IT IS one of the state’s most dangerous roads, yet very little was allocated to it in treasurer Curtis Pitt’s second state budget.
The Mt Lindesay Highway is number three on the RACQ’s unroadworthy roads list.
RACQ’s senior traffic and safety engineer, Greg Miszkowycs said it is one star away from the lowest Ausrap rating, which the RACQ uses to rate road infrastructure.
“It’s a road in need of investment,” he said.
In response to Logan City Council’s hard-hitting advocacy campaign in the lead up to the federal election, federal member for Wright Scott Buchholz last week made a $10 million funding commitment for the Mt Lindesay Highway.
A commitment which has since been matched by Labor candidate for Forde, Des Hardman.
The commitments are however, of little relief to residents, who at a public meeting on Thursday night expressed their frustration with the “band-aid” approach with which the highway has received funding and attention over the years.
“Essentially we support investments in safety and capacity improvements for the Mt Lindesay highway but we are disappointed that there isn’t a lot of money in the 2016/2017 QTrip budget (for the Mt Lindesay) which was just released,” Mr Miszkowycs said.
Logan mayor Luke Smith said the Mt Lindesay Highway needs billions, not millions.
The mayor wants the dangerous highway to receive national recognition, which he says will unlock the substantial funding required to fix the significant safety and congestion issues it experiences on a daily basis.
Mr Buchholz said the $10 million funding would be directed towards upgrades to improve safety and travel times on the Mt Lindesay Highway.
But Cr Smith said he would like to see the funding go toward a business plan to widen the highway into a four lane highway, able to cater for the high travel demand.
“The fact that you’ve got a single lane highway through the fastest growth corridor in south-east Queensland is absurd,” he said.
“While we appreciate the funding commitments from both the LNP and Labor candidates, we need a commitment for money to be put toward a business plan, to see the urgent upgrades the Mt Lindesay needs.”
In 2009 TMR commissioned Sinclair Knight Merz to undertake a network study of the West Mt Lindesay Highway Growth Corridor.
The report forecast Mt Lindesay Highway to carry traffic volumes comparable to urban motorways.
It identified a number of future transport corridors which it stated needed to be undertaken as soon as possible, subject to government priorities and budgets and in accordance with TMR’s planning guidelines and processes.
Yet six years later, the costing of the plan is yet to be done, and the Mt Lindesay Highway has been subject to sporadic upgrades at various intersections. It is currently being upgraded at the Camp Cable Road intersection.
Chair of Logan Country Safe City Group, David Kenny said with 120 000 new residents earmarked to move into the area through housing developments at Flagstone, Yarrabilba and Beaudesert plus increasing employment opportunities through the industrial development at Bromelton, time was running out.
“It’s time for all three tiers of government to get around the table and get the highway fixed,” he said.
“As the Mt Lindesay Highway is a state road, we want to see the state government drive the national recognition of it.”
