Best way to protect koalas in QLD is to stop mowing down greenfield habitat with motorways and housing estates (Coomera Connector comes to mind). Seems kinda obvious but I guess some people want to have their cake and eat it too.
Queensland government to leave 'no stone unturned' in koala protection https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-23/qld-koala-strategy/106173284 #Conservation
Multiple news stories about transport on the Gold Coast today.
$3.4b to build stage 1 of the #coomeraconnector (and still two more stages left to connect up to the Logan Motorway!)
Cancellation of the light rail extension and impacts on traffic.
As a Brisbanite I worry about the broader network effects on SEQ roads, especially after the widening of the M1 at Springwood. Way too many people commute between Brisbane and the coast ever day often due to lack of PT access. But there are plenty of good options available like extending the light and heavy rail lines to the airport, continuing to expand the SE Busway further south and continuing to improve the Beenleigh/Gold Coast line.
As the #CoomeraConnector / #SecondM1 motorway duplication project in Gold Coast is nearing partial opening later this year, the "find out" phase of FAFO has started. Local councillors and state MPs, who pushed for the new road are now doubling down and requesting even more hundreds of millions $ to be spent on extending it past Coomera, to Yawalpah Rd, and widening a local Helensvale Rd, or else we will have "trafic chaos", "gridlock", "bedlam" and "ruin".
On days when I take the train to work, I am reminded of the biggest ecological vandalism that was committed in my city by the Australian Labor and Liberal politicians. Building a 6 lane motorway through a nature conservation area, koala habitats, sugar cane fields and literally next to hundreds of homes. In a city that already has an 8 lane motorway, ripping it apart, but no bike paths.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FgfxbzBKea8
#GoldCoast #Australia #ClimateChange #CoomeraConnector #SecondM1 #FuckCars
The politicians who came up with the duplication of the M1 motorway idea to "bust congestion" are now realising that it will... cause congestion. Their solution? The usual: build more of it.
It won't work. All local roads will get more car traffic. The new 6-lane motorway will, in about 5-10 years from completion, induce demand for about 120,000 extra car trips per day in Gold Coast. That's a feature, not a bug. You build roads, you get cars.
A video by a young creator about a certain motorway duplication project that fits the "they paved the paradise and built a parking lot" song...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AtowYA0fzvc
#CoomeraConnector #SecondM1 #GoldCoast #Queensland #Australia #PublicTransport
I fought against the Coomera Connector / Second M1 and lost. I lost to the Labor Party who pushed this project at the state level and approved it at the federal level despite obvious problems. I lost to people who value the convenience of driving a car over the environment and over the health of people living nearby. To people who believe that duplicating a motorway will "bust congestion".
#GoldCoast #koalas #SecondM1 #CoomeraConnector #GlobalWarming #ecocide
The Coomera Connector is a mistake -
https://youtu.be/AtowYA0fzvc
IMO it's really bad planning, quite expensive for what it is, and it's being built in lieu of better PT. Fast, convenient, reliable and comfortable PT is the best alternative to expensive and environmentally destructive mega-motorways.
The Qld government should improve rail and build a faster or fast rail* between GC and Brisbane (*not to be confused with high-speed rail). Perth has some good examples with lines that run adjacent to motorways making use of an already straight alignment (the existing GC/Beenleigh line is very old and windy).
#railbackontrack #brisbane #goldcoast #publictransport #coomeraconnector
@Sydney_Stations - yep, in Gold Coast some people will protest, on environmental grounds, a tram extension built mostly in the median of a 4 lane highway, but be perfectly fine, or even demand, a new 6-lane motorway, going through koala habitats.
The cost of the ultimate road widening project, the duplication of the M1 motorway in #GoldCoast (the 16 km stage 1 of #CoomeraConnector) has doubled since 2020: from A$1.5B to A$3B (~$2B USD). Half is paid by #Queensland, half by the federal gov.
This road (built in koala habitat) will reduce CO2 emissions and car congestion according to the government. 😞
2024 statement:
https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/99975
2020 statement:
https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/90828
AndrewR
Tom Andraszek