An open letter to all residents of The Gap
The character and lifestyle of The Gap is under serious threat. The Brisbane City Council (BCC) is proposing to seal and upgrade Gap Creek Road, the partly unsealed road that passes to the west of Mt. Cootha connecting the suburbs of Kenmore and The Gap.
Their latest budget allocates $200,000 for a study/start on the capital works for ‘Gap Creek Road Improvement’ in 2006/07 and $4.8 million in 2007/08. This equates to a significant upgrade and not just a bit of bitumen on the missing links!
There is no doubt this work, when completed, will result in a very significant increase in traffic through The Gap. Motorists from adjoining suburbs and further afield will start using Settlement, Waterworks, Illowra and Payne Roads to access Gap Creek/Dillon Roads. Our leafy, tranquil suburb will be assaulted with the extra traffic noise, pollution and congestion - particularly during peak hours when hoards of motorists from Brisbane’s south western and northern suburbs start using the upgraded road as a ’shortcut’ to travel to and from the Brisbane CBD and work.
Even worse, upgrading Gap Creek Road will establish this route as a potential Brisbane Western Bypass.
The Queensland Government is now conducting a $10 million, three-year study into transport infrastructure needs for the Greater Western Brisbane area. The study will look at the need for a Western Bypass and, if it is to be established, the route it should take. Sealing Gap Creek/Dillon Roads, and having vastly increased numbers of motor vehicles using this road link, will greatly encourage the State Government to look seriously at building its Western Bypass along this route. This would be an absolute disaster for the quality of life of Gap residents and property values. It would also damage the unique and wonderful environmental features we have in our locale, including Brisbane Forest Park and Mt Coot-tha State Forest.
The strongly-held view of The Gap Community Association is that the Brisbane City Council should leave the unsealed sections as is for the time being. The ultimate decision on the upgrading and/or sealing of Gap Creek/Dillon Roads should then be deferred until the State Government concludes its three-year study and makes it’s recommendations on the need, or otherwise, for a Western Bypass. Such action will also reflect majority public opinion - most people at The Gap do not want Gap Creek Road sealed.
If you share this view, please contact one or all of the politicians below as soon as possible as it is only through the voice of public opinion that we have any chance of Saving The Gap, as we know it today.
Yours Sincerely,
Andrew McMicking, President, The Gap Community Association Inc.
| Politician | Address | Phone # | Fax # | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Councillor Geraldine Knapp The Gap Ward Office |
477 Waterworks Road Ashgrove, QLD, 4060 |
(07) 3704 1900 | (07) 3407 1905 | thegap.ward@ecn.net.au |
| Councillor Margaret de Wit Pullenvale Ward Office |
Suite 18, Kenmore Village Shopping Centre Brookfield Road Kenmore, QLD, 4069 |
(07) 3407 0220 | (07) 3407 0226 | pullenvale.ward@ecn.net.au |
| Dr. Bruce Flegg Member for Moggill |
PO BOX 328 Kenmore, QLD, 4069 |
(07) 3378 8020 | (07) 3378 0592 | moggill@parliament.qld.gov.au |
| The Lord Mayor, the Hon. Campbell Newman |
Brisbane City Council GPO BOX 2287 Brisbane, QLD, 4001 |
(07) 3403 4400 | (07) 3403 9930 | Email access via BCC website |
| M/s Kate Jones Labor Candidate for Ashgrove |
PO BOX 2, Grange, QLD, 4051 |
(07) 3352 7996 | (07) 3352 7996 | ashgrove@teambeattie.com |
| Cr. Graham Quirk Wishart Ward Office |
Suite 102/ 2072 Logan Road Upper Mt. Gravatt, QLD, 4122 |
(07) 3403 7791 | (07) 3403 7794 | wishart.ward@ecn.net.au |
| Mr Glenn Kiddle Liberal Candidate for Ashgrove |
PO BOX 296 Ashgrove, QLD, 4060 |
0420 218 060 | ashgrove@qld.liberal.org.au |
August 18th, 2006 at 5:13 am
Dear Gap Community Association,
I drive Gap Creek Road daily between Darra and my place of work at the Gap. I do like the dirt and the rough as it reminds me of where I grew up west of Brisbane.
