TransApex
road project in Brisbane, Australia
TransApex was a road transport plan devised by Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman in the early 2000s to connect existing motorways and major arterial roads with new transport links and divert cross-city traffic out of the Brisbane central business district. The plan is currently being delivered by Brisbane City Council at an estimated total cost of over $10 billion across five stages. According to the Brisbane City Council website, TransApex is "the biggest urban road project proposed in Australia".
Background
Brisbane is well known for its significant long-term population growth, and this growth combined with the city's proximity to the high growth areas of the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast puts major pressure on the road and public transport network, with peak hour congestion on parts of the Brisbane road network. Despite the visible impacts of the high growth on the road network, road infrastructure and public transport in south-east Queensland has failed to keep up with the resulting increase in vehicular demand. Brisbane's road network operates essentially as a 'hub', with the city's major roads feeding directly into the CBD. In 2004, when TransApex was first proposed, there was only one corridor that traffic could use to bypass the city centre (the Gateway Bridge), which lies 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) to the east of the CBD.
Original plan
Labor proposal
During the tenure of former Lord Mayor Jim Soorley, Labor had investigated a number of tunnels throughout Brisbane, including the future Clem Jones Tunnel and Airport Link, though none had progressed past feasibility studies by the time of the 2004 election.
Liberal proposal
As the Liberal lord mayoral candidate in the 2004 Brisbane local government election, Campbell Newman proposed a transport infrastructure plan which would "revolutionise cross-town travel for motorists and provide for the creation of cross-suburban bus routes for public transport patrons... while its resultant free-flowing road network will mean shorter trips, reduced fuel consumption and decreased vehicle emissions." Newman's original proposal was a system of five tunnels to be constructed in two stages:
Stage One (2004–2013, $3.2 billion)
The East/West Distributor: a 5.8 kilometres (3.6 mi) four-lane tunnel (including a river tunnel) linking Logan Road and Old Cleveland Road at Stones Corner, the South East Freeway and Ipswich Road at Woolloongabba and the Western Freeway at Toowong (now East-West Link)
The North/South Distributor: a 5.7 kilometres (3.5 mi), four-lane tunnel running under Main Street and the Story Bridge, linking Ipswich Road, the South East Freeway, Logan Road and Old Cleveland Road with Bowen Bridge Road and the Inner City Bypass at Bowen Hills (now Clem Jones Tunnel)
The Northern Link: a 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi), four-lane tunnel connecting the Western Freeway with the Hale Street Inner City Bypass route. This tunnel will also serve as a link between the East/West Distributor and the North/South Distributor, completing Brisbane's first inner ring road system (now Legacy Way)
The Hale Street/South Brisbane Connection: a 600-metre, four-lane tunnel linking Hale Street with Merivale and Cordelia Streets at South Brisbane. This tunnel represents a pre-emptive move against an expected growth in traffic in the area caused by the West End Urban Renewal Program (now Go Between Bridge)
Stage Two (2014–2018, $800 million)
The Kingsford Smith Drive Duplication: a 3.9 kilometres (2.4 mi) tunnel linking the Inner City Bypass at the Breakfast Creek Hotel with the new alignment of the Gateway Arterial Road.
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