Remember when: The cost of the Tugun Bypass shot above $80m with plan to build it by 2003

TRAFFIC congestion annoys anyone who gets stuck in gridlock and in the late 1990s and early 2000s the city’s south was affected badly.

Gold Coast History: Gold Coast Bulletin 1998, October 27. Front page.

GOLD COAST BULLETIN

Tuesday, October 27, 1998

TRAFFIC congestion annoys anyone who gets stuck in gridlock and in the late 1990s and early 2000s the city’s south was affected badly.

The push was on to build the Tugun Bypass, a new route which would allow drivers to continue to go south while avoiding the Gold Coast Highway near the city’s airport.

The year was 1998 and the opening of the bypass was a decade away but the State Government declared it hoped to build it in half that time.

The Beattie Government, just four months into what would ultimately be a 14 year stretch in power, announced that the projected cost of the Tugun By pass had risen to $80 million.

Gold Coast History: Gold Coast Bulletin 1998, October 27. Front page.

It came as a result of a pledge by Currumbin MP Merri Rose to build the road by 2003.

Mrs Rose confirmed to the Bulletin for the first time that the bypass’ route would be west of Gold Coast Airport.

Delays hit the project and it was still on the drawing board six years later when the Beattie Government went up for re-election in 2004.

That year, Premier Peter Beattie committed to funding and completing the Tugun Bypass.

In a last-minute bout of pork-barrelling before the 2004 election the premier promised to double the financial commitment to the bypass to $240 million.

Ms Rose lost her seat at the 2004 poll.

It finally opened in mid-2008 after years of work and protests from residents and community groups over its route.