OPINION: Wheels falling off Coast’s ‘highway of hell’ transport plan

The state government’s transport plan for a booming Gold Coast is quickly going from a highway of hope, to a highway of hell.In fact, the wheels are falling off.

THE state government’s transport plan for a booming Gold Coast is quickly going from a highway of hope, to a highway of hell.

In fact, the wheels are falling off.

At a time when the city is desperate for a promised injection of investment, the Bulletin in the past week has reported the axing of a bullet train to Brisbane and beyond; a lack of surety about the heavy rail running to the airport; work on the Coomera Connector will not start for at least a year because of a government wrangle over who will pay for a $600m blow-out; the initial build will not be fully six lanes; and the building of the light rail extension to Burleigh has been delayed again because the contract is still not signed. Lord knows what that will mean for the missing link to Coolangatta.

New detailed artist impressions of the Coomera Connector

If history has shown us anything about the construction of vital infrastructure, do it once and do it right. Governments took the cheaper option when building the M1 in the 1990s and it is biting taxpayers today through multibillion-dollar upgrades. Same when the Labor government gazetted the Coomera Connector corridor. It didn’t snap up land in Helensvale and later had to sting the public $74m.

The Labor government had to sting the public $74m for land in Helensvale for the Coomera Connector corridor.

More people than ever are flooding the Gold Coast, not deserting it. The population will never shrink, similar to decades past when other large-scale transport projects were decided and built.

State Transport Minister Mark Bailey needs to take off the handbrake if his government is to roll out a proper road and rail network before the 2032 Olympic Games.

The Coomera Connector and rail networks are critical to one of Australia’s most desirable cities being able to function adequately. They are non-negotiable big-ticket items.

Sadly, the car Mr Bailey is driving to deliver those projects would not pass an emissions test. It is blowing more smoke than Puff the Magic Dragon and leaking oil badly.

Mr Bailey has his seat belt on, so won’t get a $1000 fine at the traffic lights, but needs to put the foot down. It is a 100km/h zone and the government’s old bomb is backfiring and double-clutching in the slow lane.