Exactly Bob! The extensions (all of them I think) will entirely use a transit way level of construction. The government may even try to use some on road running but I think we should pressure against that if it does creep in.
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I think worst case scenario for 2032 would be the following:
Springwood Metro: completed, but expanding Springwood bus station itself to accommodate bi-artics and electric chargers will prove too costly, draining funds for the other planned lines.
Capalaba Metro: fierce opposition by affluent NIMBYs living in Coorparoo, Camp Hill, Carina, Carindale will oppose the busway expansion out east, citing construction noise, widespread property resumptions, and the irreversible effect of a busway station to their suburbâs local character as their biggest concerns.
This may result in the expanded eastern busway from Langlands Park to Carindale/Capalaba consisting of mainly transitways, much to the dismay of advocates such as Henry Pike MP (representative for Redlands).
Carseldine Metro: worst case scenario is the abyss between Federation St bus stop (end of Inner Northern Busway) and Truro Street station (start of Northern Busway) never gets addressed due to time pressures.
Windsor station bus stopsâ will probably be relocated as currently I cannot see how a bi-artic will fit in the outbound stop, particularly.
After escaping Kedron Brook station, the Metro now must navigate the full-time Gympie Rd transitways until Chermside, etc.
The planned Kedron North busway station will probably resemble more like the Rode Rd/Sadlier St bus stops.â In short, itâll look like a standard bus stop, except with a really long bus layover, to accommodate bi-artics on Gympie Rd.
No fancy overhead busway on viaducts, overlooking Gympie road, sadly.
Also the possibility of the Carseldine Metro being truncated, thus the Chermside Metro is born.
Airport Metro (Doomben/Hamilton options):
Honestly, I can foresee the Airport Metro being scrapped, because of the aforementioned Brisbane Airport deal. Instead, a compromise will be made, with Translink agreeing to make 300 Toombul to City run every 10 minutes off-peak.
Itâd appear the Airport Metro route (and its two options) was a brainfart idea with very little substance - the same can also be said with how TMR has no idea on how the Maroocydoore metrobuses will be panning out.
Miscellaneous notes:
The future Fitzgibbon Metro depot (and however many HESS Lightram 25sâ it needs) will probably be delivered around 2031, just in the nick of time.
If the Fitzgibbon depot never gets realized, I can foresee the Capalaba Metro running every 10 minutes off-peak (and not every 5 min like weâre used to with the M1 and M2), in order to strike the right balance with the 60 odd Hess Lightram vehicles Rochedale will be limited with.
The Grey St and Cultural Centre intersection woes will likely not be fixed until after the 2032 Olympics - which is unfortunate, because itâs a bit of a bottleneck for both buses and commuters alike.
Ideally, motorists should be banned, and an overpass be built for pedestrians, such that buses can move with ease within Cultural Centre.
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Thereâs already an overpass at the Cultural Centre station.
Also the BCC can close those roads off and the scramble crossing tomorrow if they wanted to!
New Year means new possibilities. With the metro tunnel on Adelaide Street being complete and the metro fleet running well based on what I have noticed, I am wondering what the future for the expansion is going to look like. As much as I would love a Northern suburbs metro expansion, realistically the only metro expansion looking like a possibility is the Capalaba one. And with the airport anti-competitive anti public ownership underused and overpriced Airtrain agreement it doesnât allow Public transport other than the train until 2036 or something Capalaba seems to be the only realistic expansion I am seeing.
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Welcome! There is some discussion on Metro Expansion in this thread Brisbane Metro - #598 by GonzoFonzie for interest.
Costs for expansion will be significant, there isnât existing busway infrastructure like for M1 and M2. Probably be more transitway rather than busway.
Firstly, welcome. Secondly, yes we need metro or an underground rail or something for the Northside. Gympie road is an absolute tip.
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Agree about Gympie Road. I really feel the solution there is underground rail. That would be a game changer for the whole network.
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The eastern extension is a real can of worms. They canât get those big ass metro buses down the tight lanes of OCR. They canât do a transitway on the cheap because no one is going to accept 1 lane of car traffic. They canât widen the roads, even to make bus jump lanes at key intersections, without a lot of costly resumptions.
The only option is a busway but thatâs going to cost tens of billions with the service works and tunneling required.
