The editor,
Regarding the Beaudesert-Beenleigh Road “upgrade”, TMR has done a good job in improving the road in recent years. However, they have failed basic road planning by not providing enough dedicated two-lane sections for overtaking.
I believe there are currently three for 43km of road, which is totally inadequate and my indictment of TMR’s planning competence.
I have a personal interest in the safety issues of the road. My daughter and her family live at Tamborine Village.
The road is now quite dangerous. It was never intended to be a major artery. It meanders around, up and down, and was not designed for fast travel.
It now carries a disproportionate number of very large interstate transport vehicles and quarry trucks whose drivers operate on time schedules and have little regard for speed limits.
This is a bigger problem for the Tamborine-Beenleigh section because the indicated limits are lower. If you drive at the speed limit you will be run off the road.
TMR are proposing to “upgrade” the road to “improve safety and reduce congestion” by widening about 200 metres of road at the extreme northern end in an existing 60km/hr zone.
We must assume that TMR is fully aware of the problems of the entire road, so why are they doing this? Politics perhaps?
This proposal is not an upgrade. It is a minor, unnecessary road widening which has already wasted money and will have no effect on road safety or congestion.
For experienced, presumably qualified road experts to even suggest this project and commit funds to it is a totally stupid idea.
Who are the “experts” who dreamed this up? And which senior manager agreed to it? The competence of TMR must now be seriously questioned.
The providers of the $10 million fund should not support this “project” and should whithhold the money until sanity returns. Urgent action is needed now.
The Beaudesert-Beenleigh Road is now a de facto motorway, so why don’t we install speed cameras. Traffic would be slowed, increasing safety and the income would be most welcome.
Finallyu, with $10 million to spend, surely that could pay for at least five extra overtaking sections. If TMR say that’s not possible, open it to private tender. Federal and state members of parliament must obtain a value-for-money outcome and monitor progress.
Philip Potter,
Mt Warren Park.