However, in my experience a few needs associated with Gap Creek Road are obvious.
There are a dust/visibility/corrugation safety issues. A head-on collison resulted this week.
A few months ago a south-bound car appeared on my side of the road and came to rest against the bank at the top of the last steep dirt section.
Today an ambitious 4wd chose to overtake the car in front, blind in a dust-cloud, on the same last potholey pinch travelling north.
The dust today was sufficiently bad that there was not really adequate view either side of the one-lane bridge.
Recreational cyclists do not have a safe place to ride along Gap Creek Road despite this being an obviously beautiful area to ride through, and the dust also makes cycling this route impossible and dangerous.
The dust in the Gap Creek Picnic area is also unpleasant and unfair.
On the other hand I can understand the real concern about increased traffic if the road is upgraded (in the sense of an upgrade that permits/encourages greater traffic volumes).
However, I also sense that the Gap Community Association needs to be very proactive in forwarding a creative vision for the future of the road.
Does the association wish to campaign for closure of the road as a through-road? Perhaps with exceptions for emergency vehicles? buses? taxis? Such roads exist, such as the northern end of Belwood Street Darra, that has an automatic post in the middle of the road that drops down to allow buses. Or the new Green Bridge.
Does the association wish for a heavily traffic-calmed solution?
How about a a toll boom gate ( but without commercial-in-confidence secrecy nonsense) with profits to the Brisbane Forest Park?
Whatever the Associations views are, take the lead and promote them, for I doubt the status-quo will prevail in the minds of decision makers.
Yours faithfully
Michael Caley
8 Winslow Street
Darra Q4076
December 8th, 2006 at 8:15 pm
Dear Gap Community Association,
I am FOR an upgrade of Gap Creek Road as I believe in its current state, it is dangerous and dirty.
Solutions to minimising traffic-flow once sealed could include:
-Making the road “Local Traffic Only” area
-Reducing the speed limit (again) to 40km/h
-Instalation of traffic calming devices (similar to the devices on the roads in the quiet streets of West Ashgrove - stops speeding!)
-Dedicated cyclist lane (similar to one present on Payne Road)
-Keeping it no larger than a dual-carriage-way (two lanes)
-Leaving the 3T truck limit on the road so nothing bigger than small moving van/truck (this stops B-double and other big trucks and busses using the road)
I think if measures like these were utilised then the sealing of the road could prove convenient and useful for us all while also preserving our suburb’s leafy and quiet lifestyle.
Yours sincerely,
Simon.
April 29th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
What the people of The Gap seem to have forgotten is that this road will also have a massive impact on the township of Samford and the semi-ryural areas to the north of it. If the preserved transport corridor currently identified in this year’s UBD becomes the Western bypass, it will split this community in half, destroy the quite and amenity of the area, and property values will plummet. Perhaps you should try to get your northern neighbours on board to help fight this proposal??
March 11th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
you complain about people driving thru your suburb, yet you live in an area with high car dependance which makes it likely you drive thru other people’s suburbs. double standards??
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:25 am
to all you whingy suburbanites - Deal with it people! We all have to make allowances for expansion and development. Gap Creek rd is extremely dangerous. To Andrew McMocking - Try thinking about more than just your own self interest. You don’t own the road.
June 28th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Remember the Jinker Track at Arana Hills? It used to be Brisbane’s worst road, and upgrading it would result in major loss of local amenity. Well it didn’t, and now is a smooth, useful interurban road. The same will happen to Gap Creek Road, providing the same care and good planning are employed.
Rebuild the road, straighten it up, downgrade the present road to a cycle track, then we can cruise through to the sound of bellbirds, not the sound of wheels in potholes.
March 28th, 2010 at 12:30 am
Hi Guys,
Is there any update on the Gap Creek Road sealing? We are in The Gap. A friend mentioned to me last night that a newest Refidex shows the new roads’ development planed, not just Gap Creek Road… ta