What you said about Brisbane having four new tunnels to ease traffic congestion

Everyone agrees that Brisbane’s traffic is getting worse but the solution continues to divide many. HAVE YOUR SAY

Tunnels may be the future for Brisbane to easy traffic congestion. Or maybe not.

We need more tunnels.

That view seems to be widely accepted across Brisbane, with almost 90 per cent of readers in an online poll voting for this to be the solution to congestion problems.

We asked AI and the experts to present their arguments over tunnels, and whether that could ease our traffic woes.

AI showed what tunnels the city has now and why they work.

“Removing dozens of lights (e.g., the 19 signals cited on Gympie Rd) is the single biggest way to stabilise travel times and cut queuing,” it said.

So what tunnels do we need?

Gympie Road Bypass Tunnel (Kedron–Carseldine) was at the top of AI’s list: “A tolled, four-lane (two each way) bypass tunnel under Gympie Rd from Kedron to Carseldine, skipping 19 traffic lights. Led by North Brisbane Infrastructure (QIC subsidiary) for the Queensland Government.”

However Griffith University transport expert, Adjunct Professor Matt Burke, wasn’t so convinced.

Prof Burke, the CEO of Bicycle Queensland, said the current system of free surface roads, relatively high tunnel tolls and no discounts to encourage motorists to use several tunnels to extend their trips underground was a recipe for traffic snarls.

“What we have created is basically a pro-congestion charging scheme. If you want to generate more congestion, this is how you would go about doing it,’’ Prof Burke said.

Readers piled into the conversation, with many supporting the idea of more tunnels.

However many claimed they would not be used if the tolls were too high.

While some dismissed tunnels completely and said wider problems must be fixed first.

See what you had to say below and join the conversation >>>

WHAT YOU SAID

Build it now

Bruce

Build the western bypass

ComnSense (aka Pending)

Splashing $billions and $billions on road upgrades and tunnels? So when is Brisbane going to be modernised with a subway train system like most major cities around the world? Think of it. Parking stations near subway station accesses from the outer subway will dramatically reduce congestion. Oh wait! I forgot that politicians have no common sense. My bad.

Phillip

I love tunnels as it is a ‘user’ pays model – perfect. but I think it should be owned by the government and not private as they rip off drivers for profit.

John

They badly need a tunnel from Toowong to Darra. The new Jindalee bridge is going to be a disaster bringing even more traffic to a head.

Brisbane’s traffic will get worse before it gets better.

No thanks

Jeff

YES let us build them and pay for them with our state and federal taxes and then let us give them to Transurban so we can pay for them again and make CEO’s richer

Ann

Making everything tolled means most drivers won’t pay. Look at the current tunnels. Still massively under-utilised to avoid paying.

Blackstar

Here we go again, spending dollars to encourage more people into cars instead of on public transport.

Waldorf

Its really time for Brisbane to do some serious town planning and remove blanket traditional building character overlays so density around the city centre can increase.

If Brisbane City Council cannot fund Story Bridge repair, why do they think they can afford all these tunnels?

Griffith University transport expert, Adjunct Professor Matt Burke, said that instead if more tunnels, the existing tunnels needed to be better used.

Wider issues

Rob

There is no solution other than finding employment for the hundreds of thousands of motor cars Drivers commuting into and out of Brisbane daily from the two Coast Cities.

We just cannot expect that road construction can be done cheaply any more to move the present and forecast single vehicle movements.

The future is more train routes and feeder buses, with train tunnelling the priority.

oldlawyer

The tolls are too expensive for average working people to pay every day.

John

Two points. Any future tunnels must remain publicly owned and not sold off to foreign investors and prices be lowered to encourage use. Secondly, how about the brain surgeons in TMR invest in some time on Chat GPT to get guidance on how to synchronise the traffic lights along Gympie Road in favour of peak traffic flow and not switch to red every time a single car wants to enter from a secondary road!

mark

imagine how congested it would be if some people weren’t working from home