Essential road infrastructure is severely lacking in west Logan despite rapidly increasing demand, with one road recording six crashes within a week.
Local councillor Natalie Willcocks claimed the development of infrastructure in west Logan was lagging behind the area’s significant population growth.
“In one week, we experienced six accidents along Teviot Road, with one ending tragically in a fatality,” Cr Willcocks said at the latest ordinary council meeting the week of the election.
“In two weeks, we experienced 10 significant accidents throughout the Division 11 roads, causing more than a few traffic delays on our single lane roads and I’m sure there were more than a few that went unreported.
“I have spoken on many occasions over the past four years regarding the single lane roads in and out of Division 11 not keeping up with population growth.”
Division 11 includes Flagstone, Flinders Lakes, Greenbank, Kagaru, Lyons, Monarch Glen, New Beith, Silverbark Ridge, Undullah, and part of Munruben, North Maclean, Park Ridge South and South Maclean.
Cr Willcocks said the most recent census data revealed the population of Division 11 increased by “about 8000 and over 2000 dwellings between 2016 and 2020”.
“And I’m pretty sure these figures actually seem a bit light on,” Cr Willcocks said.
“With the increase of population and dwellings alone, comes a dramatic increase in cars on our single lane roads.
“Take an average household in Division 11, and it’s 3.22 persons.
“With an average of two cars each, that equals an extra 4000 cars on a single lane road since 2016.”
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows Division 11 grew by over 2200 people in 2022 alone.
According to the census, more than 42,000 residents moved into four west Logan divisions between 2016 and 2020.
Cr Willcocks said this was double the growth of the eight remaining divisions.
“With some divisions only increasing in population as little as 1142 residents and 243 dwellings since 2016,” Cr Willcocks said.
She said Division 11 residents had “had enough of sitting in traffic for 30 minutes for a 10-minute trip in peak hour”.
“I am a realist and I understand that infrastructure lags population growth, but next term I hope that we find a happy balance with where is the growth in the city of Logan, balanced with funding to deliver the road infrastructure where it’s needed,” she said.
“I just hope that our new mayor will take up the fight with the state government, because the current infrastructure charges when blocks are sold simply aren’t keeping pace with our road infrastructure required in the City of Logan, especially in the west of our city where we’re experiencing the growth.”
Earlier in the year, then-mayor Darren Power told MyCity Logan council was refusing to build roads leading into the state government’s development areas because council simply couldn’t afford it.
Mr Power said the costs of infrastructure required for these developments had bled council dry, leading council to “borrow hundreds of millions of dollars”.
Mayor-elect Jon Raven said major infrastructure works had been “slowed” by outdated infrastructure costs.
“There’s a major road upgrade happening to Teviot Road that’s happening in three stages as soon council is out of care-taker period,” Cr Raven said.
“Which Cr Willcocks has been advocating for for a long time and is sorely needed.
“The challenge is that when there’s not enough funding coming in from infrastructure charges, it slows down the delivery timeframe, which is why you’ve seen that lag.”
He said council was doing the “heavy lifting” and needed some form of help from the state government.
“What I would like to see is either an increase on the infrastructure cap to reflect the increased cost of construction… or the government needs to help us deliver the infrastructure that our community expects and deserves,” he said.
“It’s reasonable to expect that with the state election coming, both sides would lean in and invest in west Logan’s infrastructure, because that’s where the growth is happening.”
Teviot Road is set to undergo congestion and safety upgrades starting mid-2024, including road widening and intersection improvements.
A completion date has not been set.
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