Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner vows to bust Brisbane’s chronic congestion

Adrian Schrinner says if re-elected at next month’s council election, he will overhaul the “ageing technology” that controls Brisbane’s traffic lights.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner is vowing to bust congestion in Brisbane. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner is vowing to bust Brisbane’s chronic congestion with a major upgrade of traffic lights if his administration wins next month’s council election.

In an exclusive policy reveal, Cr Schrinner told the Sunday Mail how he planned to overhaul the “ageing technology” that controls signals at 1000 intersections across the city.

Brisbane City Council believes the new technology can deliver major improvements in the city’s road network at a fraction of the cost of a traditional road upgrade.

He said a re-elected Schrinner council would invest $15m into a two-year trial of a new automated traffic light control system to streamline traffic flow.

If all goes well, council would then rollout the new digital camera technology across the city, with the aim to complete the transformation by the end of the next council term in 2028.

Adrian Schrinner says if re-elected his administration will invest $15m in a new automated traffic light control system to streamline traffic flow. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“We’ll be one of the first, if not the first city in Australia, to take up this new technology,” he said.

“We’ll look at the most complicated and congested intersections first to do the test, they are the opportunities for major improvements.

“The more legs on an intersection, the more turning movements, the more pedestrian movements, the more complicated an intersection becomes. This is where you can get the real benefits from better technology.”

Cr Schrinner said new technology trialled in Birmingham, where 500 advanced sensors were installed to analyse how to better control lights, had improved traffic flow by 23 per cent after just a year.

He said much of the traffic signalling technology used in cities today dated back to the 1980s and 90s and used road-based sensors.

But new technology developed with the help of travel pattern monitoring paved the way for automated traffic light sequencing changes.

“Certainly where there are a number of sets of traffic lights in a row, this can really improve the situation with better sequencing between intersections,” Cr Schrinner said.

“Improvements in digital camera technology can help us a lot. There’s already a number of traffic cameras around the city, some of those are analogue and some of them are digital, but the digital technology can physically count cars going past.

“The technology can monitor traffic congestion, hotspots, unusual changes, and recognise if there is unusually high congestion on a particular day and make adaptations to the system.”

Cr Schrinner said the new system would be able to identify where traffic light sequencing changes were needed, road user trends and behaviour, near-misses and proactive road safety initiatives and vehicle usage.

He said if the LNP is re-elected at the March 16 local government election, his council would embark on a global search for the best technology to upgrade Brisbane’s traffic signals system.

“By upgrading the management system that controls traffic signals, we will be able to improve travel times and deliver the safety improvements our growing city needs, Cr Schrinner said.

“By upgrading our existing transport network, we can identify the most efficient and effective solutions and get people where they want to go sooner and safer.

“Our plan is in stark contrast to Labor whose big idea for tackling congestion is to set up a committee.”

The LNP’s new attack ad slamming a “coalition of chaos”.

Labor Lord Mayor candidate Tracey Price said the LNP plan was “too little, too late”.

“This is nothing more than a software upgrade following this LNP Administration blowing a billion dollars and counting our money on inner city projects,” she said.

“Labor is not just going to tinker around the edges with technology - we have a real plan to address suburban congestion, encourage more people to use public transport with half-price bus fares, and make our suburbs more walkable and safer to cycle.”

Meanwhile, the LNP has unveiled a new attack ad slamming a “coalition of chaos” it says would eventuate under a Labor/Greens council.

The ad, featuring computer-generated caricatures of Greens and Labor mayoral candidates Jonathan Sriranganthan and Tracey Price going “downhill fast” on a pushbike, will hit TV screens and social media this week.

The LNP has seized on radio interviews last month with Ms Price to claim that she had failed to rule out “a dodgy vote-preferencing and power-sharing deal with the radical and risky Greens”.

Ms Price told 4BC she had “not been party to any deals that have been done” but was “not sure” what went on “behind the scenes” at a party level.

Team Schrinner campaign spokeswoman Fiona Cunningham challenged Ms Price to “categorically rule out” a preference swap with the Greens.

“If Ms Price is truly committed to doing no deals, she would just adopt a Vote 1 approach like Team Schrinner,” she said.

“She won’t. Every day it is becoming clearer that Brisbane residents will pay a huge price under a Green/Labor Coalition of Chaos.”