Coomera Connector: New details on speed limit and interchanges, locals ‘left in dark’ - Minister issues response
Transport Minister Mark Bailey has responded to Coomera Connector critics by issuing them a challenge. Read what he had to say.
Gold Coast
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Transport Minister Mark Bailey has challenged candidates in next year’s council elections to “make commitments” regarding upgrades to Helensvale Rd ahead of the opening of the first stage of the Coomera Connector.
The Bulletin this week revealed how locals were concerned about traffic impacts when Stage One North of the new motorway opens in 2025 with a termination point at two-lane Helensvale Rd, which is controlled by council.
Division 2 candidate Ben Findlay questioned what was being done to prevent the new road becoming a “Coomera Congester”, while fellow candidate Naomi Fowler said locals were “concerned and angered” by the location of the Helensvale Rd intersection.
“The state government is doing the heavy lifting with the biggest road project in the whole state, with more than two billion in funding from state and federal governments,” Mr Bailey said.
“And yet these council candidates want us to do their jobs for them and pay for the council roads as well.
“If these people want to be elected to the council maybe they should actually make commitments to upgrade council roads and do their jobs.”
Mr Bailey rejected calls for the state to gazette Helensvale Rd and ultimately pay for upgrades, saying it was a matter for council.
“This is one of the biggest councils in Queensland. This is not a small little shire council that don’t have too many shekels. This is a major, major council, not just by Queensland but by national standards. Of course they should be upgrading their own roads. It’s obvious,” he said.
“ ... This first (Coomera Connector) section will open in 2025, there’s still time for council to make decisions and to upgrade relevant local roads in time to open that first section and then of course we’ll have progressive openings of the central and southern sections after that.
“I’m not going to be critical of the council, I think they’ve been doing a good job, but if people want to get elected to the council in March next year, they need to make commitments and not ask me to do their jobs for them.”
Mr Findlay said the cost of necessary upgrades to Helensvale Rd would be too much for council “to outlay in one hit”.
“If it is left for the City of Gold Coast to manage, it would not be a quick fix. It would need to be a gradual upgrade of the road in segments,” he said.
“The reality is that the cost of such an upgrade is astronomical.”
He said he would raise the issue with candidates for state elections due next year
“Our local community deserves a better deal than what is currently on the table,” he said.
Ms Fowler said council planning showed the cost of upgrades was estimated at $150 million.
“To put this into perspective, the city’s entire annual roads network budget is $190 million,” Ms Fowler said.
“ ... Projects by the city are delivered by demand and there will be more of a demand to upgrade Helensvale Road due to the State Government’s decision to put the Coomera Connector primary entry and exit point on this road, when the state-controlled Hope Island Road would have been a suitable location.
“With the interchange located on Helensvale Road, and nearby one of our largest state high schools on the Gold Coast, it’s only fair that the state either takes control of the road and its upgrades or contributes significant funds to the project so that ratepayers don’t have to foot the bill.”
Concerns were also expressed by local representatives about a lack of information about the project from the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR).
Mr Bailey said information would be communicated to residents as it became available.
“We will certainly be communicating as we have information that is finalised and is clear,” he said.
“This is such a large project that we have broken it up into three sections, north, central and south. And so we get through all the different preparation for the different sectors in different times. And as we finalise that and go to market and we have the finalised designs we will certainly be communicating with people.”
He encouraged people to register for information via email at coomeraconnector@tmr.qld.gov.au or by calling 1800 568 978.
LOCALS SAY THEY’VE BEEN LEFT IN DARK
Northern Gold Coast residents say they are in limbo and claiming a lack of information from the state government about plans for the Coomera Connector.
Work is well underway on the first section of the new $2.1 billion highway, from Coomera through to Helensvale Rd, intended to take traffic from the congested M1.
However residents in homes bordering the mooted Stage 1 Central section to Smith St say they still have no idea when work will start or how it will impact their homes.
The Shores estate resident Mark Hunter, whose only access road lies in the path of the Connector, said residents had not even been told how they’d get to their homes while work was taking place.
“There is no indication as to how the residents of The Shores are going to access the wider world, we haven’t even been given that,” Mr Hunter said. “We’ve got no idea.
“Some of the residents are leaving. The number of houses up for sale has been quite significant.”
Mr Hunter previously sat on a community consultation group as the representative for The Shores. He resigned from it because, he said, suggestions were ignored and he was “sick of being a puppet”.
“(We were) treated basically by the department like idiots. Absolute idiots. And I’m still getting that,” he said.
“I wrote to Main Roads (three months ago) saying I need information, I want to call a community meeting for all those on The Shores and all those who are going to bound the motorway the other side of the railway.
“That was refused, any sort of information upon which I could call a meeting.”
In a response to a Question on Notice from Theodore MP Mark Boothman tabled on September 25, Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said residents of The Shores would be provided temporary access to their homes via the Gold Coast Highway.
“I am advised, based on current design and construction planning, temporary vehicle access will be provided via a detour along the new motorway corridor from the existing roundabout in ‛The Shoresʼ, south to the Gold Coast Highway,” Mr Bailey said.
The lengthy route would represent significant disruption for residents, who would face a lengthy drive to access the rest of Helensvale, including local schools.
It is unclear how long the disruption would last.
Mr Boothman said it was frustrating information could only be gleaned via the Questions On Notice process.
“The department is scared. They don’t want to talk to opposition members. It’s so hard to get a briefing,” he said.
