Progress has a price: Kingsford Smith Drive delay annoys locals
Reaction was swift and negative to news that the finishing line of Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade roadworks had been pushed back by up to a year. Here’s what the locals said.
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REACTION was swift and negative to news that the finishing line of Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade roadworks had been pushed back by up to a year.
Brisbane City Council announced late last month that while the eastern section of the road from Harbour Rd to Eagle Farm was still on track for completion mid-next year, a technical hitch meant that extra work was needed and would delay the completion of the rest of the road until the “second half of 2020”.
Contractor Lendlease sent information to effected residents last week. The flyer said that “additional work is required between Bretts Wharf and Cameron Rocks Reserve”.
“Following detailed investigations, ground anchors will be drilled up to 15 metres into the underlying bedrock to provide additional support to the new River Walk structure,” it states. “Up to 50 ground anchors will be installed behind the structure between Toorak Rd and Grays
Rd.
“A small drill rig is used to install the ground anchors, which are then tensioned using a hydraulic jack. This additional work is scheduled to commence in early 2019, for up to six months.”
That pushes back the expected completion of the entire project back to the last half of 2020.
A Brisbane City Council spokesman confirmed that there would be limited river work involved, and that “there won’t be a need for barges nor reductions in ferry speeds”. It also confirmed that Lendlease would cover any extra cost as a result of the delay.
The news came at the same time that The Courier-Mail revealed there had been an 8,5 per cent drop in the number of cars using the road since the upgrade work began in 2016.
Labor’s transport spokesman Jared Cassidy said there had been a long-term trend of motorists abandoning the road.
MORE:
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He pointed to data that showed there were more than 65,000 daily road users in 2004 — significantly more than the daily average of 57,461 users in the first six months of 2018.
“We have seen over time, a remarkable decline in the demand (for the road) and that’s also a period that has seen enormous growth in people living there,” he said.
“It just shows that the $650 million upgrade was never warranted in the first place.
“A much smaller upgrade would have done the job.”
Hundreds of residents took to social media to vent their frustration at the news of the delay. Many complained that it would mean more noise and more of a delay to access roads off the busy thoroughfare.
Racecourse Road Business Group president Kate Peereboom said it was important to see the bigger picture of the project.
“While (we are) disappointed that the project is experiencing some delays, we are confident that the delays will be minimised where possible,” Ms Peereboom said.
“The Racecourse Rd Business Group remain fully supportive of the project which will provide a much-needed boost to the trading conditions for Ascot /Hamilton businesses when completed.”
Racecourse Rd Dental CEO Ingrid Steven said the delay was a blow to the spirits of small business owners who were looking forward to clients having easier access to the iconic shopping strip.
“As a business we a have close relationship with many local business, most of them owned and operated by families. The most recent news has hit us all hard,” she said.
“It is sad to see that there are no grants or any level of compensation to assist all our local businesses. Landlords continue collecting their high rents regardless of the quiet times, while tenants try to entice shoppers to support locals.
“The Kingsford Smith Drive and Racecourse Road business community are the victims at the receiving end as a result of poor planning from all departments involved. Funds which have been spent on brochures and newsletters could of been put towards investing on a more well-thought-out design. Some of the funds should also go to create an iconic Racecourse Road entry signage. This has been my original initiative in the past months.
“The river entry of Racecourse Road right next to Kingsford Smith Drive is the start to the shopping precinct. An iconic and timeless sign would be a great start (to help boost business recovery).”
“We want to continue telling the Brisbane community that Racecourse Road is open for business.”
Kingsford Riverside Inn general manager Sean Galvin said that while it was “annoying” to hear of the delay, it was the price of progress.
“It’s progress — it’s doing to make Kingsford Smith Drive great,” Mr Galvin said.
“It has been very frustrating at times … but it will be a great day when it is finished because we will look right over the river. We will see the Returned Service Memorial, which is right opposite us. There will be a new, beautiful walkway which will be open by the end of this year, a real bonus for us as guests can wander over to the river.”
He said major disruptions to the operation of the business had been the closure of Cooksley St, where the hotel’s car park was situated; and the water being cut off.
“But on those occasions we had plenty of notice … and we were supplied with lots of water (by Lendlease),” he said. “The biggest inconvenience was showers — I told all of our guests to shower by 9pm.”
He said Lendlease’s communication processes were good, saying that he felt his complaints were being listened to and acted upon.
Letters received by City North News also outlined reader’s feelings.
Hamilton resident Paul Spottiswood has been watching the upgrade work from his hillside unit.
“Nearby residents have put up with disruptions for two years now — noise from 5am to at least 11pm (and also during the night), dust, traffic delays and blockages, a 40km p/h speed limit, slow City Cat service (down to 5kts while passing the large barges carrying the heavy lift cranes),” he wrote.
“Apparently either the design or works were deficient in this $650 million project. Who was responsible for the stuff up?
“I note that the (Lendlease) circular states ‘Following detailed investigations, ground anchors will be drilled up to 15 metres in to the underlying bedrock’. This will not be done without noise, dust and further traffic delays.
“While the many nearby residents have been affected by the KSD upgrade, so have the many commuters who use KSD daily, plus the nearby businesses. Forget the BCC spin, I think the people of Brisbane now need honest answers as to who was responsible?”
John Dobinson, who lives at Herston, said: That we have a road widening in Brisbane that’s gone into the Brisbane River and that there’s a design defect and obvious seepage into the extension is apparent, because the widening should have gone inland. That bottleneck from narrowing the Brisbane River is going to cause problems like referred water at king tides during storms in nearby creeks, raising many questions. Questions such as why and who made
the choices to extend into the river? Going into the river was always going to have problems.”
TIMELINE:
The expected completion dates as released by Lendlease last week:
December 2018 — new River Walk opens
Mid-2019 — the rejuvenated Cameron Rocks Reserve will open to the public
Mid-2019 — the eastern section of Kingsford Smith Drive from Harbour Road to Eagle Farm is expected to be completed
Late 2019 — The new urban plaza at Bretts Wharf is expected to open
• Second half of 2020 — project completed with all works along the riverfront finished.
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