‘Nightmare’: Queensland’s school-zone highways create gridlock
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Drivers on Queensland’s busiest motorways are now travelling below school-zone speed limits during peak times, with one major road slowing by a staggering 60.4km/h, a shocking new congestion report has found.
Extensive new research by the RACQ shows congestion has reached critical levels in the South East, with popular commutes now taking double the time during morning and evening rush hours.
The motoring body was provided with Bluetooth average speed data collected by the Department of Transport and Main Roads on state-controlled corridors throughout Brisbane and South Coast areas in 2023.
The data found of the approximate 572km of major state owned roads assessed in the morning (6-10am) and afternoon (3-7pm) peaks in 2023, a greater number of road sections were slower than in 2019.
Average speeds plummeted by at least 30km/h below signed limits on nine southeast motorway sections during the morning rush and 12 during the evening peak.
The worst-affected morning routes was the Centenary Motorway inbound between Ipswich Motorway and Dandenong Rad, where the average free flow speed dropped by a staggering 60.4km/h to an average speed of 34km/h.
This was closely followed by the Pacific Motorway between Logan River Bridge and Springwood, where motorists were driving at average speeds of just over 53km/h, a drop of 42.6 km/h compared to the average free-flow speed of 95km/h.
Peak congestion hotspots along the Centenary Motorway translated to an average delay of over six minutes a journey, effectively doubling travel times compared to uncontested conditions.
Similar slowdowns were observed in outbound routes, with the Pacific Motorway emerging as the slowest home stretch in 2023, with average travel speeds dipping to a dismal 28.6 km/h between North Quay and O’Keefe St during afternoon peak hours.
Similarly, the Gateway Motorway outbound struggled to maintain momentum, recording speeds of just 42.3km/h during evening rush hour, as did the Gympie Arterial Rd between
Beams Rd and Pine River Bridge, where drivers slowed down to just 46.5km/h.
RACQ’s head of public policy Dr Michael Kane described the severity of the growing congestion choke points as a “crisis” unfolding on Queensland’s vital arteries.
He emphasised the need for a strategic approach, urging the development of a comprehensive master plan for the Centenary Motorway, and a western bypass corridor to alleviate congestion.
“Any long-term planning for the Centenary Motorway corridor must consider a connecting western bypass corridor linking through to the proposed Gympie Rd bypass tunnel,” he said.
“By fixing, finishing and extending our outer ring of motorways, we will take traffic off our local roads and corridors by allowing them to bypass Brisbane altogether.
“We commend the state and federal governments for funding the Centenary Bridge upgrade, but a more detailed and long-term plan is needed to effectively alleviate congestion along this vital corridor.
“If this doesn’t happen, motorists will continue to crawl at school zone speeds on this major motorway.”
Completed roadworks along three spots on the Pacific Motorway including Springwood and Underwood Rd, Logan River Bridge and Springwood and the Coomera exit lead to improved travel times.
Despite this, Dr Kane stressed the necessity for sustained investment in infrastructure, public transport and the Brisbane Metro Network.
Piecemeal solutions, he warned, would not suffice to address the root causes of congestion.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Bart Mellish said the government had heavily invested in road and public transport infrastructure as part of the $89bn Big Build program.
“This includes more than $4.5bn in the metropolitan region, $5.5bn on the South Coast and more than $3bn on the North Coast,” he said.
Projects including the Coomera Connector, Bruce Highway upgrades, Centenary Bridge upgrades and Gateway Motorway upgrades are expected to increase traffic flow once completed.
Mr Mellish said critical projects such as the Cross River Rail would also “revolutionise” the transport network and dramatically reduce congestion, claiming an LNP-led government would involve mystery transport funding cuts.
“They need to be upfront with Queenslanders about which road and transport projects they will slash,” he said.
“When in power, David Crisafulli and the LNP cut $1.6bn from Queensland’s roads budget and sacked more than 700 road builders and thousands more TMR workers.
“The LNP’s unfunded promise to build Sunshine Coast Rail to Maroochydore will leave a $6bn black hole that will require savage cuts to other critical, congestion busting projects.”
Opposition transport spokesman Steve Minnikin denied his party would make funding cuts, but said the LNP held the “right priorities” for future funding, before accusing the state government of “creating a culture” of transport budget blowouts.
“Labor’s billion-dollar blowouts means other congestion-busting projects are delayed or cancelled, including the Coomera Connector, which has blown out by 41 per cent from $1.53bn to $2.16bn and the Boundary Rd level crossing, which has gone over budget by more than 115 per cent,” he said.
“In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, Labor’s failure to fix traffic congestion is costing Queensland’s more at the petrol bowser.”
The RACQ data found 68 per cent of local roads in Brisbane City and 78 per cent of Gold Coast roads in morning peaks had slowed down compared to speeds seen in 2019.
Inner-city traffic has become so severe, business owners in gridlock-prone areas are losing customers.
Robin Daly, owner of Daly’s Native Plants in Mount Gravatt, said customers sometimes could not access her business due to the dangerously high traffic levels on the Gateway Motorway, which caused frequent crashes.
The business owner of 26 years said the on and off-ramp section, which sits adjacent to her nursery, was missing a crucial arrow traffic light.
“The Gateway Motorway is so full on, if there’s a crash there, especially in the morning, there’s a lot of banked traffic,” she said.
“There’s so many accidents there and then I’ll have customers that can’t access my business because of traffic.
“Some of my staff leave early to miss the afternoon school rush.
“I actually have one staff member who leaves first and calls us to tell us which way not to go home.”
InStyle Hairwear owner Karen Cain said travelling on Wynnum Rd was a “nightmare”, particularly during school pick-up hours.
“Traffic is really bad if I leave at 2.30pm,” she said.
“Then around 3.30-4pm, the tradies add to the congestion.
“It doesn’t necessarily dissuade from my business, but my clients do have to plan ahead.”
It takes Balwinder Singh, the owner of 5 Boroughs in Stones Corner, 40 minutes to get to and from work using the busy Ipswich Rd.
His restaurant is along Logan Rd in Stones Corner, notorious for its lack of parking.
Mr Singh said better roads and public transport were needed.
“There are general issues with carparking but luckily we have our own,” he said.
“The adjoining roads around us are very busy, but Logan Rd is the worst.
“It takes me 35-40 minutes just to get to work from Greenbank using Ipswich Rd.
“We need upgrades for both roads and public transport. People will rely on public transport.”
Originally published as ‘Nightmare’: Queensland’s school-zone highways create gridlock
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