OPINION: We’ve had enough of M1 gridlock farce

A UTE crashed and rolled on the M1 at Yatala this morning and not surprisingly, it plunged the Gold Coast’s main artery into gridlock ... again. It’s election, HAVE YOUR SAY and send the politicians a message. VOTE IN OUR POLL

THE driver of a ute crashed and rolled on the M1 at Yatala this morning and not surprisingly, it plunged the Gold Coast’s main artery into gridlock ... again.

Thankfully the driver was uninjured but commuters were late for work, travellers missed their flights and thousands of motorists spent their precious morning stuck in a 15km jam in the northbound lanes that lasted up to two hours.

A two-hour minimum commute between the Gold Coast and Brisbane is now the norm — not the exception.

How is this acceptable?

WRITE YOUR M1 MESSAGE TO OUR POLITICIANS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW

We cannot continue to waste hours sitting in gridlock.

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There are four times more crashes on this stretch of M1 than any other major Queensland highway, with an astounding 450 crashes recorded last year — that’s 1.2 crashes a day.

It’s little wonder we’re surprised if we stumble along a free flowing M1.

The Gold Coast’s 600,000-strong population is a relatively small city by world standards and yet our highway is so unreliable our traffic jams rival that of a global metropolis like Los Angeles, which has a population of 3.9 million.

Firefighters and emergency services at the scene of a Truck Crash on the M1 bridge over the Nerang River at Nerang. Picture Glenn Hampson

Today is election eve. A new State Government will have the power to stop treating Gold Coasters like second-class citizens by fixing the M1.

We should not have to put up with such an unreliable highway.

If there’s a crash — no matter how big or small — it shuts down the motorway.

There’s no way around it because there are no adequate alternative routes to skip the jam and those feeder roads that do provide an option become jammed quickly too.

The State Government has its head in the sand if it thinks the solution to easing gridlock during the Commonwealth Games is to tell people not to drive on it.

“Oh, if there’s a crash, we have a back-up plan that dignitaries and athletes can travel along the shoulder of the M1,” says the State Government.

Well that’s good, but what about the rest of us poor plebs? What about the tens of thousands of us who have paid good money for tickets to the events but will miss out because we’re not important enough to skip the jam?

The scene of truck and police car crash on the M1. Photo: Ali Marks

The LNP has made an election promise and agreed to build a second Pacific Motorway for $500 million, but is yet to commit to a date when it will start.

Labor agreed to upgrade sections of the M1 but stalled on an M2, saying the LNP proposal is under-costed at $500 million and the State LNP will not secure funding from the Federal Government.

So here we go again on the merry-go-round that is the M1 debate.

The good news is, tomorrow we have a voice at the ballot box.

No matter who wins, let’s make it abundantly clear what the Gold Coast’s most critical priority is — to fix the M1!

Post a comment about your M1 experiences and your message to our state politicians in the comments below.

We’ll publish them in tomorrow’s Gold Coast Bulletin.

An accident on the M1 southbound at Robina between a truck carrying cars and a station wagon. By Richard Gosling