Motorists stranded as $14b tunnel plan blown up by political turf war
Motorists are set to remain stuck on congested Brisbane northside roads for longer after a fight between the state government and council knocked a proposed $14 billion tunnel off track.
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Motorists are set to remain stuck on congested roads on Brisbane’s northside for longer after a political fight between state and council knocked a proposed $14 billion tunnel off track.
The North West Motorway is meant to take up to 109,900 vehicles a day off the roads by 2031.
But a series of events and political fights has ended in Infrastructure Australia rejecting the tunnel project, sparking the Lord Mayor and Transport Minister to engage in verbal sparring.
A “frustrated” Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner accused the State Government of “pinching” federal funding meant to go toward the study, while Transport Minister Mark Bailey accused the city official of “pathetic behaviour”.
The Morrison Government funded a $10 million, two-year study into the North West Corridor undertaken by the Brisbane City Council.
It found that a road or rail tunnel would be needed to bust congestion as the route had been surrounded by housing making an above-ground road unviable.
The State Government did not participate in the process, with Mr Bailey claiming they were excluded from it which the council has refuted.
Infrastructure Australia is understood to have rejected the proposal on February 9 as it did not consider a cheaper surface route, with agencies approval needed for federal funding.
RACQ spokesman Michael Kane said the three levels of government needed to put aside their differences, work together in the city’s interests.
“It doesn’t make sense to put the road on the surface. I don’t think anyone thinks that’s a good idea,” he said.
“Sydney is spending $30 billion at the moment on major roads, tunnels and the metro system, so the money being talked about is completely reasonable in terms of a tunnel solution.”
Cr Schrinner said the council only received a portion of the $10 million in federal funding and accused the state government of “pinching” $7.6 million.
“Now the state government needs to step up if they’ve got an alternative plan,” he said.
“Show us what it is. Tell people how many homes will be lost, how many hectares of bush land will be bulldozed.”
But Mr Bailey said it was “ridiculous” for the council to have excluded them from the process as it was a state-owned road corridor.
“I understand he (the Lord Mayor) had a disgraceful scare conference this morning in the local park trying to suggest that somehow we’ve got plans to bulldoze the local parks,” he said.
“It’s pathetic. This is the most pathetic behaviour from the Lord Mayor that I have ever seen.
“We have got no plan to do any such thing.”
Mr Bailey said he was happy to consider passing on the federal funds to the council if Mr Schrinner asked him – despite the council previously sending a letter to the government asking for the money.
Railway lobby group Rail Back on Track’s Robert Dow welcomed the rejection calling the proposal a “failure of critical thinking and evaluation.”
“Council should focus on adding bus lanes to roads in Brisbane‘s northwest and restart its successful BUZ program,” Mr Dow said.
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