Festivals, road closures, cabin fever: Perfect storm clogs Brisbane-area roads

A perfect storm of factors has triggered two weeks of massive traffic delays across Brisbane, with road closures, music festivals and even school sport to blame.

Brisbane’s roads have been unusually congested in the past fortnight.

A perfect storm of factors has triggered two weeks of massive traffic delays across Brisbane and surrounding council areas, with reports of the worst congestion in years.

Everything from country music festivals and caravan shows to road closures, the return of school sport, ruined beaches and post-TC Alfred cabin fever is being blamed.

It comes after leading traffic research group INRIX’s 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard, released in January, found Brisbane now had Australia’s worst capital-city traffic and was the 10th worst in the world, up two places in one year.

The average Brisbane commuter spent 84 hours in traffic in 2024 according to the report, the equivalent of two full work weeks.

The problems began on the weekend of March 15/16 when there was a pre-St Patrick’s Day parade and the National 4 by 4 Outdoors Show at the RNA in Bowen Hills.

The closure of several streets in Teneriffe while a crane was taken down did not help, with motorists reporting taking 45 minutes to drive from Teneriffe to New Farm.

Brisbane worst in Australia, top 10 in world for hours spent in traffic

Oxley Rd in Corinda, the Story Bridge and the Bruce Hwy from North Lakes to Brisbane’s northern suburbs were also bumper to bumper.

The Thursday and Friday afternoon peak hours on March 20 and 21 were busier in the inner-city than any time for months.

Last weekend was even worse, partly due to the closure of the Shorncliffe train line, with reports of unusually thick traffic as late as 10.30pm in parts of Brisbane and surrounds.

Heavy congestion was reported on the Story Bridge and approaches, Fortitude Valley, Moggill Rd from Indooroopilly to Milton and also across West End, particularly near the markets on Saturday.

A road closure affecting Bridge and Wharf streets in Chelmer caused traffic to back up from Honour Ave and Oxley Rd.

Teneriffe was affected by another road closure, on Skyring Tce, while a closure on Cornwall St near the Princess Alexandra Hospital caused delays on the southside.

The Bruce Hwy as far as North Lakes was at a crawl, yet again.

Paisley Turnell, 9, and Russell Booth on the last day of CMC Rocks. The event contributed to terrible traffic last weekend. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier-Mail

An accident on the Centenary Mwy made the usual Saturday morning congestion much worse than normal and the Redcliffe peninsula was packed, as were carparks at large and small shopping centres including Westfields at Mt Gravatt and Carindale.

Last weekend’s nightmare was made worse by a number of big events including the CMC Rocks country music festival at Willowbank, which generated huge traffic as far back as Brisbane’s western suburbs.

There were also two protests and the Paw Patrol festival at Rivermakers in Colmslie.

Two big games did not help matters — the Broncos vs Cowboys at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night and the Brisbane Lions vs the West Coast Eagles at the Gabba on Sunday.

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred caused major beach erosion, with more people staying in Brisbane on weekends since then. Picture: Nigel Hallett

The problem was likely exacerbated by the return of weekend children’s sport about a month ago and smaller events being delayed by bad weather.

Post-cyclone “cabin fever’’, inspiring more people to venture out, coupled with fewer people leaving Brisbane because of wrecked beaches possibly also contributed.

Queensland University of Technology Urban and Regional Planning lecturer Tracy Washington said the underlying problem was that Brisbane was growing rapidly but had not built alternative transport options.

“The 2032 Games will bring huge traffic impacts to Brisbane. The density of locals and tourists all attending the same events will put a lot of pressure on our traffic infrastructure,’’ she said.

“Even a 10 per cent increase in traffic at high commute times can create large impacts for a city like Brisbane.’’

Originally published as Festivals, road closures, cabin fever: Perfect storm clogs Brisbane-area roads