Bonney MP Sam O’Connor, whose constituency includes The Surrounds, where the road also comes close to homes, said residents were also deeply frustrated by the lack of information.
“(We’d like) just a couple of forums. One forum even, we’ll take even one forum from TMR,” Mr O’Connor said.
“We just want some sort of way of engaging residents, because they’ve been in limbo for half a decade on this.
“The whole schedule of works is a complete mystery.”
Mr O’Connor said while most people accepted the road was badly-needed infrastructure, they were upset by the uncertainty around how it would impact their homes.
“We don’t even have the detailed designs. We don’t know what it’s going to look like. We don’t know what the sound barriers are going to look like. We don’t know what the local access will look like,” he said.
“A big part of it is saying, please just engage. It’s a better outcome locally because people have buy-in, they understand what’s happening in their area. It’s in the absence of information that fear just propagates and that’s what’s happening at the moment.”
Division 2 councillor William Owen Jones said he was also not being provided with information.
“The last project briefing from TMR to councillors was more than two years ago,” he said.
A TMR spokesperson said it was “expected” updates would be provided to residents over the next six months.
“It is expected residents will receive more detailed information on design plans for the South package in late 2023 and the Central package in the first quarter of 2024, at which time they will have the opportunity to provide their feedback and questions on the design,” the spokesperson said.
“In addition to providing information to residents about construction impacts via letterbox flyers and traffic alerts, TMR has been distributing a monthly Coomera Connector Stage 1 eNews project update since May 2023.
“Residents and businesses are encouraged to sign-up to receive these regular updates on the Coomera Connector project. Their details can be registered via email at coomeraconnector@tmr.qld.gov.au or by calling the project hotline on 1800 568 978.”
DRIVERS FACING YEARS-LONG GO SLOW ON ‘SECOND M1’
Motorists will be forced to observe slashed speed limits - likely for years - after the first section of the Coomera Connector opens in late 2025.
The long-awaited second highway in the northern Gold Coast is due to have a posted speed limit of 100km/h.
However the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) has revealed motorists will not be allowed to travel at those speeds when Stage 1 North – now under construction from Coomera to Helensvale Rd – finally opens to traffic.
“When Stage 1 North is open to traffic it will be under temporary traffic management including reduced speed limits,” a TMR spokesperson said.
“So in the interim period this section of the Coomera Connector will be operating as a local connector road rather than the final intra-regional transport corridor.”
The Bulletin has previously also reported the first stage of the new road would be four lanes, not six.
It is unknown how long motorists will be forced to obey the reduced speeds but it is likely to be for a number of years.
Although construction is scheduled to begin some time next year, detailed designs are yet to be released for the Stage 1 Central and Stage 1 South sections of the $2.1 billion project.
Stage 1 Central runs from Helensvale Road to Smith Street and Stage 1 South runs Smith Street to Nerang-Broadbeach Road in Nerang.
“It is expected residents will receive more detailed information on design plans for the South package in late 2023 and the Central package in the first quarter of 2024,” TMR stated.
The termination of Stage 1 North at Helensvale Rd before further sections are opened has alarmed local representatives, who say the area is not prepared for an influx of traffic.
Helensvale Rd is one lane each way at the point where it will join the Coomera Connector, just 750 metres from busy Helensvale State High School.
Member for Theodore Mark Boothman said the area risked becoming clogged with vehicles once the new road opened.
“The problem with Helensvale Rd is you’ve got a major high school,” he said.
“In the afternoon this is a choke point, the roundabout (nearby) is a disaster, that needs to be upgraded to actually increase traffic flow in this area.
“Furthermore as you get into the Broadwater electorate you just go into a single lane bi-directional carriageway, not designed for that amount of traffic. It’s just not going to work.
“There needs to be a proper agreement between council and the state, and if they can get federal funding to help sort it out, we need to actually upgrade this road.”
Candidates for Division 2 in the looming March council elections said it was a hot topic among residents. Ben Findlay said he was concerned the road would be a “Coomera Congester” for the area while fellow candidate Naomi Fowler said many locals were “concerned and angered” by the Helensvale Rd intersection location.
“What it will ultimately mean is Helensvale Rd will need a four carriageway upgrade, and that will be a cost to ratepayers as it’s a local road,” Ms Fowler said.
“The traffic that goes through that section of Helensvale Rd, all around the high school and up to Discovery Dr, is already at gridlock, particularly around school drop-off and pick-up times. This is going to exacerbate that.”
Councillor William Owen Jones, retiring at the election, last year revealed council was faced with a bill of almost $150 million to upgrade Helensvale Rd in coming years. He said he would like to see the state take control of the road, as it has done with sections of Shipper Dr and Foxwell Rd at the northern end of the route.
TMR said this would not happen.
“The $2.1 billion jointly-funded Coomera Connector project includes building an interchange at Helensvale Road and the associated upgrade of Helensvale Road in the immediate vicinity of the interchange ramps,” a spokesperson said.
“The City of Gold Coast (Council) is responsible for completing any necessary upgrades to the supporting local road network, including Helensvale Road, as part of their transport planning for the area.
“TMR has no plans to declare Helensvale Road a state-controlled road.”
Cr Owen Jones said the matter should be an issue in state elections due in October next year.
“(I’d be) happy for either side of politics to commit to ‘maining’ Helensvale Rd in the lead-up to next year’s state elections,” he said.
Read related topics:Coomera Connector
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