EXCLUSIVE: The dirt file which shows what can go wrong with the Coomera Connector
Councillors are concerned the Coomera Connector will cause a loss of koala habitat, not have enough noise barriers and put too much pressure on council’s local road network.
Gold Coast
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COUNCILLORS are concerned the Coomera Connector will cause a loss of koala habitat, not have enough noise barriers and put too much pressure on council’s local road network.
The list of complaints are outlined in a detailed attachment sent by council transport director Alton Twine to Main Roads Director-General Neil Scales.
The Bulletin has obtained the document which for the first time outlines what councillors along with officers and residents believe are major hurdles in building the $2.4 billion second M1 from Carrara to Stapleton in the city’s north.
Key concerns raised by residents included — the visual impact on suburbs, noise levels, road lighting, barrier impacts both physical and psychological along with the localised flooding caused by the new six-lane highway.
Mr Twine in the letter to TMR said it was expected community concerns about Coomera Connector would be captured in the current consultation and resolved in the design process.
“This should include the installation of a package of meaningful noise mitigation measures that may need to be designed above the thresholds outlined in TMR’s own guidelines given the proximity of some houses to CC Stage 1,” the council report said.
TMR was advised to consider using different pavement along with the possibility homes could have doubled glazed windows and airconditioning.
The council supports upgraded public transport as part of the project and suggested “there are opportunities bus services should be operating on the Coomera Connector from day one of opening”.
Councillors had raised concerns about the loss of koala habitat and officers called for fauna fencing and crossings around the Coombabah Lakelands Conservation area.
A key fear from council is the first stage of the project finishing at Shipper Drive or Oakey Creek Road at Coomera in the north.
Motorists travelling between Pimpama and Ormeau would continue to use the M1 or drive along “single-lane local streets not designed for large through traffic movements” near schools and homes.
Modelling undertaken by councils shows Shipper Drive would be used 50,000 vehicles each day, way above the carrying capacity for a two-lane road.
Given the change in traffic volumes, council has asked TMR to consider three key local government roads — Foxwell Road, Shipper Road and Helensvale Road — be considered for future state-controlled road status.
“The city seeks collaboration with TMR to determine the future ownership of these roads as a result of CC Stage 1,” the report said.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said he was pleased Gold Coast City Council “had publicly backed” the project and “huge” $1.5 billion state-federal funding commitment.
“The Palaszczuk Labor Government’s full 16km stage 1 second M1 will be the largest single road project in Queensland if we are re-elected,” he said.
“Anyone wanting to get this project right can see the puny LNP proposal to only build a 6km stage one and send an extra 60,000 cars a day onto the Gold Coast Highway will mean gridlock from day one on the Gold Coast Highway corridor.
“The LNP’s incompetence on this project no doubt stems from their current Shadow Minister for Transport and Main Roads Steve Minnikin, who was Campbell Newman’s Assistant Minister for Public Transport when the LNP ordered 75 trains made overseas which were not disability compliant.”
Mr Bailey said it was “normal” for the council to have initial queries over the design of the project given the “massive financial commitment” had recently been confirmed.
“We’ve based our preliminary designs on the advice of TMR’s planners and experts, and those designs will be examined in further detail during the development of the business case and detailed design phase of the project,” he said.
Mr Bailey said the government would work closely with the council and Mayor Tom Tate “to maximise the benefit of this project for Gold Coast residents, just as we have with the light rail stages and the M1 upgrades”.
“TMR will continue to engage Council and the community and seek input on those matters throughout the process, which is a standard part of planning a project on this scale.”
EARLIER
THE Gold Coast City Council has warned the State Government that the Coomera Connector has several flaws that could prevent it taking an estimated 60,000 vehicles off a bursting Pacific Motorway.
Council officers have told top Main Roads bureaucrats that the planned stage one of the project from Carrara to the Coomera Marine Precinct will not meet “all of the strategic objectives”.
They have questioned how the project was costed and if critical design elements would be removed to meet that budget.
Worse still, there is likely to be “resultant safety and capacity impacts on the local road network”.
In a letter to Transport Director General Neil Scales, council transport director Alton Twine said the council supported the Coomera Connector from Loganholme to Nerang as a “city-shaping” piece of infrastructure.
HOW COOMERA CONNECTOR WILL TRANSFORM NORTHERN GOLD COAST
However, the council has given state transport officers a detailed brief outlining how to reduce the impact of the second M1 on the local road network and residents living nearby in the corridor.
“The recent announced bipartisan funding partnership between the Australian and Queensland governments to deliver CC Stage 1 in the short term is applauded,” Mr Twine wrote.
“However, the city is seeking clarity on how the $1.5 billion funding package has arisen, given the business case has yet to be finalised and subsequent cost estimate calculated.
“The city has concerns that critical design elements of the CC Stage 1 may be reduced or removed from the project scope to match the funding that has been identified.
“While this consultation exercise is solely focused on CC Stage 1, it remains critical that progress on the balance of the Coomera Connector corridor — north of Loganholme — be made.”
In the lead-up to the October 31 state poll, Labor announced $755 million and the federal government later followed with a $750 million pledge for a six-lane 16.6km road from Carrara to the Coomera Marine Precinct.
The LNP has pledged a four-lane road between Helensvale and the marine precinct.
Mr Twine said the northern link needed to be included in government infrastructure pipelines “in order to unlock significant job growth and freight productivity prospects” in the Coast’s fast-growing northern suburbs.
He indicated the entire highway needed to be built “to guarantee the Coomera Connector has an optimal return on investment”.
Read related topics:Coomera Connector
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