U/C» Gateway Duplication & Upgrade

[KJBrissy]

Project Rundown

Status| Under Construction

Location| Gateway Motorway, Brisbane

Developer| PPP (Queensland Motorways/Leighton Abigroup Joint Venture)

Price tag| $1.88 billion dollars

Completion Date| Late 2010

GUP Updates| here

Project Site| Click here

Proposed Gateway Duplication & Upgrade


Current Gateway Bridge Drive Through - thanks to trentthomson


In the paper today for the advertisement for Brisbane Airport it stated that the Gateway Upgrade Project is due to start demolition and ground works for the Gateway Motorway Deviation and New Airport Interchanges this month.

Exciting news. It will be good when we get this section finished (4 lanes due by 2009, and 6 lanes due by 2010) as this is the biggest cause of congestion on the Motorway.

The duplication of the Gateway Bridge will be completed by 2010 and the refurbishment of the current bridge to be completed by 2011.

The Wynnum Road Interchange upgrade is due to be finished by the middle of this year.

The extra lanes to be added from Mt Gravatt to the Gateway Bridge is to be finished by 2009.

So by 2010 everything other than the refurb of the existing bridge will be finished. The tolls will also be converted to fully automated tolls to also reduce traffic build ups.

[SoulVision]

These pictures just made me more excited about this project...

[KJBrissy]

Planners underestimated Gateway traffic
Tony Moore | March 30, 2007 - 12:18PM

Gateway Bridge planners in 1985 estimated the city's iconic bridge would handle just 50,000 vehicles each day in 2007 - less than half its current use.

Queensland Motorways Limited (QML) chief executive officer Phil Mumford revealed the alarming underestimate this morning to delegates at an infrastructure summit in Brisbane.

"QML, when the bridge first opened in 1986, they estimated the traffic would be 50,000 vehicles per day," he said.

"We're now seeing 120,000 vehicles per day."

He said later that QML's research showed that 121,936 vehicles used the Gateway Bridge in October 2006 and the average seven day a week average was more than 100,000 cars per day.

"Our traffic growth is about six to seven per cent."

He said traffic on the Logan Motorway - also run by Queensland Motorways - had increased 63 per cent since it opened.

There have been a string of accidents on the Gateway Bridge and motorway network since the middle of 2006.

Traffic was clogged through inner-city Brisbane earlier this week after a two-car collision blocked lanes. The accident caused major traffic congestion on inner-city feeder routes including Shaftson Avenue.

Last year traffic in the eastern fringe of the city came to a halt in the afternoon peak hour when a truck collided with a toll plaza causing a fire.

While no-one was injured, it forced QML to remove the toll on the gateway.

Mr Mumford told the Queensland Infrastructure Summit that QML would move from manual payment of tolls to full electronic tolling by 2009.

He showed delegates a new television commercial to encourage people to take up e-tolling.

"Now we have 49 per cent of people use e-toll, in peak period, it's 64 per cent," he said.

"We need to get it to 70 per cent to go to full e-tolling."

QML have issued 250,000 e-toll devices and need to reach around 400,000 to go to complete electronic tolling.

Mr Mumford said the growth projections showed the 70 per cent figure would be reached, but said motorists had to be encouraged.

He used the example of Sydney's Cross-City tunnel, which has gone into receivership.

He said he believed one aspect of that situation was they "did not educate their customers" into the best way to use the tunnel.

Work started earlier this month on the $1.88 billion project to build a second Gateway Bridge and upgrade 20km of motorway either side of the bridge by 2011.

Mr Mumford said he did see problems for traffic because vehicles would continue to use the existing bridge and motorways while the new bridge was built.

He said half the old bridge would be closed for several months during 2010 while two large expansion joints were repaired.

"But there will still be nine lanes available, which is more than there is now."

[SoulVision]

Some new renders out...






click for video...

[ladyjove]

Woo hoo! A cycle lane!

Pity it is a shared cycle/pedestrian lane, at 4.5m it's a recreational lane and not wide enough to accommodate commuter cyclists, but at least there is one.