Seeing red on “busted” Bruce Highway

Pressure is growing for the proposed Moreton Motorway to be fast-tracked and save motorists from “seeing red” on our roads.

Following more Easter congestion, Mayor Peter Flannery says the “Bruce (Highway) is busted” and he wants the new motorway by 2032.

Moreton Daily readers have backed call questioning planning, saying traffic has “already ground to a halt” and describing the situation as “a joke!”

Funding to speed-up the project is now City of Moreton Bay's top request in its budget submissions to the State and Federal Governments.

In correspondence, Transport and Main Roads (TMR) says its development goal is a “motorway-standard facility” rather than a “two-lane urban arterial road”.

Land has already been gazetted for three sections of the Bruce Highway Western Alternative (aka Moreton Motorway). Stage four is being planned.

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But Mayor Flannery says: “We are all sick of seeing red.

“We’re frustrated motorists keep seeing red lines on sat navs when they drive on the Bruce Highway in Moreton Bay and red lights from the long line of vehicles ahead.

“The level of congestion over the Easter long weekend isn’t an isolated occurrence.

“Every time there is a public holiday, a crash or a breakdown the traffic comes to a complete standstill, and our local roads are flooded with traffic.

“The Bruce is busted and the current timeline for the Bruce Highway Western Alternative delivery as 2041 is just not sustainable.

“Our community needed a solution to this traffic yesterday, not in 15 years’ time.”

The Mayor says planning must be “fast-tracked today to prevent greater gridlock during the 2032 Games and ensure access to the Waraba Priority Development Area which will become home to 70,000 people”.

Comments on the Moreton Daily social media echo the call with Grant Brady saying: “This should have been spoken about and actioned the day North Lakes was drawn up.”

Nerida Allan voiced her frustration:
“16 years of travelling to and from work on the Bruce and arterial. 16 years of seeing stupid efforts to ease congestion resulting in moving gridlocks from one area to another. It’s a joke.”

Marie Brian McDonald said: “There has been no infrastructure planning at all in the region and traffic has already ground to a halt.”

And Tim Tyley asked: “With all those big housing developments and satellite cities popping up, what did you think would happen with a large mass of people living in the area?”

Moreton Bay City Council submitted a proposal (February) and met (March) with TMR to discuss the Bruce Highway Western Alternative.

In a letter before tomorrow’s Council meeting, TMR Regional Director North Coast Region Melanie Dei Rossi acknowledged Council’s preference for “an initial at-grade, two-lane urban arterial road that could be staged over time”.

“While this approach has merit from a staging perspective, the State's position remains that corridor protection must preserve the ability to ultimately deliver a motorway-standard facility,” the Regional Director said.

“Protecting the corridor for its ultimate function is essential to ensure the long-term strategic role of the route is not compromised.”