Courier Mail 30/8/4
"Another tunnel plan buried"
Chris Griffith, City Hall Reporter 30 Aug 04In the beginning there were going to be five tunnels for Brisbane; now only three remain on the, drawing board.
The latest TransApex tunnel project that could be buried is a link across the Brisbane River from Hale St at Milton to Cordelia and Merivale streets at South Brisbane.
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman has acknowledged that a tunnel deep under the river there would require either incredibly steep declines into it from either side of the river, or long gentler-sloped access ramps stretching right up Hale St.
Deputy Mayor David Hinchliffe said it should have been "obvious from the start" that a tunnel linking Hale St and Cordelia and Merivale Streets was problematic because of the depth such a tunnel would have to go underneath the river in a short space.
Transport and major projects chairman Graham Quirk already has suggested that the east-west distributor, a tunnel linking the Western Freeway at Toowong and the Pacific Highway at Woolloongabba, could be on the backburner.
It may be built only as a cheaper double-decker structure suitable for lighter traffic because of lower-than-expected projected traffic numbers - something that could be a decade or more away.
A bridge instead of a tunnel from Hale St to South Brisbane could slice $400 million from the cost of the TransApex project, at a time there is a suggestion the cost of the north-south tunnel linking Woolloongabba and Bowen Hills could rise from $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion.
The toll also could jump from $2 to $3.50 if the federal or state governments don't support the project financially.
Cr Newman said yesterday a bridge to South Brisbane might be the better option for residents.
"There might actually be greater impacts from a tunnel; it's got to start somewhere and come out somewhere and based on the drawings I've seen, I don't know how we can do it (a tunnel) without creating impact," he said.
He stressed nothing had been finalised with the TransApex pre-feasibility study, not due to be completed until January.
But a new link could herald other changes, such as a review of the configuration of Victoria Bridge, which currently has buses travelling on one side and cars on the other side.
"I am not happy with the way the Victoria Bridge works," Cr Newman said.
He said he wanted to make the bridge pedestrian and cyclist-friendly and make it work better.He also wants more than one new pedestrian-cycle bridge across the river in the vicinity.
Cr Hinchliffe said Cr Newman's new bridge could compound existing traffic snarls around Merivale, Cordelia and Vulture Streets.
And traffic from Hale St could leak out into residential areas such as along Boundary Rd to Vulture St.
But Cr Newman said any new bridge would service the urban renewal area along the river and would not cater to through traffic.
"We are going to see thousands of people moving into that area in the next 1 0-15 years, and the strip between Montague Rd and Riverside is going to go through urban renewal; it's already happening," he said.
"A crossing there will allow people in West End and South Brisbane to get north easily, to access the Hale St Inner City Bypass system, and to get out of that area."
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