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Decision on Sippy Downs Interchange Imminent
19 March 2005
We know that the $15 million interchange announced in the 2003
State budget is another two years from completion. This was an
interchange to connect with the Sunshine Coast Motorway near the
old toll plaza. It would connect Buderim via Dixon Road and the
growing Sippy Downs community via Claymore Road and Sippy Downs
Drive.
There was community unanimity that an option that gave east-west
and north-south connectivity was the desired outcome. Local and
State Government planners agreed. It was a solution that would
eventually address the already heavily gridlocked road networks at
Sippy Downs in early mornings and mid afternoons, in
particular.
As the University continues to grow, as the schools increase
their populations, as the residential communities become more
extensive, the volume of traffic is already becoming a serious
problem, and there has been one recent accident to a child outside
Matthew Flinders College.
The road network at Sippy Downs is essentially the same as it
was a decade ago when the area had a fraction of the population and
traffic movements.
The Draft South East Queensland Regional Plan has signalled the
likelihood of further developments south of Chancellor Park, and
these residential areas will have a further impact on Sippy Downs
and the proposed interchange that was not envisaged at the time of
design, so the need has heightened.
It was an important project in 2003, it is even more important
today, and its ultimate design will have a bearing on its eventual
success when opened in 2007.
The major problem that has arisen is that since the $15 million
allocation was approved, there has been a significant escalation in
construction costs. The result is that the unanimously supported
design for the interchange is now well beyond the designated
budget.
Some quite alarming statements are being made to justify an
alternative solution being proposed, such as the volume of traffic
is not high enough, the expense is premature, a technology precinct
is a distant prospect, and the interchange can be reconfigured in
the future.
If the cheapest proposal is constructed, but within budget,
there will be no north-south connectivity and limited east-west
connectivity, hence Stringybark Road and Matthew Flinders and
surrounding residential areas will continue to suffer. In fact, the
traffic issues will get worse through sheer population growth.
A decision by State Government is only a short time away and
their choice of design for the interchange could 'make or break'
Sippy Downs as a community with a focus on knowledge and
technology.
The next week or so will be an important time to examine in some
detail the aspirations of a community, and ensure that expediency
doesn't result in a denial of what every stakeholder group, public
and private, wants for Sippy Downs, as has been indicated in
letters to me in the last week or so.
We so often talk of planning for the future. We so often talk of
the Smart State and Knowledge Nation - but the acid test for all
the rhetoric is really what happens practically, at a local level.
This is a time when such a test can be applied to those about to
make decisions about such a community, and cost ought not to be the
over-riding important issue, because tens of thousands of people
and thousands of jobs are the pre-eminent issue. There is much
goodwill and I am hopeful that an appropriate decision will be
reached.
Professor Paul Thomas is Vice-Chancellor of University of
the Sunshine Coast