I think those who want to advocate for a busway alongside this tunnel are being naive. They will spend so much money on the road component that there will be nothing left for a busway. We will only get a transitway extension at best and we’ll have to be happy with that. The government will justify it by saying the tunnel will draw away most of the surface vehicle traffic.
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Well I completely disagree with it. If the goal is to get more people using public transport instead of cars, then blowing $14 billion on making it easier to drive along a major PT corridor is probably the most counterproductive thing I can think of, short of ripping up existing PT infrastructure. It will directly reduce the PT mode share along Gympie Rd and siphon money away from future PT projects. Mark my words, it will kill off any chance of the Trouts Rd corridor being used for a rail project before 2050. This is a disaster for PT, and should be opposed as hard as possible.
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I think BTQ is taking the wrong path by opposing it now. This is the time to advocate for a PT solution while they are at the planning stage. Once the planning stage is over that’s it.
The Business Case already killed the proposal.
What is the PT solution you seek?
- If its the North West Rail line, there are too many rail projects happening for this to happen.
- If its the N Busway expansion, there hasn’t been any BRT expansion in decades.
I completely agree with your points here and I do think we should oppose it, but if (hopefully not) it does get confirmed to go ahead I think it’s worth considering if an outright refusal from us can actually do anything, or if it’s just lighting credibility on fire for no reason. I’d rather no tunnel altogether but I’d also rather we agitate for and successfully get some PT concessions, rather than refuse to compromise and get nothing
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South East Busway expansion to Rochedale and Springwood opened a few months ago…
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Sure, when it’s been confirmed to go ahead and had funding allocated, then it’s smart to pivot and make the best of a bad situation. When it hasn’t yet had funding allocated, that isn’t the time to concede defeat like some here seem to want to do.
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And is planned to continue all the way to Hyperdome in the next Stage
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So, I was a local for quite a while in Chermside, including when this stupid tunnel was proposed by the treasury on the tail wind of the stupid business case for the Trouts Road corridor that recommended a tunneled highway.
I have no strong opinions about opposing the project because a former contact at TMR said that indeed it is most likely to progress (because both team red and team blue loves roads and toll roads), however I have a strong opinion that we should advocate hard for the transformation of the surface of Gympie Road with BRT and whatnot because that’s what both teams were parroting when the treasury proposed the tunnel. We cannot just accept a tunnel and nothing else on the surface.
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I know it’s a late contribution and I’m sure this was planned anyway. However I would suggest framing our opposition in direct reference to the competing public transport required.
“We need a full separated busway through to Carseldine station. We don’t need the tollway”
That way the pivot from opposition to advocacy is simple and clear.
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Coming soon in the next decade or so no doubt.
Meanwhile what’s the news and rumours about the N Busway extension part of the NWTC package?
Absolutely agreed!
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The policy needs to be recalled on this topic as it was created and voted on without the knowledge we have now
I don’t particularly think there’s any significant information which has come out since the previous policy platform forum. I’d rather not make a habbit of changing our policies outside of the policy platform forum except for exceptional circumstances.
The next forum is planned for late this year ATP.
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While they are planning the tunnel behind closed doors we could be emailing the TMR project team influencing PT outcomes alongside this project. They could well at early stages adopt a road and PT delivery model, such as busway tunnel segments which are desperately needed to get the Metro to and from Chermside efficiently and effectively.
I appreciate that the committee is spending time really digging into this! I’m very strongly opposed to this project, and believe BTQ should oppose it for as long as possible.
I’d say two things:
- The government has already committed $318m over 3 years under the previous Miles administration to “undertake approvals and pre-construction investigations.” I wonder if you’re referring to funding for construction?
- The infamous East-West Link in Melbourne would have done a similar level of damage, and some very courageous community organisations trying to stop it kept going long past the point where they “should” have given up. They ended up winning big, and racked up a giant win for Melbourne’s future.
I really appreciate that these strategic calls are very hard to make, especially in a landscape where civil society is weaker and the car lobby is incredibly strong.
Labor’s long-term committment to this silly project shouldn’t be taken for granted - they and all pollies should be feeling the pressure to oppose it as well.
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The Gympie Road Tunnel project has transferred from North Brisbane Infrastructure Pty Ltd (set up by QIC, private funding) into TMR where it can now access up to $10b of public infrastructure funding and directly compete with other PT projects for money.
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A little update here - the LNP Minister and the TMR DG have been very non-committal on this project in Estimates.
They haven’t even confirmed the status of the $318m committed by Labor for early on-ground and desktop work, including whether work is continuing to spend that money: https://www.michaelberkman.com.au/estimates_gympierdbypass_20250731
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Ms Stannard: There is a project in QTRIP which you will be able to see which is the Gympie Road Planning Program. That includes detailed planning for the Gympie Road corridor. It will consider improvements to congestion hotspots, including enhancements to road, public transport and active transport and it will consider short-, medium- and long-term solutions for that corridor.
…
What we are aiming to do is ensure we get an integrated network program by ensuring we consider that planning that has already been done together with planning at a multimodal level for the whole corridor.
If all that has any meaning, it should be the death of a road tunnel. Opportunity for BTQ to latch on to this and strongly back the focus on planning for multi modal and public and active transport without the need for cars to get a multi billion dollar tunnel first?
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Would you like to help get the media release started? Thanks 