Free or subsidised school buses could fix traffic issues at Mount Crosby Interchange

Noticing a huge reduction in traffic during school holidays, an Ipswich woman was shocked at how much peak hour traffic was due to school pick-up and drop-off.

Noticing a reduction in traffic during the school holidays, Sue Platell was shocked at how much peak hour traffic was due to school pick-up and drop-off.

A Karalee woman is calling for a change in approach to targeting peak hour congestion.

Noticing a reduction in traffic during the school holidays, Sue Platell was shocked at how much peak hour traffic was due to school pick-up and drop-off.

“It surprises me every holidays when you realise just how much of that traffic on the road is school traffic, with parents driving kids to school,” Ms Platell said.

“I notice traffic is amazing every time there’s school holidays.”

Instead of navigating heavily-congested roundabouts towards the Warrego Highway on her commute, Ms Platell was able to drive straight through.

“There was not a single car on it, I just went up to the roundabout and went through – when I got to the next roundabout, there was nothing,” she said.

“On the next roundabout there was no traffic coming off the Warrego Highway, I just sailed straight through.

“Usually you’re banked up at those roundabouts for quite a while before you get anywhere.”

READ MORE: Mount Crosby interchange upgrade: Ipswich locals unhappy over long-awaited Warrego Highway projects

Ms Platell has lived in Karalee for nearly 40 years and is urging Ipswich politicians to consider subsidising school buses when planning ways to manage the large volumes of traffic.

“There’s been a lot of consultation around it but maybe we need to think more creatively about how to reduce the school traffic,” she said.

“Almost anything I could think of had to be cheaper than it would cost to duplicate highways and bridges.”

An upgrade to the Mount Crosby Warrego Highway interchange has been overdue for years but, according to the Department of Transport and Main Roads, construction is not expected to begin until 2024.

READ MORE: Warrego Highway upgrade plans scrapped with state government not expecting works to start for years

The area’s population is growing faster than expected, meaning a more “substantive upgrade” is needed.

Ms Platell said government subsidised school buses and better bike paths were cheaper and more long-term approaches to catering to large volumes of traffic.

“Free buses, shuttle buses, even heavily subsidised buses – even shuttle buses leaving from drop-off points before main congestion areas,” she said.

“Obviously 20 cars as opposed to 20 people on one bus makes a big difference to traffic.”

Read more news by Ebony Graveur.