Commercial property manager Kirk Muddle shares commute woes along Bruce Hwy
A Sunshine Coast man who commutes to Brisbane for work has revealed the dire state of the Bruce Highway and says he regularly stays in the state capital to avoid the drive.
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A Sunshine Coast resident who has commuted to Brisbane for work for more than a decade says travel times on the Bruce Hwy are only getting worse - with some trips so debilitating he opts to stay in the state capital overnight.
Commercial property manager Kirk Muddle said on a good day, such as in the middle of school holidays, the drive will take around an hour and 25 minutes; but on a bad day, it can take anywhere between two hours to two-and-a-half hours.
The Maroochydore man said the longest he has ever spent on the Bruce Hwy was eight hours, when wild weather in 2015 caused the road to close at Bald Hills due to flooding.
Mr Muddle, who works five days a week, said the drive can sometimes be so debilitating and long, he will spend days in Brisbane with friends to avoid it.
He will typically commute along the Bruce Hwy on Mondays, Thursday afternoons and Fridays.
“I live four days a week (on the Sunshine Coast) ... two nights a week, or three depending on what’s going on, I will bunker down in Brisbane for a night with a mate just to avoid the commute - and I think more people are starting to do that,” he said.
He said there isn’t one particular cause for a long commute, but said “the first day back at school after every set of holidays, that is disaster day.”
Crashes, even ones that are not on the Bruce Hwy, are also the cause of major delay headaches.
“(The crash) can be the Gateway or it can even be down the section I call Gympie Rd, between the Pine River bridge and Beams Rd,” he said.
“Even if there’s something there it will back everything up and it can even back it up to Burpengary before you even know it.”
Mr Muddle said he felt a direct road connecting Brisbane City and the Bruce Hwy would cut down on travel time, and backed the plans for the Sunshine Coast Direct Rail Line, which he said would offer an alternative mode of transport for commuters to Brisbane.
Finally, he said he felt every level of government was ignoring the Bruce Hwy north of Costco at North Lakes, and had never delivered their promises.
“It’s 107km, it shouldn’t take two hours.”
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