Driving & Traffic

Tell that to the accountants.

Amen. Death to Transurban, death to tolls

Yes, Transurban are a rent-seeking parasite who has stymied many worthwhile public transport project.

The fact they extracted $3-4 billion out of the State Govt for the road when it was originally going to cost taxpayers ā€œnothingā€, is worthy of a Royal Commission.

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I drove the Coomera Connector on the weekend. Very limited use at the moment (only goes around 2km) but if if gets up and is built completely (and i have my serious doubts it will) it will be a game changer for traffic between south brisbane and the goldie. I personally think this should be a priority project in the lead up to the olympics but i know this won’t happen

Curious why you think it won’t be built in full. I have no doubt at all it will.

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The LNP has a long history of either scrapping or watering down major infrastructure projects on the Gold Coast once they take power. When you layer that with the usual fighting between an LNP state government and a Labor federal government, it feels like this project is more vulnerable to politics than protected by planning.

A good recent example is the final stage of the Gold Coast light rail. Despite clear transport and congestion benefits, it’s been repeatedly stalled because it would upset residents in the southern end — with the usual scare campaign about it ā€œchanging the character of the areaā€ or bringing in the so-called ā€œriff-raff.ā€ Whether that argument holds water or not, it’s politically effective.

Given that the LNP holds most Gold Coast seats, there’s very little incentive for them to push projects that might upset those voters and put marginal or safe seats at risk. Infrastructure that’s controversial locally — even if it’s sensible long-term — tends to be the first thing quietly delayed, reviewed, or reshaped until it’s unrecognisable.

I think the LNP is very anti-PT (hence the axing of GCLR4 and the Wave Metro instead of the Maroochydoore Heavy Rail project). Roads seem to get up fine and as far as I can tell, any work that speeds up GC to BNE in the eyes of commuters is fine

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I wouldn’t put this in the same bucket as the GC light rail.

I have no doubt at all this will proceed.

In fact the LNP have accelerated planning around the east-west connectors linking the M1 and the M9 for the next sections to the north.

The only thing I’d be concerned about is whether they try to sneak in a toll, which is possible, but not certain.

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Does anyone else have a shopping centre or car park with the marked spaces between each spot…like this?

And do you get idiots who think they can just park in those spaces in a sort of diagonal manner…like this

How did they manage to get their license? In a box of corn flakes?

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They have these in the US everywhere, but this is the first time I’ve seen it in Aus.

where i go to charge the car in Rochdale has this. i suspect its cos there needs to be room between the cars to allow you to plug in the charger. I’ll look next time i’m there to see if non supercharger sports have it

These spots are nowhere near a charger. These are regular parking spots with a gap between each slot, I’d dare say for ease of getting in and out of a car without hitting the car next to you.

The gronk was doing the car version of a starfish, spreading across both gaps and their own bay.

Tonight 7News Melbourne showed a transport challenge to see which mode was the best from Hoppers Crossing station in the west to Marvel Stadium on a weekday morning. Blake Johnson took the train, Lachie drove via West Gate Bridge while Layla drove through the West Gate Tunnel.