A TRANSPORT lobby group has labelled stage one plans for the Eastern Transitway a major disappointment, saying the proposed upgrades were a token gesture ahead of the election.
The transitway will extend from Coorparoo to Carindale once completed but the new bus lanes to be installed during the initial phase will cover one intersection on Old Cleveland Road and stretch a short distance between Carindale Street and Narracott Street.
Rail Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow said progress on the bus transitway had been agonisingly slow and commuters had been let down by both sides of government.
But Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the plan would give buses travelling along Old Cleveland Road priority and improve travel times for up to 8000 customers during peak periods.
Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson said the plans had failed to meet promises made during the 2017 election, when Labor proposed spending $22 million to add bus lanes to five intersections along the transitway.
"This critical congestion busting project was supposed to be finished by the end of this month, but clearly this announcement is an admission of Labor's failure to deliver," he said.
"It's now three years late and all of a sudden it has become a priority ... "
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the project design had to be signed-off on before work could begin as Old Cleveland Road was under Brisbane City Council jurisdiction.
He said TMR had received the green light earlier this year and stage one was due to be completed in 2021.
Improvements at four more intersections would be made during future stages.
"After consultation earlier this year, we expanded the original scope and funding for the project to include additional roadworks ... as well as much-needed local active transport improvements that will deliver dedicated bike lanes along sections either side of Old Cleveland Road."
Stage one comes about nine years after the last Eastern Busway upgrade was completed under the Bligh government, who spent $465 million to build stations at Langlands Park and Stones Corner and a corridor from Buranda to Coorparoo.
Mr Robisnon said the transitway project had been stuck in the slow lane and the LNP would get it moving again.
But Mr Bailey fired back, saying the LNP had cut $600 million from transport infrastructure and sacked more than 700 road builders while in power.
"We've restored those cuts and overseen a massive investment in road upgrades, as well as major public transport projects," he said.
Mr Dow said the eastern suburbs, including the Redlands, were a long way down the pecking order when it came to public transport investment.
"It has taken so long to get so little," he said.
"All they are doing is painting a few bus lines on the existing shoulder for a short distance around the Creek Road intersection, which is nothing.
"What they really need to do is push on and get it done so that the Redlands do have some public transport improvements.
" ... We are supportive but we are also disappointed because there is not a lot (being done) and it has taken us this long to get this little bit."
Mr Bailey said $30 million would be spent on the project in all, with work to begin later this year.
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