By Tony Moore
Brisbane's Kingsford Smith Drive will be widened to six lanes by 2019, says Lord Mayor Graham Quirk.
After announcing details of a deal with the Queensland Motorways which would free up money for the upgrade, Cr Quirk said its complex series of staged payments would now let the work proceed.
"The beauty of this proposed deal that we have before us today is that we can go ahead with certainty now with the Kingsford Smith Drive project, and also stage one of Wynnum Road," he said.
Work on widening Wynnum Road, near Shaftson House at East Brisbane, would start by 2016, he said.
Traffic on Kingsford Smith Drive at Hamilton.Credit: Tony Moore
Cr Quirk said the amount of money the council received under the deal depended on the "actual traffic movements" on Legacy Way and the Go Between Bridge – which Queensland Investment Corporation and Queensland Motorways would be responsible for operating – but would save ratepayers $1.08 billion and $1.58 billion by 2020.
Under a Queensland Motorways scenario, traffic on the Go Between Bridge would increase from 13,600 per day to 16,600 per day, while on the council's projections the traffic would increase from 13,600 vehicles a day to 17,800 vehicles a day.
Legacy Way traffic would increase from 16,700 per day when opened in July 2015 to at least 24,500 a day under a Queensland Motorways, scenario.
However on the council's own projections, traffic would increase from 24,000 per day and increase to 46,100 per day.
Plans for the Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade.
Cr Quirk said the deal with Queensland Motorways was inspired by the 2012 review of infrastructure funding models put forward by the federal government.
He said the council's own traffic projections were far lower than traffic projections for the consortiums that built both Clem7 and Airport Link.
Cr Quirk said after the state government set the maximum toll it would be up to Queensland Motorways to set the Legacy Way toll.
He said the council would receive a "trickle" of revenue after 2020.
"But we would only get money at that point if it was doing better than the numbers we have projected," he said.
Queensland Motorways chief executuve Brendan Bouke said Legacy Way tolls would be "consistent" with Clem7 tolls "to start with".
He repeated the line whenever he was asked by reporters.
"They will be consistent with Clem 7."
Mr Bourke said it was step "in the right direction" towards providing an integration of toll payment system across Brisbane's toll network.
Queensland Motorways already runs the Logan and Gateway motorways.
When pressed, Mr Bourke said "there was a reasonable expectation", based on the council's traffic projections, that payments would be made after 2020 "along the lines" of the council's estimates.
He said Queensland Motorways would not change the tolls on its other Brisbane toll roads to cover the cost of running the Legacy Way toll tunnel.