Every Noosa survey tells us that road congestion is one of our most pressing and annoying issues, and every so often an event comes along to turbo-charge the problem.
The last such event was Covid. It flipped the switch on ‘high value’ overseas tourists coming here, and Tourism Noosa reacted by pivoting its advertising to the local drive market and its inevitable congestion.
Another singular congestion event is on the way and, once again Noosa is not ready for it.
Traffic pressures on Noosa Shire – and particularly its Southern gateway of Peregian Beach – will increase significantly if the expansion of the Sunshine Coast Airport proceeds as planned.
Consultation on the Proposed Development Scheme (PDS) for the Sunshine Coast Airport Priority Development Area (PDA) has now concluded and attracted criticism from local community groups including the Peregian Beach Community Association.
The development scheme for the area became the responsibility of Economic Development Queensland after the Sunshine Coast Council successfully sought to have the airport declared a priority development area (PDA) in July 2023.
Development in the PDA is designed to provide a streamlined planning framework that accommodates the future needs of the airport. It greases the wheels of rapid airport development.
The proposed development application (PDA) provides for significant mixed-use developments of up to 10 storeys. Land uses include retail, a service station, a car wash, a child-care centre, commercial office space, short term accommodation (an airport hotel and a tourist hotel with a combined 600 rooms), a medical centre, an indoor recreation, and an educational facility.
PBCA President, Barry Cotterell has expressed concern that the scale of the proposed development raises serious concerns about traffic flows and management, and will add further congestion pressures on our Shire just to the North.
According to the traffic assessments in the Proposed Development Scheme, David Low Way is approaching 20,000 vehicles per day at Airport Drive and 16,000 vehicles per day through Marcoola.
As a result of the proposed development, traffic volumes along David Low Way are expected to increase by up to 26% to and from access north of the Airport precinct and up to 51% on David Low Way north of the airport on weekday mornings northbound.
Let’s take that in. David Low Way is already at what traffic engineers call a BUSY ‘degree of saturation’ of 70 to 90 percent of capacity, verging on CONGESTED (90% to 95%) Add over 50% more traffic to this troubling equation on weekdays, and you can see why we should be concerned.
In its response, the Organisation of Sunshine Coast Association of Residents (OSCAR) pointed out that in the proposed development scheme assumptions are being made about the timing of any duplication of the Sunshine Coast Motorway from Pacific Paradise to the Coolum-Yandina roundabout.
The planned duplication of the Sunshine Coast Motorway to the Coolum-Yandina roundabout appears to have been put back a couple of years (or perhaps indefinitely) and there is little evidence of other essential infrastructure preceding growth pressures. This route, laughingly called a ‘motorway’ is already jammed at snail’s pace for much of the week.
David Low Way is the alternative route for traffic north and south when there is an accident on this section of the motorway which requires either closing the motorway or reducing traffic to just one lane. Recently, this section of the motorway was closed for several hours, following an accident, and one resident reported it took an hour and a half to travel from Pacific Paradise to Marcoola, a distance of approximately two kilometres.
The flow on effect north of the airport will be considerable and could only be accommodated by a massive expansion along David Low Way. The alternative is to scale back the level of development at the airport to reduce traffic impacts to more manageable levels.
The current road system is under stress even without allowing for any airport expansion to occur.
The airport is also identified in the SEQ Regional Plan as major enabling infrastructure to support the northern gateway regional economic cluster and contributes to the continued economic growth of the Sunshine Coast. Unfortunately, the Shaping SEQ 2023 Update provided little by way of infrastructure initiatives – including transport infrastructure – to accommodate development proposals such as the airport expansion.
The development plans for the airport only add further pressure on Noosa’s already overstretched traffic network with no solutions in sight for the foreseeable future.
As the PBCA noted in its submission, there was little in the Shaping SEQ 2023 Update that commits to improved infrastructure at the northern end of the Sunshine Coast to meet the transport needs of thousands more residents in the next few years.
While provision is being made for future high frequency public transport services between the airport and key destinations to the south (Caloundra, Maroochydore and Beerwah) no such provision has been made to service communities to the north.
The PBCA has asked whether Noosa Council made a submission on the proposed airport development during the recent consultation phase and has requested that any submission be released to the public.
The PBCA has, over the years, and in a number of submissions, raised concerns about the impact of population growth on Noosa’s infrastructure and the capacity of the road system to manage growth.
The proposed Destination Management Plan and Traffic Management Plan will have their work cut out to address these increased pressures on Noosa’s traffic woes and the Shire’s liveability.
The centrepiece of the Destination Management Plan must surely be how Noosa will manage the potential increase in traffic numbers as the inevitable outcome of development initiatives “south of the border” and the resultant increase in visitation and population growth.
With residents regularly rating transport as their number one issue, council will need to elevate transport as a key priority for the rest of this council term and beyond.
We need to act before the “David Low carpark” becomes a reality, not a joke.
