M1 Gold Coast: The 1990s argument against widening the Pacific Highway to eight lanes

Plans were in place to make the Pacific Motorway an eight-lane all the way from Brisbane to the border. But instead it is only going to be six. This is the reason why.

THE widening of the M1 reached a major milestone this week with the completion of the latest stage of its upgrade.

The Pacific Motorway is now six lanes as far south as Varsity Lakes after years of funding battles between the state and federal governments.

It’s particularly welcome news for motorists who are about to witness the final stage of the work occur between Reedy Creek and Tugun.

It comes nearly 25 years after the project was first proposed and nearly 90 years after the original highway opened.

Official opening of the Pacific Highway crossing Flat Rock Creek, Currumbin, Queensland, 27 December 1933. Picture: Gold Coast Library

It was two days after Christmas 1933 when locals came from far and wide to see the opening of the Pacific Highway crossing at Flat Rock Creek.

Fast forward six decades and then Queensland Premier Rob Borbidge was calling for an eight lane Pacific Highway between the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

Borbidge, who attended The Southport School and worked at his family’s motel business on the Coast before becoming the local member for Surfers Paradise, had been caught in many a traffic jam on the trip up to George Street.

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON $1 BILLION WIDENING

Roadworks on the Gold Coast Pacific Highway near Coomera on May 22, 1998.

The Bulletin started reporting major complaints about traffic in 1996.

In April of that year, a shock report unveiled to the Gold Coast City Council revealed the true state of the roads.

Commuters were found to be taking up to three times longer to travel to and from work than they had been just three years earlier.

FIRST WORK BEGINS ON COOMERA CONNECTOR

A traffic jam on the Pacific Highway. December 25, 1999.

The report went before the council’s co-ordination committee and revealed that most trips taken during peak periods in the mid1990s took up to 37 per cent longer than they had in November 1993.

In a massive understatement, the council’s planning development and transport director, Warren Rowe, said it was fair to say the increased traffic on the Gold Coast roads was making trips slower.

The M1 near completion in 2000.

“The results show that the majority of the city’s major traffic routes have had an increased in congestion over the past two years,” he said.

The report compared travel times from November 1993 to November 1996. The worst affected areas were between Southport and Burleigh Heads and Ashmore Rd, extending to Southport-Nerang Rd.

Congestion at Carrara’s Ross St had also made that area slower to navigate. Between Southport and Burleigh Heads in both morning and afternoon peak traffic periods, the trip was 40 per cent slower than it was in 1993.

There were arguments against eight-laning the M1.

Traffic in Surfers Paradise, in particular, was slow, with most cars travelling between 4.30pm and 5.30pm slowing from 46km/h to just 16km/h.

In its editorial to mark the tabling of the “significant” report, the Bulletin declared the city needed to guard against traffic congestion. “

Although alternative road links have either been developed or improved in recent years, it is obvious increasing traffic, linked to the region’s remarkable growth will be an ongoing challenge for council and government planners,” it said.

“Development of a more efficient internal road network for this city will require hefty funding – and the report provides plenty of ammunition to convince the Department of Transport that increased allocations for roadworks are essential.”

The M1 has come a long way since then.

But just days later the State Opposition took aim at plans from Borbidge to build an eight-lane Pacific Highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Deputy Labor leader Jim Elder said a six-lane highway would be a more practical aim within the government’s three-year self-imposed time limit for the project.

“I hope Premier Rob Borbidge will recognise that the only sensible solution to the Pacific Highway impasse is to provide six lanes and upgrade the service roads,” he said.

Nearly 25 years later, the road upgrades to achieve even six lanes are still going.