Gold Coast headed for one million residents, mayor says, making light rail to airport vital by 2032 Olympics
A forum has heard the Gold Coast is barrelling towards a major population milestone, making it vital light rail is built to the airport before the Olympics. Here’s where we’re headed.
Transport
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Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has told a Transport Forum that the light rail cannot perform a “U-turn” when it reaches Burleigh Heads and must continue down the Gold Coast Highway to the airport.
Addressing around 200 guests at an event organised by the Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce at The Star in Broadbeach to discuss the city’s transport needs, Mayor Tate said the city’s population was heading towards the one million mark and it was important the link was in place before the 2032 Olympics.
“As our city grows (transport issues) affects all of us,” Cr Tate said.
“We are around 700,000 people in our city right now and as we march towards the Olympics in 2032, we will be close to a million people here.
“Let’s have it all (transport infrastructure) ready by 2030.
“... The fact is that nine (Olympic) sports here will be here on the Gold Coast and the number of people, participants and visitors, for all of those nine sports in 2032 (will be) bigger than the Commonwealth Games in 2018.”
Cr Tate said people were “voting with their feet” by using the light rail, which would need to be complimented in future by east-west links using electric buses.
“Those advocates that say to me, I’m for light rail, but it’s just not the route that I agree with. That’s fine and we can have that conversation. But as stage three is completed that conversation ceases, because there’s no U-turn at Burleigh Heads to go back out to the M1,” Cr Tate said.
Attendees at the forum also included Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) Deputy Director General Andrew Mahon, Currumbin MP Laura Gerber, Division 2 councillor William Owen Jones, Queensland Airports CEO Amelia Evans and Goldlinq CEO Phil Mumford.
Mr Mahon told guests that TMR was planning for an upsurge in passenger journeys during the Olympics, with 21 million trips expected during the 16 days of the Games on public transport alone.
Mr Mahon said the Gold Coast’s growing population also posed challenges.
“It’s evident that the region will undergo significant population growth over the coming decade,” Mr Mahon said.
“Our transport system will need to evolve and grow.”
Mr Mahon said while roads still needed to be built, “as a community, we don’t use public transport enough”.
”We’ve got a job ahead of us to make it more attractive,” he said.
Mr Mumford said nine out of ten car trips on the Gold Coast were made with just one person in the vehicle.
Echoing Cr Tate’s comments, Mr Mumford said he believed the city’s population was growing faster than demographers expected.
“Just building more roads is not the answer,” the Goldlinq CEO said.
“... I think we’re going to hit the one million (population) quicker than demographers think.
“... The challenge is about future-proofing the city. It’s about staying ahead of the curve.”
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