Residents reveal their Pacific Motorway horror trips to Gold Coast MP as second road needed

GOLD Coast residents are revealing their regular horror drives to work as accidents on the Pacific Motorway cause massive delays on nearby arterial roads.

Photographs taken by Coomera MP Michael Crandon on off ramps showing crowding on the northern end of the Pacific Motorway at peak hour.

GOLD Coasters are sharing their regular horror drives to work as accidents on the Pacific Motorway cause massive delays on nearby arterial roads.

Gaven MP Mark Boothman called for motorist feedback on his Facebook page after telling State Parliament the city needed a second arterial road between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

“Every time there is an accident on the M1 motorway, the road network goes into meltdown,” Mr Boothman said.

Member for Albert Mark Boothman. He has asked residents to provide feedback on M1 trips. Pics Tim Marsden

A young female motorist wrote on Mr Boothman’s Facebook page about the chaos after three accidents on separate days last week during peak hour.

“My 10-minute trip to work took almost an hour and that was getting creative going over side roads,” she wrote.

A Loganlea resident travelling to Southport feared missing specialist medical appointments after delays every Tuesday morning for the past month due to the clogged southbound lanes between Coomera and Nerang.

Traffic chaos on the Pacific Motorway after a truck crash on the M1 bridge at the Nerang River. Picture Glenn Hampson

The feedback from motorists confirms the transport shutdown is not just on the M1 but all the surrounding side roads.

A Beenleigh resident said the internal road network was being suffocated because M1 drivers were using Exit 45 at Ormeau to escape congestion on the motorway.

“It’s a total mess and every idiot thinks they’ll take the sneaky way back and come off Exit 45 and block our whole little township,” she said.

The Pacific Motorway overpass at Oxenford is one link which will need upgrading due to the increase in traffic.

“I have taken over 40 minutes to travel five kilometres home from the store because of these ignorant people.”

Mr Boothman said it was obvious from the feedback that M1 congestion was creating havoc for the suburban road network in the north of the Gold Coast.

“They’re all blocked up, the roads around Beenleigh north,” he said. “We have people (on the M1) turning it into a traffic quagmire.”

Mr Boothman called on the Government to bring forward planning for the inter-regional transport corridor — an 18.5km arterial corridor from Carrara to Coomera — given the northern region of the Coast along with Logan was growing at 20 per cent a year.