The Gympie Road Bypass Tunnel
This thread is for the discussion of the Gympie Road Tunnel
Notes
Proposed Gympie Road Bypass Tunnel
Home | GYMPIE ROAD BYPASS TUNNEL
Current status
The Queensland Government has transferred responsibility for the north Brisbane bypass tunnel, from North Brisbane Infrastructure to the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR).
Realising the benefits of the proposed tunnel relies on effective integration with the broader northside of Brisbane’s transport network. This transition will enable a proposed solution to be considered in the context of the government’s broader capital works program.
From 1 July 2025, all work undertaken by North Brisbane Infrastructure for the Gympie Road Bypass Tunnel project will be transitioned to TMR.
For further information, contact TMR at [email protected].
It’s interesting that it is being moved under TMR.
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Indeed!
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As this is certainly going to happen, we should start advocating for PT infrastructure improvements alongside this tunnel project similar to what occured with the Airport link and the Busway from Truro St to Kedron Brook.
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As much as I’d like to advocate for no road component at all, I think that horse has bolted. Perhaps this route of advocacy would be more appropriate.
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I guess this project will now be fully funded by the public sector then, not QIC investors?
TMR would just put it out for PPP tender.
If BTQ doesn’t fight this with all it resources might as well just go home and call it game over!!
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We are likely not fighting this as the preferred option would be to advocate for PT infrastructure to be delivered alongside similar to the Airport Link project.
Then you’ve lost!! Shut up shop and go home!!
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Give me busway extension to Fitzgibbon (or even Strathpine) and the missing link between RBWH and Truro St (with a possible Windsor station rebuild/relocation) and maybe this could work well.
We just have to be horribly noisy and annoying to do it.
You ain’t slick.
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It’s more a case of the best outcome from a bad situation. We’re still opposing it behind the scenes where appropriate, but at some stage we will have to flip from campaigning against it to campaigning for PT alongside it. I’m not sure if that time is now or not. We’ll have to sus it out.
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Still waiting fur all the public and active transport plans promised with Clem 7 and Airport Tunnel so expecting anything along side this is dreaming!
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I completely agree with proceeding this way.
Now that the Government has zeroed in on this project, for better or worse, it will be something that will likely gain a lot of support from the car driving public who use Gympie Road. A full blown, straight opposition/condemnation to this project would probably be ineffective at best, and possibly damaging to BTQ’s reputation at worst. The way to proceed is to try and gain as good a PT outcome as possible without being all fire and brimstone.
The last thing we would want as an organisation is to be portrayed as militantly antagonistic/obstructionist towards private vehicle use by the wider public. Yes, we are promoting increased public transport use and the commensurate decrease of private car ownership/use that this will lead to, but we don’t want to do it in a way that puts the wider public offside against us and what we are trying to achieve (certain cycling advocacy groups I find have issues with this, taking a more antagonistic tone which is counterproductive).
I feel we want to be seen as the honey, rather than the vinegar.
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It seems like high cost was a factor in transferring the project into TMR. That way government will fund it.
If the tunnel was built half the size, and ran only buses, the cost might go down while also becoming more useful.
This would require some motorists to change into PT users, but that’s essentially what we want. It would also avoid the costs of further surface works for Brisbane Metro on the surface, a further cost saving.
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Completely agree with this. If we’re seen as extreme/obstructionist then we burn off a lot of public support and BTQ ends up just being a group that’s yelling at a brick wall. Obviously we shouldn’t compromise on our principles but it’s definitely worth considering if any given fight is worth it.
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Transferring it to TMR means the BCC can’t build it which means the concept will be mothballed until the next election or the next decade.
After all, it was the BCC that instigated this idea. They did the business case and it was found to not be feasible.
BCA of 0.25 and a cost of $14 billion. Completion time unknown.
The recommended NWTN is option 4a (western alignment following NWTC):
- North West Motorway: Airport Link at Kedron to Gympie Rd Carseldine.
- BRT: extend busway to Aspley, and Carseldine station.
- North West Rail: Strathpine station to Albion station, with 2 new stations at Bridgeman Downs and Everton Park.
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Opposing an absolute waste of public money that will make transport so car-centric in SEQ that it will take decades to fix is not extremist!
It’s a public service!
The BUG groups do it really well.
Strong well articulated fact-based activism.
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We spent some time discussing this in the management committee last night, and the position we have come to is that we will oppose the Gympie Road tunnel up until the government has committed to it and put money aside for it in the forward estimates. At that point we will pivot to ensuring the best possible outcome for PT comes out of the bad situation. This is consistent with the discussions at the policy platform forum and will be fleshed out in the policy platform document in progress.
We plan on putting out a media release in opposition to the Gympie Road tunnel. Anyone can get that started if they wish.
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Does that allow enough time to actually influence the addition of PT elements to the concept? We wouldn’t be trying to shut the gate after the horse has bolted at that point, would we?