The 2011/12 Qld. State Budget delivers the next step to the

Sumner Road/Centenary Motorway Flyover Project.

Contrary to the positive articles in local newspapers, the estimated $57 million to complete the much needed bridge duplication was only partially funded in the 2011/12 Qld. State Budget.  In this budget, only $2 million was allocated to the Dept. of Transport and Main Roads in 2011/12 to prepare detailed construction plans after final consultation with residents and local businesses.

Future approved recommendations from DMR include $5 million to be allocated in the 2012/13 Budget and an estimated $50 million in the 2013/14/15 Budgets to complete the project. Governed by this present release of funds, the earliest that construction could commence would be mid 2013. (unqualified)

Until the bridge duplication is completed, the traffic flow for east bound traffic on Sumner Road will still be restricted by the low priority of entry at the western roundabout.  

To ease this bottleneck, JRA has submitted a proposal to DMR which offers a low budget solution to re-prioritising traffic flow at this location. See link attachment

If you have misplaced the information on the Stage 3 design plans for the Sumner Road/ Centenary interchange that were delivered to your residence, you can view them on www.jra.org.au  and go to the “Traffic” Tab.  While submission time for official comment has expired, it is never too late to voice your opinion.

·        Centenary/Sumner Motorway Upgrades

In this budget, $5.1 million has been allocated for design work on the upgrade of the Centenary Motorway in readiness for the Legacy Tunnel completion in late 2014 and the resultant increase in traffic.  With the completion of the Airport Link Tunnels in 2012 that links the Inner City Bypass to the Legacy Tunnels, the Western/Centenary Motorways will be the preferred route through Brisbane for east/west traffic – regardless of toll fees. Prior to the 2014 opening the Centenary Motorway will receive extra heavy vehicular traffic during the construction of the Legacy tunnels as it will be the haulage route between the Toowong construction site and a major supply depot at Wacol.

• UBD/Indooroopilly/Centenary Bus Routes

Further 2011/12 budget funds have been allocated to investigate prioritizing the bus route access from the Centenary Suburbs to Indooroopilly and the UBD in an attempt to entice workers out of their vehicles and into public transport.

A concerning aspect of the Legacy Tunnel design is the lack of provision for bus access to and from the UBD at the Kelvin Grove end. At present any bus route would include a time consuming loop via the Royal Brisbane Hospital.  

While our State member, Mrs Julie Attwood MP, should be complimented for promoting these 3 budgeted projects, more work and lobbying has to be done by her and us, the public, to ensure that full funding is delivered over the coming years.

Maybe the Federal Government should partly fund these very expensive upgrades with the State?

Obviously a commitment to commence construction on all 3 projects will be on the political agenda for the coming State Elections.

Centenary Motorway Traffic Noise Barriers.

The 2011/12 Budget also announced $2.1 million for the upgrade of the noise barriers on the Sinnamon Park side of the Centenary Motorway between Mt Ommaney Roundabout and Jindalee Creek.

In the mean time, residents at the southern end of Jamboree Heights- in the Galleon Street region- are left with no noise protection as the result of 60 metre section of barrier fence being removed when the Bikeway was constructed in 2000.  The footings that supported this missing barrier are still visible from the bikeway.  Several residents of Galleon and Schooner Streets have non-obstructive views of heavy traffic travelling in both directions along the Centenary Motorway.  They, like other residents of Jamboree Heights, also receive the additional echo effect of noise from the high barriers on the Sinnamon Park side. 

Noise level readings were monitored by Main Roads in late 2009 at the request of JRA and their results indicated that the re-instatement of this barrier was not required. The readings did not exceed the average of 68 decibels (standard set) and by the use of previous traffic volume increases, would not do so until 2019. With the obvious increase in traffic volume along the Centenary Motorway as a result of the completion of the Ipswich Motorway in 2010 and coupled with the expected further increase with the completion of the Legacy Tunnels, there are grounds for a re-think.

JRA is presently conducting a survey amongst these northern residents to determine the level of inconvenience that they suffer due to the missing sound barrier. 

The quality of the rest of the Jamboree Heights’ barrier will be mentioned whenever the Centenary Motorway receives an upgrade.

The above comments are from the JRA Executive.

If you wish to share your thoughts with other members on any of these topics feel free to contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it