School Rd Rochedale closure: P&Cs, holiday park go to war

A Brisbane businessman says he risks losing his holiday park over a road closure foisted upon the community, while local school parents fear up to 30 minutes will be added to their commute.

A business owner fears for the viability of his popular holiday park with Brisbane City Council’s unexpected announcement it intends to close a busy local road to facilitate its Metro project, while nearby school parents fear the surprise decision could add 30 minutes to their daily commute.

Meanwhile, council and the Department of Transport and Main Roads are engaged in an ugly bout of finger-pointing, with each blaming the other for the decision to close the road.

Residents of Rochedale and Rochedale South received a pamphlet in their letterboxes last month advising that School Rd, a key north-south link which runs parallel to the Pacific Motorway, would be closed to the public from “late-2022” to facilitate access to the Brisbane Metro depot at Rochedale.

Council plans to extend Gardner Rd between Priestdale and Underwood roads to compensate for the closure, but this project may not be delivered until 2024, with land necessary for this plan yet to be resumed.

Rochedale school parents Andrew and Lesley Hall, with Brisbane Gateway Park manager Russell Holland. Picture: Alex Treacy

City Hall Transport Chair Cr Ryan Murphy told Southern Star the decision to close School Rd was “to provide access to a fast-charging facility on site and connection to the South-East Busway”, a project simultaneously underway by TMR to link Springwood to the busway, creating a new station and park ‘n’ ride at Rochedale.

He said the decision to close School Rd to the public was only taken “as a result of TMR’s advice” and is now a fait accompli as “the depot design is now fundamentally dependent on the closure”, despite no community consultation ever foreshadowing the closure.

A TMR representative, meanwhile, refuted the suggestion that it was their decision to close the road, telling the Southern Star they resolved to convert School Rd into busway only after BCC indicated they “required” the road closure for Brisbane Metro access.

This version of events is backed up by Eight Mile Plains resident Russell Holland, manager of the popular Gateway Brisbane Resort, accessible via School Rd, who said TMR had already compulsorily acquired a portion of his land with the express purpose of maintaining public access to School Rd.

This is corroborated, he said, by a TMR flythrough of the project, still publicly available on its website, which clearly shows School Rd remaining open to traffic with the busway extension running parallel.

TMR project flythrough showing School Rd was intended to run parallel to the South-East Busway extension before BCC decided to partially close the road. Picture: TMR/ YouTube

“It’s seriously disappointing we’ve given up our land (and will lose access anyway),” Mr Holland said.

He accused BCC of “sheer arrogance” in presenting the closure to the community as a done deal and said the decision would have a “catastrophic” impact on his business, with the impact to be felt especially by prospective customers with caravans, as they will lose easy access to the park from the Gateway Motorway.

Mr Holland said he has still not been provided concrete details by either BCC or TMR as to how customers will access his holiday park after the road closure.

“We’ll soldier on to a point, it all just comes down to viability,” he said.

It’s not only Mr Holland who fears the effect of closing School Rd.

Brisbane City Council's plan to partially close School Rd, enthusiastically taken up by TMR despite its initial plans to maintain public access. Picture: BCC

Temporary residents of Brisbane Gateway Park, Andrew and Lesley Hall, who have children at Rochedale State High School and Rochedale State School, told the Southern Star the decision to close School Rd would add up to 15 minutes each away on their morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up routines.

They said traffic already banks up on Priestdale Rd outside Rochedale SHS during these times, with vehicles travelling down the wrong side of the road to circumvent the traffic queuing to turn into the school’s kiss ‘n’ ride already a common sight.

Meanwhile, the pair are very sceptical of BCC’s ability to deliver the Gardner Rd extension between Priestdale and Underwood roads by 2024.

They noted Gardner Rd is already been awaiting an extension, between Miles Platting and Priestdale roads.

“It’s been in the works for ages and you can’t even get that done,” Mr Hall said.