Community Advocate Anthony Shorten said the clock was ticking for the community to stop more lights and lane merges on the Mt Lindesay Highway.
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A Transurban Queensland spokesperson confirmed that the detailed proposal for their $450 million Logan Enhancement Project would be submitted to the state government for approval toward the end of September.
“Time is running out,” Mr Shorten said.
“If the state government approves Transurban’s plan and contracts are signed no future government will be able to change or cancel this ridiculous proposal and all motorists using the Beaudesert Road/ Mt Lindsay Highway will suffer.”
The Logan Enhancement Project proposes to install traffic lights at the right hand turn from the Mt Lindesay Highway onto the Logan Motorway.
The community started a petition to have the right hand turn from Beaudesert Road onto the Logan motorway shut and a long term option investigated.
The petition has garnered 1360 signatures to date.
“This and the fact that the Don’t Stop on Beaudesert Road Facebook page has 1367 Likes is a clear indication of the community’s views on this proposal,” Mr Shorten said.
Transurban Queensland’s spokesperson said from the community consultation sessions conducted since October 2015, the majority of feedback on the initial project design focused on the proposed upgrade to the Beaudesert Rd/Mt Lindesay Highway interchange.
“There is some divided opinion about the proposal to introduce new traffic signals,” the spokesperson said.
“We have challenged our shortlisted contractors to consider all options for this interchange.”
Shortlisted contractors CPB Contractors Pty Limited and John Holland Queensland Pty Ltd’s tenders are currently being assessed.
Stan Corbett said the proposal to install lights at the interchange was preposterous.
“We all know that vehicles and trucks attempting the right hand crossing create delays and congestion to the north bound Mt Lindesay Highway traffic in the morning peak hours, but just how bad it is, will be news to some,” he said.
Mr Corbett has studied the traffic flow at the interchange and calculated that the overall delay per crossing is 45 seconds.
“Multiply that with 30 crossings per hour and we are left with a situation where we have a delay to peak hour Mt Lindesay traffic of 22.5 minutes,” he said.
“Unbelievable that this continues to be allowed to occur.
“What traffic engineer would allow 150 vehicles per hour to delay three to four thousand vehicles 22.5 minutes every hour during the four hour peak traffic period in the morning?”
As a daily user of Beaudesert Road for the past 10 years, Mr Shorten said he and thousands of other road users knew that more lights and lane merges were not the answer.
“The state department of main roads recommended closing the right hand turn, and we read about sick and elderly people taking an hour and twenty minutes to get through the Mt Lindesay Highway traffic to hospital,” he said.
“This is not good enough.”
