- Airport Link, Brisbane
QLDRoad
name=Airport Link
length=~6.5
direction=North-South
from=Toombul
to=Bowen Hills
via=LutwycheThe Airport Link is a tunnelled
motorway grade road which is planned for the northern suburbs ofBrisbane, Queensland ,Australia . It will connect theBrisbane central business district and the North-South Bypass Tunnel to the East-West Arterial Road which leads to theBrisbane Airport . It is proposed to be built in conjunction with the Northern Busway in approximately the same corridor. The estimated construction cost of the Airport Link tunnel is reported to be over $3.4 billion, with the eventual toll charge being $4.85 per trip. [ [http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23721143-952,00.html $4.85 toll for Airport Link] ]The proposal was out for tender with three consortia entering the bid to win the Airport Link contract. The three bidding consortia were BrisConnections, NorthConnect Motorway Pty Ltd and Northern Motorway group. The winning consortium was BrisConnections.
Gympie Road, Stafford Road and the East West Arterial are all key routes connecting with Airport Link that will experience increased traffic congestion as a result of the project. Traffic on connecting roads at the southern connection of the tunnel will increase 6% more than with the "do-nothing" option by 2022, while connecting roads on the northern connections will increase by 13% [Tables 9-126 and 9-127 Traffic and transport technical report, Airport Link Environmental Impact Statement http://www.airportlinkeis.com/OtherLinks/EIS/pdfs/Vol3-TechPapers/01_Traffic_and_Transport.pdf).
Lutwyche Road is meant to be one of the key beneficiaries of Airport Link, yet by 2026 traffic will have only been reduced by up to 3% in some sections, while south of Newmarket Road it will increase by 36% compared with 2004 (table 9-10 in the Traffic and Transport technical paper).
Traffic and congestion on suburban roads surrounding the project will also increase by 2026 as a result of Airport Link. Newmarket Road (+89%), Hamilton Road (+32%), Kedron Park Road (+39%), Albion Road (+60%) and Maygar Street (+19%) (table 9-10 in the Traffic and Transport technical paper).
Airport Link will lead to minuscule increases in vehicle speed (compared to a no AL option) and will lead to a reduction in vehicle speeds over the next 20 years. Table 9-8 shows (Traffic and Transport technical report) that in 2012 vehicle speeds in the metropolitan area will increase from 52.5 km/h without AL to 53.4 km/h with AL (+0.9 km/h); in 2022 vehicle speeds will increase by just 1.1 km/h as a result of AL; and in 2026 by 1.1 km/h. Overall, AL will reduce vehicle speed on the network from 53.4 km/h in 2012, to 49.6 km/h in 2026. The project will therefore fail to achieve the objective of improving journey times due to reduced speed. Thus the promise of reduced pollution due to free-flowing traffic cannot be met.
On July 16 2008, the State Government announced that the tunnel will be known as the M7 Motorway. The M7 name will also be assigned to the
North-South Bypass Tunnel, Brisbane See also
*
TransApex
*North-South Bypass Tunnel, Brisbane
*South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program
*Airport Link, SydneyNotes
External links
* [http://www.citynorthinfrastructure.com.au/home/home.html Official site]
* [http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:STANDARD:1532153332:pc=PC_1964 BCC project site]
* [http://www.translink.com.au/qt/translin.nsf/index/InfrastructureNorthernBusway TransLink project site for Northern Busway]
* [http://www.skyscraperlife.com/showthread.php?t=3419 Forum] - AirportLink Forum
* [http://www.notunnels.org] - Communities Against the Tunnels
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