Exit 38 at Yatala North must be upgraded but it still needs the Coomera Connector

Yatala Exit is the city’s most congested road — but the ageing interchange will need more than just a long-overdue upgrade. Find out what needs to be done

The city’s most congested road is at the Yatala Exit but the ageing interchange will need not just an upgrade but stage two of the Coomera Connector to cope with traffic, a Cr says.

Councillor Mark Hammel says the Exit 38 interchange during peak times is operating at 150 per cent capacity, as trucks enter southeast Queensland’s biggest industrial estate.

“There was a business case completed for Exit 38 back in 2019. Nothing has happened since then,” Cr Hammel says.

The planned upgrade will not work unless the second stage of the Coomera Connector is built. Work has begun on Stage One between Helensvale and Coomera.

“We know as they upgrading M1 interchanges – 54, 57, 49, 41 and future 38 and 45 upgrade – that they have been designing those interchanges assuming the Coomera Connector will be built,” Cr Hammel said.

“They are to a capacity point where their modelling then says ‘we expect so much traffic to be on the Coomera Connector’.

“It has to be built otherwise all the M1 interchanges will come to a grinding halt.”

Councillor Mark Hammel — lobbying for Exit 38 upgrade and second stage build of the Coomera Connector.

A Department of Transport and Main Roads update shows the business case for Exit 38 (Yatala North) was approved in November 2018. Work is either completed or continuing on M1 Exits 41, 45, and 49.

“Exit 38 when it was built, there was nearly no industrial on the eastern side of the M1, and most of the western industrial was still a pipedream at that stage,” Cr Hammel said.

“We’ve seen billions of dollars of investment by local companies but also national companies into Yatala, which has brought on huge amounts of traffic, especially heavy truck traffic.

Cr Hammel, who is the Division One councillor and City’s planning committee chair, said the earlier costing showed $100 million would fix the interchange.

Map of the Coomera Connector Stage 2 route from Coomera to Loganholme.

“It’s the main highway interchange for the largest industrial hub in southeast Queensland.

“You are losing millions of dollars of productivity with trucks, tradies and specialist services sitting in traffic trying to get onto the highway — it makes logical sense not to just fix the safety problem but to create economic benefit,” he said.

“It’s really disappointing that we haven’t seen Exit 38 upgraded yet or at least a form of commitment on when it will happen.”

Motorists were “watching cars dart around the (Exit’s) roundabout in front of trucks”.

“At certain times of the day traffic backs up onto the highway for a couple of kilometres, there will be a tail back on both sides in the morning,” Cr Hammel said.

Artist's impression of the Coomera Connector interchange at Foxwell Rd in Coomera.

“When you have 50,000 people working in the that industrial area, they are all trying to get work.

“Then there’s the truck movements, that’s the big killer.

“These are all industries heavily reliant on thousands of truck movements a day. That road network was never designed for it.”

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