The solution to south-east Queensland’s traffic woes seem simple – scrap the T2 lanes
October 18, 2012
Queensland’s Transport Minister Scott Emerson is claiming a brain wave of sorts by scrapping under-utilised T2 lanes on the Pacific Motorway south of Brisbane.
Emerson claims the move will increase car capacity by 50 percent when the T2 lane between Exit 11 and Exit 16 is scrapped by mid next year.
“By converting T2 lanes into general traffic lanes, it also provides the extra space to add an additional lane in each direction for just $5 million,” Emerson says.
“That compares with an estimated cost of $100 million to build the extra lanes if the T2 lanes were retained.”
Emerson says despite the T2 lanes being in place for more than a decade, traffic surveys showed that peak periods were still only carrying as little as a third of the number of cars compared to the general lanes.
“Instead of simply building an additional lane in each direction, this design means we make better use of the space currently taken up by a single restriction lane by converting the T2 lane into two general traffic lanes,” he says.
The Transit lanes run between Exit 11 Klumpp Road interchange and Exit 16 near the Gateway Motorway merge.