‘Back to the drawing board’: North-west Brisbane tunnel proposal rejected

Brisbane City Council’s initial proposal for a multibillion-dollar transport tunnel on Brisbane’s northside has been rejected by the federal infrastructure assessment agency.

The LNP council received $10 million from the former Morrison government to research transport options in an area stretching from Alderley to Bald Hills.

The future of the North West Transport Corridor, centred on Trouts Road, remains unclear.Credit: Tony Moore

It spent three years on the project and deemed that a tunnel – either road or rail – rather than a surface-level motorway, was the only viable option because the North West Transport Corridor, preserved 40 years ago, had been surrounded by housing developments and bushland.

Under the federal funding agreement, the council was required to submit its plan to Infrastructure Australia.

However, the assessment agency has rejected the tunnel proposal because a surface-level road – the original plan for the corridor, opposed by Labor governments – was never tested by the council or its partners.

Infrastructure Australia declined to declare the status of the project on Tuesday night, other than to state that “formal feedback on the proposal was provided to Brisbane City Council on 9 February 2023.”

The council had argued that an underground North West Motorway could bypass traffic jams around Chermside Shopping Centre and carry 109,900 vehicles a day if free, or 61,100 vehicles if tolled, by 2031.

But the tunnel would also have cost between $9.5 billion and $14.1 billion – well beyond the council’s budget and therefore needing the support of other levels of government.

The research also led to an alternative proposal for a 14-kilometre underground train line to expand the rail network between Albion and Strathpine.

Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey on Tuesday said the council never asked the Queensland government for input on the plan and “wasted $10 million”.

“This is one of the most humiliating debacles I’ve seen – and there’s been more than a few – and it was created solely by this near 20-year Brisbane City Council,” Bailey said.

“What’s most disappointing about this is that it’s the people of Brisbane’s north-west suburbs who suffer at the hands of the LNP city council’s failure, because we now need to go completely back to the drawing board to find a suitable transport solution for the area.”

But a council spokeswoman said the criticism was “shockingly short-sighted”.

“Nothing further can happen if the state refuses to participate, and we urge them to reconsider so all three levels of government can work together on transport projects that can benefit residents in Brisbane’s north,” the spokeswoman said.

“Our study made it abundantly clear that the state’s North West Transport Corridor – known by many locals as the Trouts Road Corridor – is a critical environmental asset that must never be developed for surface road or rail.

“Tunnelling options must be considered for environmental and community-impact reasons.”

In January, Bailey conceded Brisbane needed a new rail connection from the northside.

Neither the council nor Bailey would detail Infrastructure Australia’s advice.