How the Coomera Connector will unlock a new 90,000-person city
The fate of 90,000 potential Gold Coast residents rests on one piece of vital infrastructure that stakeholders say will make or break the ambitious Norwell Valley project, writes Paul Weston.
The success of a super suburb planned for the Norwell Valley cane fields depends on one vital piece of infrastructure.
Ask all the stakeholders privately, and they all agree on this.
Developers, farmers, residents and councillors – they all look to the west.
Between the cane farms and Pacific Motorway, they say there has to be a Coomera Connector.
The first stage of the Connector at a cost of $3.5bn is being completed now.
The project is in three packages or sections, across 16km from Nerang, north to Coomera where it stops.
Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg at the state budget in July said he was proud funding included planning and design for the beginning of Stage 2 from Shipper Drive to Yawalpah Rd at Pimpama.
The canelands and Norwell Valley are north of Pimpama at the next major interchange.
The Transport Department has images of this future section of the second M1.
Your columnist obtained mapping which shows size of their proposed super suburb and the location of the future route of the Connector gazetted by the government.
The six-lane highway will touch on the western side of the project development area.
This is a 6000ha site — twice the size of Springfield near Ipswich — capable of providing 40,000 dwellings and possibly a population of up to 90,000 people.
Some of the housing will be affordable, for the growing workforce at the Yatala industrial estate which is spreading east across the M1 into the cane fields.
An obvious question is why should this be a funding priority for southern-based taxpayers.
The second stage of the Connector will need two additional bridges, across the Logan and Albert rivers and eight new interchanges.
But developers believe it will be easier to build than the first stage which alone had 20 bridges as it passes through wetlands north of Nerang to Coombabah.
The only stumbling block for the new Crisafulli Government, aside from cost, is a likely backlash from environmentalists about the highway going through the Eagleby Wetlands.
Apart from providing potential housing for your children and grandchildren, there’s another reason why we, in the Coast’s south, will benefit.
By having the second stage completed, on the southward drive home from Brisbane, you will no longer be caught in traffic gridlock on the M1 from the Logan River crossing.
You will be able to take the Coomera Connector exit which links to the northern suburbs and arterial roads connecting Southport and Surfers Paradise.
Your columnist asked Deputy Mayor Mark Hammel about Coomera Connector feedback.
“The infrastructure is critical. The Coomera Connector is going to be the single largest piece of catalyst infrastructure to allow it (the canelands project) to occur,” he replied.
“We just don’t need the Coomera Connector for our current population. We must have for it our future population. I suspect it will be key in the negotiations — when will we have the entire Coomera Connector.”
Light rail was parked in the south.
This project cannot afford to be stalled in the north.
Swaying in the breeze
It’s getting to be crunch time for the future of the proposed hinterland cableway.
Big decisions have to made, in terms of how much skin the state government wants to put into the game, or whether council heads off alone on funding a business case.
Watch for updates, with much of this to be debated and determined in the next two weeks.
It’s not brain surgery
The complex Coomera Hospital build is causing hypertension for the Crisafulli Government.
Health Minister Tim Nicholls has promised to provide findings of a review by Christmas.
A Labor insider says: “If he has the details now, why doesn’t he release them. He keeps kicking it down the road.”
Gridlocked
Mayor Tom Tate had a private meeting on Thursday with the Transport Minister.
Among the topics discussed, in a Brisbane catch-up with Brent Mickelberg, was M1 upgrades.
The government needs to build another overpass for the City’s worst gridlock to be fixed.
“The discussions touched on the M1 exit at Robina,” a council insider said.
No photos
Council has investigated a security breach at a councillor’s divisional offices.
A photograph of the Palm Beach Library Customer Service Kiosk was posted on Facebook.
Photographing a council property is a breach of local laws.
This was at Josh Martin’s office.
A City spokesperson said: “The sign prohibiting photography appears in the photograph posted to Facebook. The individual received advice from City officers about the requirements of the Local Law. No further action was taken.”
The City declined to divulge the identity of the offender.
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Originally published as How the Coomera Connector will unlock a new 90,000-person city
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