treasurer Cameron Dick announced $35 million towards a “study” in June.

That presentation made it clear that very project had already made its way into Transurban’s public-facing planning.

Of course, as long as we remain a free-market capitalistic society (and there are no imminent signs of revolutionary fervour to suggest a change any time soon), there is nothing wrong with Transurban identifying an opportunity and working towards lining its shareholders’ pockets.

Transurban’s already doing pretty well out of Brisbane. Revenue growth for the company was up 15.5 per cent in 2022-23 (despite average daily traffic increasing just 9.4 per cent) to a staggering $520 million. That’s a lot of beeps on your Transurban-supplied Linkt tag.

But should any private company have such a stranglehold on a city or region’s critical infrastructure?

There’s not a lot to suggest the monopoly is serving motorists particularly well. A single car trip from Greenslopes to Brisbane Airport, using both Clem7 and Airport Link, would cost $12.50 – $6.12 for the Clem7 section and $6.38 for Airport Link.

Despite it being a single trip, motorists are slugged twice at the full rate. Frequent flyer miles be damned.

The whole point of road tunnels is to act as detours for through-traffic, easing demand – and, subsequently, congestion – on surface roads. At least in theory.

Price enough people out of the option, though, and it becomes a wasted exercise.

In 2017, then-Transurban Queensland group general manager Wes Ballantine told this masthead the company was open to the idea of “bundling” tolls to reduce these single-trip price blow-outs. Six years later, there has been no sign of such innovation.

So, Brisbane motorists can rightly ask themselves if they feel any benefit whatsoever to having a single company control so many roads.

This is where the negotiation skills (or otherwise) of the Queensland government can come into play.

Should Transurban be awarded the rights to the Gympie Road bypass tunnel, one would hope the government would take the opportunity to force Transurban’s hand.

You want a new Queensland cash cow? Then you had better bundle your tolls. It’s time to look after the motorists who line your pockets.

After all, there could be much better uses for those tunnel boring machines that have become so commonplace in Brisbane over the past couple of decades.