Light rail: Councillors push green light to fast track to the airport once Burleigh section is complete
Councillors are urging the State Government to speed up the roll-out of light rail through Palm Beach to the airport amid fears the line won’t be delivered for more than a decade.
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GOLD Coast City councillors are urging the state government to fast-track light rail to the airport and organise for construction to start immediately after the Broadbeach to Burleigh stage is complete.
They fear negotiations about what the three forms of government will have to pay for Stage 4 could mean it is not finished in time for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
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Council planning chair Cameron Caldwell led a chorus of councillors strongly supporting the push for continual work on the southern Coast route on the Gold Coast Highway after they learned at a transport committee meeting on Tuesday about a four-year gap between stages two and three.
Councillors were told major works on the Broadbeach to Burleigh line would only start later this year and finish in early 2024.
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“The message needs to be sent really clearly that this needs to be a continual program of construction, where we roll from one stage to the next,” Cr Caldwell said. “We need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.
“So that we are planning whilst we are doing construction. Otherwise this is going to take two or three times as long to deliver a reasonable network as what it should.”
Cr Caldwell was supported by Deputy Mayor Donna Gates, William Owen-Jones, southern-based councillor Gayle O’Neill and transport committee chair Pauline Young.
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Cr Caldwell estimated the four-year wait after Stage 2, from Gold Coast University to Helensvale, led to two stages of construction being lost. He suggested it was critical for Palm Beach residents to not drag out the project.
“The reason that they’re so apprehensive about it is because there’s this great unknown thing sitting there waiting and it is going to be a decade or more from when it got to Broadbeach that it gets to Palm Beach,” he said.
“No wonder they get upset about it. They don’t know when it’s coming, they then don’t get experience, it’s the whole unknown. We have to give these people the real meaningful opportunity to use the investment. We’re all paying for it.
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“We are all paying for the light rail and it’s not going far enough quick enough.”
Mayor Tom Tate remains a strong advocate for continual construction of the tram tracks.
“My position remains the same – this should be a continuous rolling contract with Stage 4 ready for construction as Stage 3 ends,” he said.
“I encourage the state and federal governments to issue a separate contract during Stage 3 for the major bridge and wildlife corridor works associated with Stage 4. It makes economic sense to have those works out for tender in mid-2022.
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“Building something tomorrow is always more expensive than today. As Mayor, I would willingly take to council a report outlining our funding commitments for these works – wildlife corridor and additional bridges. I’m confident full council would approve our commitment given it is the best use of ratepayer funds to build these major linkages today, rather than going to tender in four years.’’
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