If theyâre doing a busway, an underground or elevated rail should be explored too. Thereâs a lot of highrise development slated for Carindale. Redlands is also going to get a lot bigger really soon. House prices have driven people out of Brisbane and Capalaba is the next best option. Lots of DAâs being done for medium and high density along the corridor.
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Preach!
If rail was to happen, Iâd propose a tunnel diving somewhere between Buranda and Coorparoo stations on the Cleveland line (assuming itâs doable), and a tunnel with stations at Coorparoo Square, Camp Hill, Carina and Carindale. Somewhere near the Gateway Motorway could be a station with park n ride and bus connections, and then the line could run on the surface to Chandler and then through to Capalaba, with the station located around the current bus station opposite Capalaba Central.
If they were feeling even more ambitious, then a line along one side of Birkdale Road to connect with an interchange at Birkdale station would be good too, and would then provide good connectivity for the area. Also, frequent bus services to Victoria Point, Redland Bay and even down to the Hyperdome and/or Loganlea from Capalaba would make some good cross town connections and be a massive improvement for one of the regions with the lowest share of trips on PT.
Having a tunnel branching from that point on the Cleveland line would be doable from a capacity perspective because there will be a lot of spare capacity through South Bank and the city on that line after CRR is running. If we wanted to get even more foamy then could run a line through the NWTC from Alderley to service the area. Then would provide a line pairing of Cleveland to Ferny Grove and Capalaba and/or Birkdale to Strathpine via Alderley and NWTC running via South Bank.
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Couldnât agree more.
And yet it is slated as an Olympics transport legacy? There isnât the time, money or workforce for any sort of major infrastructure works.
The Metro extensions business case will make for some really interesting reading, as long as it is done genuinely and not as a political puff piece.
BCC have loved spruiking the value for money out of âMetroâ vs light rail or heavy rail. Theyâre going to come crashing back to reality on these extensionsâŚ
I wonder if they get desperate enough for the Olympics we might see Games Lanes on OCR as a make shift, temporary transit wayâŚ
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Thereâs arenât many good places for a tunnel dive on the Cleveland line between Boggo Road and Morningside, because of the Norman Creek floodplain. Itâs about 600m between the Logan Road overpass and Norman Creek, and then another 600m between Norman Creek and the next tributary (Coorparoo Creek?).
Looking at the Lidar contours on QldGlobe, I would suggest that the only way to get from the Cleveland line to a station at Coorparoo square would be roughly like this.
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There is a concept forum for this, honestly I agree that eventually it would be good to build something out to those directions, especially since the population growth will be large around/at the end of this corridor, and tunnels would need to be built between Buranda and Carindale no matter if the bus option or the rail option is chosen
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For anyone thinking any kind of serious busway construction will happen between now and 2032, this recent interview with the Lord Mayor will be sobering.
This sounds pretty clear to me. The LM has seen the early business case and is aware that most of his promised extensions wonât be built before 2032. To save face, he is framing it as âforward thinkingâ.
Note also how he says âsix and a bit yearsâ when the Olympics were very close to being 7 years away at the time of the interview. He is trying to paint it as not being much time.
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Expect to start seeing variations of these signposted every 200 metres along Old Cleveland Rd and Gympie Rd
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[!IMPORTANT]
Participants are encouraged to add posts to existing topic threads wherever possible.
Could Brisbane Metro be built to Carseldine using a skyrail-like viaduct from Chermside?
An idea that is somewhat inspired on Vancouvers skytrain that I was luck enough to ride on recently.
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When you say metro, are you meaning a real Metro or the âmetroâ buses according to QLD?
Ok maybe like a viaduct over Gympie road for our metro buses.
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I like that you are suggesting ideas as I think thatâs what this forum should be used for (or at least one of the things). However, I think the cost of construction for that kind of project for something that really has a very limited capacity isnât worth it. If it was rail based then I think it could be worth exploring, purely from a capacity and user experience point of view.
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Well yeh I would prefer to but we need to connect it to an existing system. Ultimately if I had everything my way we would a massive subway system under construction by now.
Tbh no space outside lanes on side of roads for gympie roadâŚ.
Maybe tunnel alongside northwest corridor in BaT configuration (double decker setup)
But it would Nit include Chermside on the line but more of a branch off it