Coomera Connector: 20 years since ‘highways in the sky’ proposal and second M1 origin

A proposal for ‘highways in the sky’ - double-decker highways - was unveiled as a possible solution to the Gold Coast’s traffic congestion nightmare. FIND OUT WHY

Debate over how to deal with the Gold Coast’s traffic issues has raged for decades.

It’s come into focus again in recent weeks as the review into the light rail’s stage four route from Burleigh to the border officially began.

Plenty of ideas have come and gone over the years, from a monorail system put forward in the 1980s to various plans to build tunnels under Surfers Paradise to remove the gridlock on the coastal strip.

It was 20 years ago this week that the Gold Coast got a warning of just how bad traffic was going to get and what it would take to avoid the traffic jams everyone is now so familiar with.

Aerial view of the Hanshin expressway

In February 2005, engineers from Gold Coast firm Weathered Howe sounded the warning bells, saying the $830m upgrade of the M1 was on track to reach capacity by 2011, nine years earlier than expected.

The motorway had been completed in October 2000 and was expected to cater for the existing levels of traffic until 2020.

However, a report put forward by Weathered Howe warned it would hit a 170,000 vehicles per day (vpd) congestion rate in 2011.

They instead proposed a bold solution – a “highway in the sky” – similar to Japan’s Hanshin expressway or other double-decker roads in the US.

“The whole transport system is a disaster,’’ said an engineer.

“The government has to start planning now. Six years is not long to come up with a contingency plan.

Traffic was a major issue 20 years ago and today as well. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“We may be looking at an Asian landscape with highways in the sky.

“It’s going to be hard to find the land to extend out or build a second corridor, it would mean the resumption of homes. They may just have to build up instead.’’

A spokeswoman for the Department of Main Roads told the Bulletin at the time that the rapid population growth was to blame.

“When MR planned the motorway, traffic modelling predictions were for 80,000 to 100,000 vehicles per day in 2005,’’ said the spokeswoman at the time.

“Since the upgraded motorway was opened in 2000, there has been a major boom in development on the Gold Coast, some of which was unpredictable. This explains the difference in traffic from predictions during construction to now.

“If the traffic volume grew at an average rate of 5 per cent per annum over the period to 2011, some sections will experience congestion; that is, above 170,000 vpd.’’

Premier Peter Beattie in 2005.

It came as then-premier Peter Beattie committed $300m to upgrading the M1.

RACQ public policy manager Ken Willett pointed to the need for a second arterial corridor between the Gold Coast and Brisbane, similar to that pitched by the Goss Government in the mid-1990s.

“We can’t stop people from moving here and commuting between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The traffic situation is only going to get worse,’’ he said at the time.

“The widened M1 is great but if you have an accident, gridlock is still a problem. An alternative route would get rid of that.

“Queensland made a rod for its back when it dropped the second motorway option.’’

The Main Roads spokeswoman pointed to a new project.

“Main Roads is protecting a transport corridor south from Stapylton-Jacobs Well Road to Nerang-Broadbeach Road,’’ she said.

“It is known as the Intra Regional Transport Corridor. This corridor is being protected for possible use as a local arterial transport corridor, which could be a road or a public transport mode or both.”

Now, 20 years on, that project is known as the Coomera Connector and is finally under construction — though still years from completion.