What can be done about our slow traffic?

Well we always knew that during peak hours the roads in the Stafford/Everton Park regions can get pretty slow.

Now the RACQ has released a list of “Brisbane’s Slowest Roads” and it is no surprise to find some of our local roads on these lists.

Stafford Rd from Appleby Rd to Webster Rd has been rated as the second slowest commute in Brisbane with an average speed of just 18km per hour during the morning commute.  The situation is much better in the afternoon with the average speed increasing to a whole 20km per hour.

The situation is similar on South Pine Rd with an average commuting speed of 21 km per hour in the morning. But even worse is the evening commute time when we are all trying to get home, the commute speed on average is only 12 km per hour.

Other roads on the top 10 slowest roads in Brisbane close to our region include:- Gympie Rd, Kedron Park Rd, Jubilee Tce, and Sandgate Rd. So it seems no matter which way that you are travelling your journey is going to be slow.

Inbound

Outbound 

Often these problems are created in other locations but manifest in the closer to the CBD suburbs.  Obviously with more and more houses being built in suburbs further out, that utilise the main arterial roads like South Pine Road, this greater density is pushing more traffic onto these roads.  Something similar is happening in the suburbs like McDowall and Bridgeman Downs with a lot of new Townhouse developments bringing more new families to the area.  Now this is generally a good thing, but council needs to take into account how this greater housing density affects the road system.

So what can be done about it? Is it more money, more public transport, better bike paths or is it something else. Let us know what your ideas are about helping to reduce the congestion in our local area. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest ones.

Last week a “Sustainable Development or Suburban Destruction” discussion was held at the Stafford Town Hall, where ideas like an underground rail line and a station at Stafford were proposed.  There was a lot of discussion about more working from home, better coordinated public transport as well as planning for future public transport, unfortunately this seemed to be very “high level” thinking with out any proposals for solutions.

So we would love to hear your ideas and we can pass them on to the right people.