Advance Cairns hands down Forging a Brighter Future regional priority report

A reshaped city is on the horizon amid warnings traffic will become intolerable unless new transport nodes surrounded by higher-density communities are planned and built.

UPDATE: A reshaped city is on the horizon amid warnings traffic will become intolerable unless new transport nodes surrounded by higher-density communities are planned and built.

Advance Cairns has handed down its Forging a Brighter Future report outlining its top regional infrastructure and policy priorities for 2022-23.

Huge emphasis is on the upcoming federal budget, to be handed down on March 22 – just two months before the latest date an election can be called.

“If Leichhardt falls, you could almost be certain the government will fall,” Advance Cairns chairman Nick Trompf said.

Trackless trams are being posed as a potential solution to the city’s growing gridlock issue.

The organisation’s biggest dollar-figure request is $300m-$400m to fund a common user facility for massive ships to be hoisted for repair in the marine precinct, and associated upgrades.

It is also calling for the National Highway to be extended from Smithfield through Kuranda to Mareeba – a move that will require state Transport Minister Mark Bailey to make good on his pledge to lodge a request with the federal government.

“We’re staying away from which road’s better, which tunnel’s better or which bridge is better,” Mr Trompf said.

“Our focus is just on getting the National Highway extended.”

Renders of a proposed trackless tram route to Rowville Monash Station in Melbourne – similar to what could be rolled out in Cairns. Picture: Supplied

Another core push is for the Coalition to match federal Labor’s commitment to funding a $50m new CQUniversity campus in the CBD.

The most long-sighted inclusion on the hit list is a $10.5m plan to overhaul how the city grows and moves.

Advance Cairns CEO Paul Sparshott said new roads alone would not fix the city’s growing pains.

“I saw that happen today on the Smithfield bypass,” he said.

“It’s just been completed and it was probably at 95 per cent capacity today – it was down to 40km/h and it’s been like that for the past few days.”

Trackless trams can be built into existing roadways without needing expensive rail infrastructure and electrification. Picture: Supplied

He has called for a report to look at all public transport options, from light rail to trackless trams and the potential for electrifying existing heavy rail lines.

Whatever happened, he envisaged transport nodes in spots like Gordonvale, Edmonton and Smithfield where higher-density resort-style communities strategically positioned along public transport routes.

“We’re not going to densify everywhere, just around those transport nodes. That then justifies the transportation system, so you get patronage on the rail, light rail, metro or whatever means you choose,” he said.

EARLIER: Light rail is back on the agenda  amid warnings Cairns will become an uncomfortable urban sandwich unless crucial transport planning is undertaken right now.

Deja vu may be setting in for residents who remember the 2016 local government elections when Mayor Bob Manning made a city metro one of his chief platforms.

A deathblow was dealt to that plan in 2019 when the state government rejected a request for $80,000 to develop a business case for a metro system linking the airport and CBD, and the council did not see fit to use ratepayer funds.

However, the proposal is getting its phoenix moment in a big way.

Mount Sheridan has grown massively in recent decades and will only increase in density. Picture: Brendan Radke

Advance Cairns is about to unveil its Future Growth – Cairns 2050 proposal which goes a leap further in setting the urban design agenda for the next three decades.

The plan calls for the federal and state governments to jointly fund an $8.5m strategic integrated urban development and transport plan, and for Cairns Regional Council to implement a $2.5m growth strategy.

“Cairns is a car-dominated, sprawling, and linear city, characterised by detached housing on large blocks with a high reliance on cars for transport,” the document states.

“However, Cairns is running out of developable land.

“Available land to the north of the city is very limited and expanding to the west is problematic because of the cost and difficulty of upgrading the Kuranda Range Road.

“As a result, the city is sprawling south using outdated planning models where congestion will be the new norm.”

Governments are being urged to look beyond just traditional road projects in long-term transport planning for the city. PICTURE: Brendan Radke

The proposal is not just about light rail, and calls for critical thinking on how to reshape a thin-strip city that is heavily constrained by mountains on one side and the ocean on the other.

“Since the last statutory regional and city plans were first formulated over a decade ago, there has been significant development in new transportation technologies such battery-operated metros, trackless trams, trains, autonomous vehicles and shuttles, and personal electric transport devices (ie electric scooters and bikes) particularly for end-of-journey trips,” it continued.

“It is time for these new technologies and planning models to be researched and considered as a system and become part of the solution in reshaping our communities.”

The plan will be released as part of a wider Advance Cairns 2022-23 federal budget submission with hopes of securing a $4m from both major parties ahead of the upcoming election.

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Originally published as Advance Cairns hands down Forging a Brighter Future regional priority report