Population growth will make Gold Coast as crowded as Sydney unless we take urgent action

All the evidence points to the Gold Coast becoming as congested as Sydney in coming years. But there is one thing that could be done to stop it happening.

At the time of the 1991 census the population of Sydney was 3,672,855.

By the most recent census, 25 years later in 2016, the population had grown 73.4 per cent to 5,005,400.

A good thing? Not according to any long-term Sydney resident I’ve ever spoken to. Half of them can barely drive out of their streets in rush hour. And when they do, the drive to work is agonisingly slow. Despite having a considerably smaller population, the average speed on Sydney roads is less than that achieved in notoriously congested New York.

It is a sobering lesson in how population growth – improperly managed – can do as much harm as good.

Now look at the Gold Coast. Our population at the time of the 2016 census was 555,721. That number is projected to grow over the next 25 years by 427,000, or 74.9 per cent – a remarkably similar rate of growth to that experienced in Sydney.

Traffic along Cleveland Street in Sydney last week. Picture: Michael Bilbe-Taylor

And how are we preparing for that growth? How are we ensuring that the mistakes of Sydney’s past are not repeated in the Gold Coast’s future?

We’re not. All we get are minimum cost, short-term fixes with little regard for long-term needs.

Politicians allowed the southern section of the M1 to become a daily car park before commencing the upgrade works that are currently under way.

No progress has been made in 10 years on extending the heavy rail line, which still terminates at Varsity Lakes.

But most illuminating of all, in the rush to get it built before the Commonwealth Games, the new light rail station at Helensvale has built atop land needed for a duplicate M1.

It would be hard to devise a better symbol of the short-term think afflicting our politicians.

The light rail station at Helensvale, which was built on land originally expected to be used for the second M1. Picture: Jerad Williams

The same short-sightedness that is so evident in suburbs like Pimpama, where infrastructure is retrofitted following population growth, rather than being built before people move in.

To avoid overcrowded Sydney’s fate, the Gold Coast needs a serious, long-term plan for its infrastructure needs. One not merely designed to fix existing problems, but crafted to cater for long-term population growth. A blueprint of joined-up thinking, that sees road and public transport projects as a single whole.

Morning traffic at Yalwalpah Road in Pimpama.

Noting similar problems in Brisbane, QUT Professor of Urban and Regional Planning Phil Heywood recently called for the establishment of an infrastructure delivery authority which would bring together council, state and federal governments behind a long-term plan for that city.

Such a body is exactly what we need on the Gold Coast.

It might have seen the light rail line, Coomera Connector and Smith St upgrade built as one project, delivering obvious cost savings.

The State Government is focused on its Cross River Rail idea – which is fine if you commute to Brisbane.

We are expected to be grateful for the knock-on benefits that would flow to the Gold Coast. But they are the benefits of an outer suburb, not a city.

It is of little use to anyone travelling from Palm Beach to Southport, from Coomera to Carrara, from Hope Island to Varsity Lakes.

As is so often the case it appears State Labor, like Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten, has little appreciation of the fact that Queensland stretches further south than Logan.

We need a long-term plan that treats the Gold Coast as a city in its own right, and a transport authority such as the one suggested by Prof Heywood for Brisbane to deliver it.

Traffic backs up on the roads into the Peachey Rd roundabout leading onto the M1 at Ormeau. Picture: Glenn Hampson

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Last Thursday, LNP leader Deb Frecklington held a press conference at the intersection of Olsen Ave and the Gold Coast Hwy at Harbour Town, demanding the congested junction be upgraded.

All very well, but doing so would be just one more Band-Aid for a patient with more serious underlying problems.

What we need is bigger, bolder thinking, of a kind that modern Australia is sadly lacking.

There is another side to all of this worth remembering.

A narrative has been allowed to take hold that many Australians are somehow anti-immigrant.

They’re not. They’re anti immigration without the necessary investment to support it.

The Gold Coast is at a crossroads. It can grow, and grow fast, but only if the infrastructure keeps pace.

Fail to do so and we are doomed to suffer crowded Sydney’s fate.