Burleigh to airport light rail: Plans ‘pretty much impossible’

LIGHT rail on the Gold Coast has long been a hot topic and so it continues, with Bulletin readers giving their thoughts. HAVE YOUR SAY

LIGHT rail on the Gold Coast has long been a hot topic and so it continues, with Bulletin readers giving their thoughts.

“Watch the increase in crime. But again, how will it get around Nobby’s? End the stupidity now and rip the thing up,” wrote reader Joel.

Tom added: “If only the route through Southport had been split through different streets, Southport wouldn’t be the mess it is today.”

READ ALL THE COMMENTS BELOW

ANN WASON MOORE’S COLUMN

If we’re going to do it, we’ve got to do it right.

That’s the message from businessman and engineer John Howe, member of the Gold Coast Light Rail Advisory, lifetime resident of Palm Beach and a long-term titan of business in Southport.

Mr Howe not only owned properties affected by the construction of stage one of the light rail, he designed the GC600 track around the public transportation route.

And now he is a much needed voice in the acrimonious argument over public transport that is derailing the Gold Coast community.

And while he supports the construction of the light rail, he’s vehement that our city and state don’t ‘f*** it up’.

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Mr Howe, who co-founded Weathered Howe Engineers in 1980 before selling it in 2005 and starting specialist events company iE DM in 2008, says the lack of transparency in the planning process is alarming.

He says while he is dubious of claims that light rail will lead to development in Palm Beach, where five generations of his family have lived, he warns that the State Government’s artist impressions of the light rail route over Burleigh Hill and across Tallebudgera Creek are dangerously misleading.

An artist’s impression of a tram travelling over Burleigh Hill. Picture: Supplied

“What they show is pretty much impossible,” he says.

“On Burleigh Hill those drawings show four lanes of road traffic as well as the light rail track all on one level, but the Highway there is cut into the hillside, the north and south lanes are metres apart in elevation. How are they actually going to do this?

“Then with Tallebudgera Creek, they’re duplicating the existing bridge to the east. Everyone thinks it’s to the west but the new bridge will be on the ocean side. That means losing the parking on the southern side of the creek and cutting through Jellurgal on the northern side.

“The fact is that Burleigh Hill and Tallebudgera Creek are as important to our identity as the harbour is to Sydney. They are the spiritual heart of this city and even the world’s best light rail system is not worth f***ing it up.”

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Mr Howe says it is possible to build a light rail route down the Gold Coast Highway, but not according to the current plans available to the public.

He says if the city and the state want people to support the project, they need to present it seriously.

“Show me how you can build the rail without wrecking these areas. I know that the great engineering minds in this city and the world can come up with a solution that preserves Burleigh Hill and Tallebudgera Creek – they just need to be given the mandate and the budget to do it.

“It’s not beyond the realm of possibility. But don’t tell us it’s all okay without showing us exactly how it will be okay. That is what is scaring people. You don’t need to be an engineer to see that it won’t work how the artist impressions show it.

“If you are serious about this route, show us how you are not going to f*** up our spiritual heartland.

An artist’s impression of the light rail bridge over Tallebudgera Creek. Picture: Supplied

“For starters, I would suggest that we drop the plan to duplicate the Tallebudgera Creek bridge. If we redo it entirely we can fit far more into the same, or very nearly the same, footprint.

“Let’s throw the best minds and money at this project because if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”

Mr Howe says while he sees merit in suggestions put forward by groups like the Southern Gold Coast Think Tank, whom he recently met with, it would be impossible to run both a light rail and heavy rail within the corridor adjacent to the M1.

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“With the heavy rail corridor preserved along the M1, it’s an either/or situation. We can have one or the other there, not both.

“So that’s something we need to be honest about, which rail system is more important there?

“If you talk to planners, they’ll say that we need to connect Brisbane Airport to the Gold Coast Airport because ultimately the aim is to use Coolangatta as the secondary terminal to Brisbane. Whereas light rail will be more for people already heading to the Gold Coast, that’s how they would access their beachside accommodation.

“Both sides have ignored some facts when it comes to proposing routes. What we need right now is very open and very honest conversation about what we want, what we need and what we are prepared to put up with.

“I think the light rail has been and will be great for the city – but not at any price.”

businessman and engineer John Howe. Picture: Scott Fletcher

Mr Howe says his attitude is similar to that he adopted towards the implementation of the ILS (instrument landing system) at the Gold Coast Airport.

He says he never objected to the use of the ILS but it’s overuse.

“When I was contacted by community members, I realised that it was ridiculous to use it all-day every day. But it was also ridiculous not to have it at all.

“I joined that fight but it wasn’t about shutting everyone up, it was about having a conversation about what each side really needed. And that’s where we landed.

“The airport has its much needed ILS – but it’s only used in certain conditions, like severe weather and emergency situations.

“It’s a sensible decision and that’s what I’m pursuing with the light rail as well. We need it, but we need it done right.”

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This is not Mr Howe’s first taste of community activism either. In fact, he first fought for his Palm Beach community in the late 70s.

As part of the Palm Beach Action Group he lobbied for sand dredging to rebuild the fragile beaches of the suburb.

“After the NSW Government built the Tweed River breakwaters in the 1960s, it trapped the sand that would normally travel north, so we were losing our beach.

“We won that fight but I think people forget how delicate the ecosystem is there.

“Now there’s talk of building the Oceanway, which would be great, except the A-line rock wall is on the boundary of properties in Palm Beach. That means either the Oceanway would be in danger of being washed away, or you would have to build another rock wall to protect it.

“Again, a great concept … but don’t forget the facts.”

Gold Coast light rail stage 3B proposed coastal route to the Gold Coast Airport. Picture: Department of Transport and Main Roads.

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that as well as a long line of Gold Coasters in Mr Howe’s family, with one grandfather buying his first Southport property in 1944 and the other grandfather buying a home at Palm Beach in the early 50s, there’s some serious political history as well.

In fact, his great-grandfather was one John Robert ‘Jackie’ Howe, who was instrumental in the shearer strikes of 1891 and 1894, and a committed trade unionist.

Jackie shot to fame in pre-Federation Australia in 1892 when he broke the daily and weekly shearing records across the colonies, hand-shearing 321 sheep in seven hours and 40 minutes at Alice Downs station, near Blackall, Queensland.

“I’m not saying which party I vote for, but I come from a family who believes in taking action,” he says.

“You can’t just complain, you have to do something.”

And Mr Howe’s record speaks for itself.

As chairman of the Southport Committee, he’s helped the suburb rediscover its past and find its future.

He was responsible for restoring the Old Ambulance Building at Nerang Street and is passionate about bringing the colourful history of the suburb back to life.

He’s also helped create a plan for the future, with the suburb continuing to kick goals.

“We’ve completed about 90 per cent of our first Southport PDA Development Scheme, and now it’s time to start planning again,” he says.

“All the elements to make this suburb boom are here, we just have to kick it up a notch.

“I think we need to drop the old ideas of a CBD and start referring to this suburb as a city centre, we need to aim towards a Fortitude Valley-style vibe.”

He says one of the big changes proposed for Southport is to ‘bury’ the Gold Coast Highway in front of Australia Fair.

He says the drastic action isn’t as costly as it sounds and would connect the city to the Broadwater.

“Essentially we’d be doing a sort of cut-and-cover, it’s like half-burying the highway,” he says.

“But it would really form that connection to the Parklands that Southport needs, all the elements are here – we just have to make them work together.”

And if Mr Howe has anything to do with it, no doubt he’ll do it right.