Pain until Xmas: Roadworks for Taringa Coles to shut busy road

Traffic headaches are multiplying in Brisbane’s inner-west, with roadworks for a new Coles to partly shut a major local road until Christmas. SEE THE DETAILS

Long-suffering motorists in the Indooroopilly-Taringa-St Lucia area face more traffic jams, this time until Christmas, after work on a new Coles forced the part-closure of a major local road.

Swann Road at its intersection with Moggill Rd will be closed to all eastbound traffic from October 24 until the week before Christmas because of a critical water main replacement.

There have already been delays on the busy road, a key connection between Indooroopilly and St Lucia/Taringa, caused by work on the Coles Local supermarket on Moggill Rd.

The project was believed to be about half a year behind schedule due to the challenging nature of the steep site, next to the train line.

It comes after months of delays at the nearby Indooroopilly roundabout upgrade site, which on some days has caused delays so bad shoppers have been stuck in the Indooroopilly Shopping Centre carpark for hours.

The section of Swann Rd that will be partly closed.

The Coles Local project developer had asked Council to completely close Swann Rd for a period, but was knocked back after intervention by local Councillor James Mackay due to the major disruption that would have created.

At the moment, eastbound traffic has been disrupted from 7pm to 5am each day. This would continue until October 23.

After that, for about seven weeks, vehicles would be entirely prevented from travelling eastbound from Moggill Rd, along Swann Rd just past the railway overpass.

Westbound traffic would remain unaffected and there would be no impact on pedestrians or cyclists.

There are already delays on Swann Rd due to roadworks.

“While this is not a Council project, it’s important that you’re aware of the impacts as it could affect your travel plans,’’ Mr Mackay posted on his Facebook page.

“Swann Rd is being closed to eastbound traffic to allow for a water main under the road to be replaced and for the road surface to be lowered 60cm.

“This will allow for better visibility for all road users, because the height of the crest will be reduced.

“I appreciate this closure may have an impact on local residents and I encourage those who use this road to plan an alternative route in advance.’’

Motorists were advised to use Keating, Ward or Beatrice streets.

“Vehicles travelling westbound, including school buses, will be able to continue their journeys as planned,’’ Mr Mackay said.

How the building will look from street level.

“This is a marked improvement on the original proposal, which indicated that the entire road would be shut.

“Working with Transport for Brisbane, we were able to mitigate the impacts by getting the project operator to keep at least one lane of traffic open.

“Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough space on the road to keep the westbound and eastbound traffic open at the same time.’’

Council approved the limited-format Coles Local and BWS liquor outlet in November, 2020 at the long-vacant site.

It was only the third Coles Local to be approved in Queensland.

Local state Greens MP, Michael Berkman, questioned the traffic impacts of the project at the time.

“The traffic report states that the proposed development will have no adverse impacts on the surrounding road network,’’ Mr Berkman wrote in a submission on the project.

“This seems unlikely to be true when developing a new supermarket at an intersection which is already congested.’’