Hedges Ave mayhem: Chaos consumes rich-lister Gold Coast street

They call it Millionaire’s Row, but locals believe the chaos on Hedges Ave has become so bad somebody will be killed – even the local councillor says the road condition is ‘third world’.

It’s best known as Millionaire’s Row, but locals say Mermaid Beach’s Hedges Ave has become the Gold Coast’s most chaotic street.

Walkers, cyclists, cars and trucks are daily vying for space on the narrow thoroughfare, with delays to construction of the Oceanway pathway and a surge in vehicles dodging nearby light rail works blamed for the growing mayhem.

The constant bedlam has impacted the road’s surface, with even the local councillor saying its quality was “third world”.

Hedges Ave has turned into a logistical nightmare with cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles sharing the narrow street. Picture: Glenn Campbell.

Mermaid Beach resident Mark Bodna said he was “amazed” no one had been killed.

“I go down to the beach most days and I’ve been doing that here for 38 years,” Mr Bodna said.

“Just seeing what goes on on Hedges these days is just absolutely ridiculous – I’m amazed that nobody’s been killed yet.

“You’ve got cars backing out off driveways, delivery trucks stopping, there’s building sites going up with trucks going in and out and it’s only a very narrow road.

“Then you’ve got cyclists and pedestrians and a very narrow footpath on one side of the road you can’t even walk shoulder to shoulder on.”

Local resident Mark Bodna on Hedges Ave. Picture: Glenn Campbell.

Mr Bodna is calling for the Broadbeach to Miami section of the Oceanway to be completed urgently to alleviate traffic congestion and prevent a potential tragedy.

While plans exist for the extension, progress is at a standstill.

The Bulletin revealed last year that the Oceanway cannot be finished unless sections of the multimillion-dollar beachfront rollout were made “sacrificial”, meaning they could be torn away and need rebuilding in the event of major storms.

One solution posed was to complete an A-line seawall east of the concrete walkway.

Division 12 councillor Nick Marshall said the city was pushing to have the link completed,

with public safety at the forefront of council’s concern.

“We’re doing everything we can to try and look at how we can start that as soon as possible,” he said.

“We can’t really build something that could potentially wash away or worse, in a storm event – if it washes into somebody else’s property, takes out another house or kills somebody, because it’s been damaged and battered up against these houses.”

An ambulance crew attends a recent accident on Hedges Ave. Picture: Facebook

Cr Marshall said the ultimate goal for the city was to build a continuous defence line – a seawall – not just for the pathway, but to protect all of the Gold Coast.

“That’s a big, big exercise,” he said.

“That’s not going to solve any problems immediately, but that’s the long-term view.

“I desperately want it for so many reasons, but it has to make sense.

“It can’t be something that’s a risk and we can’t be doing one thing to fix one problem that just creates another problem.”

Cr Marshall said there were future plans to upgrade Hedges Ave, which included resurfacing work, but said they could not take place until after the completion of stage three of the light rail.

“The state of the road itself is bad, the road quality is third world,” he said.

“Unfortunately we can’t change or modify anything at that road level until the light rail is done, because it’s become a major corridor for traffic to ease traffic off the Gold Coast Highway.”