Congested roads costing southeast Queensland economy $156 million: RACQ
Southeast Queensland’s congested highways and arterial roads are costing us hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity, with one stretch wasting over $1 million per kilometre.
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CONGESTION around southeast Queensland’s busiest roads and highways has cost the state’s economy a whopping $156 million, according to an extensive study conducted by the RACQ.
The first ever Cost of Congestion report used Bluetooth data across 1328km of the road network to identify the choke points sapping the economy of lost productivity.
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It has led the state’s peak motoring body to urgently call for a holistic approach not just to Queensland’s road network, but also to public and active transport infrastructure.
The Pacific Motorway was the costliest handbrake on the economy, with stretches of the vital link taking up the top three spots.
Between Gaza and Underwood roads at Eight Mile Plains, congestion on the motorway cost the economy $1.06 million per kilometre in 2019.
The bottleneck at O’Keefe St and North Quay cost the economy just under $1 million, while Days Rd to the Coomera River on the Gold Coast wasted $878,821 per kilometre.
Gympie Rd between Albany Creek Rd and Beams Rd was the costliest arterial thoroughfare, draining the economy of $847,743 per kilometre last year.
RACQ head of public policy Rebecca Michael said the report was the first time the motoring body had been able to calculate the cost of congestion.
“More than ever, we need to look at how we’re able to ensure that our transport network is safe and efficient … to contribute to that economic recovery post-COVID,” Dr Michael said.
She said small and medium businesses would benefit from easing congestion around southeast Queensland.
“They’re not making any money when they’re stuck in traffic,” she said.
“We need to have investment to build our capacity.”
Dr Michael said the Coomera Connector and North West Transport Corridor needed to be looked at as ways to ease congestion on the Pacific Motorway and Gympie Rd.
But increased expenditure on rail and buses, to make public transport more attractive to commuters was also identified as an important area of improvement.
Cycling, which gained greater popularity during the coronavirus pandemic, also needed greater focus.
“We’d like to see those people to stay out of their cars and continue to use that form of transport,” Dr Michael said.
She said Logan stood out as having the highest congestion costs per kilometre, mainly due to the Pacific Motorway, while Friday was the most congested day and October the most congested month last year.
The figures were determined by analysing hourly vehicle costs, with business travel and heavy commercial vehicles costing $75.73 and $60.88 per hour per vehicle respectively in 2019.
Added delays due to congestion meant wasted time when workers could be productively contributing to the economy.
