A decades-long problem of frustrating bottlenecks on the main road into Mooloolaba is being addressed with the widening to four lanes of a key bridge on Brisbane Road.
The Mayes Canal Bridge, used by 20,000 cars a day, has been a nightmare for locals and tourists getting stuck in gridlock in the popular tourist destination.
That traffic is expected to almost double to 39,000 cars by 2040.
The $25.3 million Mooloolaba Access Upgrade involves duplicating a 350m stretch from Mayes Canal Bridge to the intersection of Foote Street and Tarcoola Avenue from two lanes to four.
Announcing the federal government’s $12 million contribution, Fisher MP Andrew Wallace said the bridge widening would mean drivers would no longer be stuck in their cars for hours.
“Anybody who has travelled along Brisbane Road would know that Brisbane Road is a real bottleneck for traffic,” said Mr Wallace.
“Whether you are a local or you are tourist often we have spent many hours hours in traffic sitting on Brisbane Road.
“What this is going to mean is that people like tourists who are travelling back to Brisbane on a Sunday afternoon, this will help their memory be of the great time they’ve had on the beaches in Mooloolaba with their family and not being stuck on Brisbane road in gridlock traffic.”
The new lane duplication, due to start after the peak holiday season in 2021 for completion in early 2022, is part of a suite of traffic improvements underway in Mooloolaba.
The Sunshine Coast Regional Council’s overarching Mooloolaba Transport Corridor Upgrade includes a multi-storey carpark of 700 spaces.
The widening of Walan Street between Venning Street and Smith Street to four traffic lanes started in February and due to be completed before Christmas.
Mayor Mark Jamieson said the various road projects would together improve the experiences of drivers, pedestrians and cyclists in the holiday destination.
The carpark alone would make a difference to the number of cars driving around searching for parks and clogging up traffic, Cr Jamieson said.
The mayor said it was important that Mooloolaba could be a “hive of activity” all year around, not just during peak seasons.
“Improving accessibility to Mooloolaba, which is one of the Sunshine Coas’s most popular locations for local residents and tourists alike, is a key objective of this project and council’s broader road network planning for the area,” he said.
Division four councillor Joe Natoli, a former mayor of the Maroochy Council, said the busy road had been a problem dating back to the first time he was elected to council in 1997.
The congestion of cars in the Mooloolaba precinct also had a flow-on impact to buses who fell behind on their schedules while trapped in gridlock.
The Mooloolaba Access Upgrade is jointly funded by the Federal Government ($12 million) and Sunshine Coast Council ($13.3 million).
