Comments on: Upgrading of Gap Creek Road

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:51:01 +0000

I am pleased to see Gap Creek road sealed so other cars buses and trucks goto and from Kenmore to the Gap. I have herd that years ago bcc buses have driven on Gap Creek Road when it was a dirt road i haven’t seen it happen when i drove on the road.

By: Shaun

Shaun — Fri, 07 May 2010 00:00:30 +0000

My question would be what made it alright for a road that you drive on (chose any you use to get to a destination of your choosing) to be built. In the process of this building habitat was destroyed and trees felled. Your very presence on the earth means you have displace “nature”. I by no means advocate total obliteration of nature and resources lets not be naive. There is still plenty of forest/reserve left after they have place a road through the creek.

By: Bec

Bec — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:49:58 +0000

Scott, I saw that too and thought it really was a bit of overkill. However, people live all along that road- it can’t be closed, what about them? They’d never make it out of their driveways. I do disagree with any suggestion that it will create more traffic, I just think the people who travelled it before won’t be going at 10km/h now, they’ll be going at 50.

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 01:02:18 +0000

Well as somebody who lives at the brookfield end of GCR I am overwhelmingly appalled, angered and disgusted at the degredation that is taking place to “make Gap Creek Road Safer” for motorists. Over 40 large trees deemed too close to the road are being removed, many over 200 years old. The simple sealing of this soon to be thoroughfare is but a small step in the de-greening of the western suburbs. The rest of the road now needs to be made safe, and of course that means the destruction of habitat, the widening of roads, the installation of traffic calming which only means cars are repeatedly slowing down and accelerating again and again creating more noise and carbon pollution - it keeps on going. Just close it altogether.

By: Marguerite

Marguerite — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:45:48 +0000

Lawrence wrote “The only animals I have seen in the last few years are foxes, snakes and birds.” This is written by someone using Gap Creek Rd as a “throughfare for 30 years”. I live in Gap Creek Rd for under 4 years and have seen large species of lizards (2 huge different types), water dragons (lizards), numerous varieties of snakes, wallabies (coming up to the house), possums, wild bush turkeys, frogs, other native mammals that I haven’t identified (some I saw as road kills but couldn’t stop because of the danger of traffic coming up behind), many types of birds etc. I’m sure there are many animals I have not seen because I haven’t knowingly gone looking for them. Gap Creek Rd passes through an environmentally important area of Brisbane and it is unbelievable to see the holocaust being inflicted on the bushland here near the roadway in the name of the almighty reverence to the car. People living in this area are caring towards the wildlife and bushland and some people are participating in schemes to protect vegetation (Land for wildlife). Lets not give up too easily on our beautiful area, what is done by the Bligh Government can always be modified or changed later if it cannot be stopped now.

By: Marguerite

Marguerite — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:07:25 +0000

Have you seen how they are butchering the trees around Kookaburra St? I wonder if anyone ever realised how awful this “upgrade” was going to be. This is turning a road frequented by wildlife into a heat sink and a thoroughfare that will bring increased traffic and perhaps vandalism too. Time to take some photos of this devastation and put it up on the net. It’s nothing new to see such poor decisions by the Bligh Government. God help the wildlife that already had problems crossing here and poor us (local residents) who already get tailgated by impatient tradies and others along here.

By: james

james — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:29:08 +0000

the only reason people see this raod as dangerous is because they are horrendous drivers. i drive along the road every day to get to work and see no problems whatsoever with how it is at the moment. people need to learn how to drive and get over it!!! if they practised driving on unsealed raods im sure many people would be able to safely negotiate this road

By: M North BSc. BEd.

M North BSc. BEd. — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:14:50 +0000

There are several possible solutions as to what will become of the Gap-Creek road. In the meantime greater care should be taken while traversing this notoriously dangerous road. Cars, trucks and 4WDs are often using use this thoroughfare as their personal rally track. This will eventuate in more tragedy if drivers persist in continuing to cut corners, pass on the gravelled hilltops and fail to give way at the single lane bridge. It is time for drivers to wakeup to the fact there is a large amount of traffic flowing across this thoroughfare and no one driver owns the road.

By: Philip Machanick

Philip Machanick — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:12:22 +0000

It seems to me that the balanced solution is to seal the road, but adopt whatever measures will ensure it remains a low-speed forest road. The demand for roads in a growing city can be contained by providing public transport, and putting facilities and services closer to where people live. That doesn’t address all needs but reduces traffic for those who still need to drive.

By: Michael Caley

Michael Caley — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:00:37 +0000

Dear Tony,

The Association must present and campaign for a design solution it is happy with,or else traffic will be allowed to grow gradually but steadily, without any real design decision being made (and without anyone being clearly responsible for the eventual large traffic outcome). This is already occuring slowly but surely as the quality of the earth road repairs gradually improves over the years. The dips are being filled, the steep gradients are now less steep and shorter. The acceptability to the average road user is becomming better. Peoples NAVMANS and GOOGLE MAPS routefinder now directs people along Gap Creek Road. I first rode Gap Creek Road on a bicycle about 20 years ago. Quite an experience. I have commuted this route for the last 4 years. I look at the corridor width on Dillon Road, Payne Road and Illowra Street with trepidation. There is width allowed for a 4 lane road here. It will happen unless firm decisions are made otherwise. Many many years ago I prepared a Traffic Noise Assessment for for a subdivision on Dillon Road (I am an acoustic engineer). I wonder what the Ultimate Traffic Volumes are that Council now advises for Dillon Road? For less than $200 you can purchase this data from BCC City Design. The form you need is “Request for Ultimate Traffic Projection City Design”

What about design solutions?
In this day and age technology is relatively cheap. It would actually cost very little in policing if, for example, Gap Creek Road had a signposted limit of 40 km/hr (or 30 or 50 or whatever), and with 10 permanent speed cameras dotted along the route. This is simple cost-effective stuff. At the right speed limit, people will decide to go east of Mt Cootha. The magic of this solution is that once the new speed limit is official, NAVMAN and GOOGLE MAPS will actually take note of the new speed limit and stop directing people this way.

Cheers for now.

Michael Caley
BEng(Mech) MIEAust MAAS RPEQ