Government Ignoring Alternatives to the Kenmore Bypass

Main Roads have refused to consider a public transport option to address traffic congestion on Moggill Road and are proceeding with further studies for the Kenmore Bypass Road.

Their community information brochure (November 2008) states that there was considerable community opposition to the bypass, with people calling for increased public transport to be considered as an alternative option.

However Main Roads could not take this into account because they were “outside the scope of the Kenmore Bypass Planning Study”.

Thus their latest “Planning Options” study is dedicated to road solutions and will not consider whether a solution combining public transport, walking and cycling will better address the problem.

The same approach has been taken with the Hale Street Bridge, North South Bypass Tunnel and Airport Link studies.

The terms of reference for all these projects are designed so that the pre-determined solution will always be chosen, while the community are offered the illusion of choice such as the route of the road or where traffic lights will be located.

Main Roads are not interested in taking a rational planning approach and are simply doing what they know – building roads.

The State Government Transport Departments need to be combined so that solutions for transport solutions are considered across all modes of transport.

The State Government needs to realise that continuing to prioritise road building, while slowly improving public transport is not a “balanced approach”.

They are continuing the decades of funding and policy inequity that has favoured cars and road transport.

If the State Government got serious about public transport then all these new roads and road expansions in western Brisbane would not be necessary because there would be a significant shift from car to public transport, walking and cycling.

Building more roads leads to more traffic congestion and the Kenmore Bypass is a great example of this.

The bypass will pour more traffic onto the Centenary Highway, triggering the need for it to be upgraded, and more traffic on the Centenary Highway means more traffic heading into Toowong, meaning the government then has the justification for building the Northern Link tunnel.

The alternative is simple – spend the money from all these projects on upgrading cycling facilities, bus services and train services. This means more people leave their cars at home and there is no need to build destructive road upgrades.

Contact Warren Pitt, Minister for Main Roads to let him know what you think about the Kenmore Bypass mulgrave@parliament.qld.gov.au

CAST contact for this article Tristan Peach 0416-478-615