UPGRADES to state owned roads in the Redlands have not been mentioned in the recently released South East Queensland Regional Plan.
ShapingSEQ – the blueprint for development in south-east Queensland for the next 25 years – mentions road corridors in other parts of the region, but not state roads that lead into and out of, or through, the Redlands.
Instead, the regional plan prioritises public transport and promotes walking and cycling across south-east Queensland.
Redlands MP Matt McEachan said the regional plan’s failure to mention Redland roads was confirmation of Labor ignoring the Redlands.
“Labor still refuses to fund the most pressing of our infrastructure needs,” he said.
However, Capalaba MP Don Brown said a regional plan did not normally go into detail about road upgrades.
He said other roads mentioned in the plan were freight corridors, and there were none in Redlands.
He said the state government was focused on providing better public transport, but would be consulting with councils and the Transport and Main Roads Department to develop a regional transport plan that would feed into ShapingSEQ.
“The RTP will identify shared priorities for future transport, land-use planning and investment over the next 15 years and will be used to effectively target planning and investment in integrated transport and land use outcomes,” he said.
Mr Brown said consultation on the draft RTP was expected to occur late this year.
Redland mayor Karen Williams said the omission of state road upgrades in the city was disappointing.
“These roads are consistently congested and I will continue to push for them to be upgraded,” she said.
The document states previous regional plans sought to reduce car dependency in south-east Queensland, but this had not happened because of a business-as-usual approach.
“ShapingSEQ identifies the need to change our transport priorities to achieve a more sustainable, healthier and fairer transport system, and so prioritises public and active transport,” the plan states.
The plan prioritises Cross River Rail and the Eastern Busway from Brisbane to Capalaba.
Mr Brown said the Cross River Rail project needed to happen before the duplication of the Cleveland rail line.
The plan states high-frequency rail public transport services to Cleveland were not warranted, but would be investigated if sufficient residential density is achieved.
The plan forecasts the population in Redlands will increase by 36,000 in 25 years, with 17,200 dwellings needed.