East-West Link is a proposed road

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It forms the fifth and final component of

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC) is the democratic executive local government authority for the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The largest City Council in Australia by population and area, BCC's jurisd ...

TransApex TransApex is 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 CBD. The plan i ...

plan to connect motorways across the city, construct new

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

crossings and divert cross-city traffic out of the

Brisbane CBD Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD" or "the city". It is located on a point on the northern bank of the ...

.Brisbane City Counci
"TransApex"
2012. Retrieved 5/12/12

Proposal

The East-West Link is a proposed tolled road tunnel linking the Western Freeway at

Toowong Toowong is a riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Toowong had a population of 10,830 people. Geography Toowong is situated between Mount Coot-tha and the Brisbane River and is made up of rolling hills w ...

and the Pacific Motorway at

Buranda Buranda is a neighbourhood in the southern Brisbane suburbs of Greenslopes and Woolloongabba in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. The location is an important transport hub for southern Brisbane. Logan Road and Ipswich Road pass ...

. Provision may be made for tunnel portals at

Indooroopilly Indooroopilly is a riverside suburb 7km west of the Brisbane CBD, Queensland, Australia. In the , Indooroopilly had a population of 12,242 people. Geography Indooroopilly is bounded to the south and south-east by the median of the Brisbane Riv ...

St Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindia ...

. The original TransApex proposal limited the toll to $2 (plus

GST GST may refer to: Taxes * General sales tax * Goods and Services Tax, the name for the value-added tax in several jurisdictions: ** Goods and services tax (Australia) ** Goods and Services Tax (Canada) ** Goods and Services Tax (Hong Kong) **G ...

Benefits

Currently, vehicles travelling from Buranda to the Toowong roundabout have two available routes. The first route involves travelling on the Pacific Motorway,

Riverside Expressway The Riverside Expressway is part of the Pacific Motorway that runs through Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located on the western side of the Brisbane CBD and is made up of various bridges and overpasses. The North Bank development is p ...

and either

Coronation Drive Coronation Drive, popularly known as Coro Drive, is a road in Brisbane, Queensland which connects the Central Business District to the suburb of Toowong. It follows the Brisbane River from the Riverside Expressway, through the suburbs of Milton ...

Milton Road Milton Road is an arterial road in Brisbane, Australia. It is currently signed as State Route 32 for its entire length. Milton Road is a major corridor for traffic between the Brisbane central business district and the western suburbs. It car ...

. Vehicle taking this route are likely to encounter significant

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

whilst contributing to further congestion themselves. The Riverside Expressway frequently becomes congested in peak hour traffic due to its status as the main route to and from the Brisbane CBD from the south. It also terminates in a set of traffic lights on Coronation Drive or the congested Inner City Bypass causing congestion on the Expressway. Furthermore, Coronation Drive and Milton Road, being the main arterial roads into the Brisbane CBD from the Western Suburbs, are also frequently congested. The numerous sets of

traffic lights Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic light ...

on both of these long, narrow roads also increases travel times from Buranda to Toowong. The second route involves travelling on ordinary roads to the

Ipswich Motorway The Ipswich Motorway (M7) is a major road that connects Brisbane and Ipswich in South East Queensland, Australia. It commences at the junction of Ipswich Road and Granard Road and proceeds through to the M2 Logan Motorway interchange. It is the ...

, exiting onto the

Centenary Motorway The M5 (Centenary Motorway) is a motorway in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. It starts as a two-lane arterial road at Yamanto, travelling to Springfield, where it becomes a two-lane highway and travels across the M2 Logan Motorway ...

and following through to the Western Freeway, which terminates in a

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

at the base of Mt Coot-tha. This route involves a significant travel distance and congestion on Ipswich Road makes the travel time no shorter than the first, shorter route. A tunnel between Buranda and the Toowoong roundabout would create a motorway-grade road between those points, eliminating the need for any travel on suburban streets and any encounter with traffic lights. As the tunnel would primarily link two motorways, suburban surface congestion is unlikely to significantly impact on the speed, and thus travel time, through the tunnel. It is envisaged that the East-West Link tunnel would reduce traffic congestion on the Riverside Expressway, Coronation Drive and Milton Road by removing traffic using these roads merely as a thoroughfare to reach the destination at the tunnel's portals. The East-West Link tunnel would further create another 4 or 6 general traffic lanes for vehicles to cross the Brisbane River. The Brisbane City Council predicted in 2004 that the bridges crossing the Brisbane River were approaching total capacity. A further tunnel which crosses the river would alleviate some of these capacity issues.

Current status

The project does not appear in the Queensland State Government South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program running to 2031. Similarly, East-West Link is not listed in the

Department of Transport and Main Roads The Department of Transport and Main Roads, known often as TMR, is a department of the Queensland Government, formed in April 2009 with the merger of the Queensland Transport and the Department of Main Roads. The department manages Queensland ...

' Western Brisbane Transport Network Strategy. However, the East-West Link is only a Brisbane City Council proposal. The Brisbane City Council is currently completing a $1.4 million review of traffic demand for the East-West Link. Whilst originally planned for delivery by 2026, then-Lord Mayor Campbell Newman suggested the delivery date may be brought forward based on the study's results. Lord Mayor

Graham Quirk Graham Quirk (born c. 1958) is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th Lord Mayor of Brisbane. From 2008 until 2011, he was Deputy Lord Mayor under Campbell Newman, succeeding the latter when Newman became the Premier of Queenslan ...

has stated that the Brisbane City Council's next infrastructure project after completion of the

Legacy Way The M5 Legacy Way (formerly Northern Link Tunnel) is a long tunnel linking the Western Freeway at Toowong and the Inner City Bypass at Kelvin Grove, Brisbane. The project consisted of two bored tunnels carrying two motorway grade lanes of tr ...

tunnel in 2015 is the upgrade of Kingsford Smith Drive.Robyn Ironsid
"Campbell Newman's tunnel vision will have to wait because his successor, Graham Quirk, can't find the funds"
2011. Retrieved 5/12/12.

References

{{Reflist Transport in Brisbane