Coomera Connector delayed again: But will it be worth waiting for?

So the Coomera Connector is delayed ... again. But it might not all be bad news. These are the reasons the hold-up might even be good.

IT’S a dangerous cliche for any newspaper columnist to commit to print: “Is it just me?”
The inevitable answer from readers, dripping in juicy contempt, is a resounding “yes”.

This columnist is willing to absorb such opprobrium when it comes to the tortured matter of the Coomera Connector.

Am I alone in not being disappointed to hear that the necessary but wretched road is again being delayed? Is it just me?

Judging by the reaction to the Bulletin’s front page story yesterday, it would certainly appear so.

But holding off another couple of months may be no bad thing, if only because time needs to be taken to get this very complex and environmentally sensitive project right.

The much-loathed design of the upgraded Exit 57. Picture: Dept of Transport and Main Roads.

Recent history tells us that major infrastructure completed in a hurry on the Gold Coast leaves nobody happy.

Just look at the extraordinary mess at the nearby Exit 57 off the M1, which feeds the suburbs of Oxenford to the west and Hope Island to the east.

Remarkable data shows that since the state government spent $25 million “upgrading” the junction roads around the area have actually seen a decrease in traffic, while everywhere else on the Gold Coast becomes ever more clogged.

Why might that be? Theodore MP Mark Boothman believes he knows.

“With Exit 57, it’s obvious people don’t seem to want to use it,” Mr Boothman told the Bulletin last week.

“They’d rather use other alternatives in the area.

“I see that on a daily basis. I can see the amount of cars turning right into Michigan Drive (to avoid going near the Exit interchange).”

The park and ride car park at the Parkwood light rail station on a recent Monday morning. Picture: Keith Woods.

Another cracking example of botched infrastructure can be found in the ghostly car park at Parkwood light rail station – a vast expanse of tarmac often so empty you could almost land a small plane on it.

This greatly underused facility was a product, of course, of the rush to extend the light rail to Helensvale in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2018. Which proved to be largely unnecessary in any case, given the scare campaign waged against locals convinced so many to skip town for the duration that the Gold Coast and its roads were like Melbourne at the height of Covid.

That’s planning for you. Bad planning.

A koala photographed 50m from where the Coomera Connector will be built in Helensvale.

No let TMR take all the time they need on the Coomera Connector.

There is so much to get right in relation to saving the koala population that calls the route home. And more time is certainly needed to explain to pesky locals how an exit can be delivered onto Helensvale Rd without unleashing traffic armageddon to the one few parts of the northern Gold Coast that remains easily navigable.

As Mr Boothman correctly pointed out, “people don’t realise the impact this will have on Helensvale Rd,” which is just not acceptable when something of such magnitude is about to land on their doorstep.

TMR image of the proposed Helensvale Rd junction on the Coomera Connector.

So TMR should take its time. Do this project once and do it right.

If that means it takes another couple of months, so be it.

The city’s already been waiting decades. But if that extra time is not well spent and what’s delivered is Exit 57 on steroids, well, that would really be unforgivable.

And it’s unlikely it would be “just me” to think so.

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