Brisbane’s slowest morning commutes revealed

MOTORISTS are travelling at shockingly low speeds on Brisbane roads, with some commuters facing a ridiculous 16km/h morning trip. IS YOUR COMMUTE ON THE FAIL LIST?

THE morning commute for Brisbane motorists has plummeted to below 40km/h as average travel times on the city’s busiest roads continue to deteriorate.

The latest six-month snapshot of Brisbane’s state and council-owned roads reveals Stanley St in Woolloongabba is still the slowest major road during the morning and afternoon commute.

The overall average speed on the River City’s 38 key corridors during the morning peak was 35km/h between January and June this year – down from 42km/h during the same period in 2017.

Stanley Street traffic at 8am. Picture: Darren England

The average speed during the afternoon peak was slightly better at 39km/h, but was still down from last year’s average of 42.1km/h.

It comes amid new figures that show Brisbane City Council has installed nearly 50 new sets of traffic lights over the past four years.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has talked up the latest travel report, saying it showed average speeds had dropped by just 1km/h on council-owned roads over the past year despite major works on Kingsford Smith Dr and the Inner City Bypass. He said he expected travel times to improve as other upgrades were completed.

Traffic on Kelvin Grove Road in Brisbane. Picture: Jono Searle

“This is good news for motorists because it shows that our commitment to taking real action on traffic congestion is delivering measurable benefits, especially when we’ve got major upgrades currently under way such as the Inner City Bypass and Kingsford Smith Drive,” he said.

“The delivery of projects attacking congestion such as Clem7, Airport Link, Go Between Bridge and Legacy Way has cut surface road vehicle movements by 120,000 per day.”

But the RACQ’s head of public policy, Dr Rebecca Michael, said the report showed Brisbane was heading backwards.

“That’s why it’s so important we see continued investment in roads, public transport and efficiency improvements to maintain or improve average travel speeds across the network,” she said.

“We also need to see better utilisation of toll roads close to the city because this will help relieve congestion and improve average travel speeds on the competing surface road network.”

The RACQ’s most recent travel time report, which tracked speeds on major motorways including the Pacific, Centenary and Ipswich motorways, showed commutes were almost 30 per cent slower in July compared with the same period last year.

BRISBANE’S SLOWEST ROADS IN THE MORNING

Stanley St, South Brisbane - 16km/h

Coronation Dr, Milton - 20km/h

Kelvin Grove Rd, Kelvin Grove - 20km/h

Oxley Rd/Coonan St, Indooroopilly - 21km/h

23km/h Wynnum Rd, Wynnum - 23km/h

Lutwyche/Bowen Bridge Rd, Lutwyche - 23km/h