TRAFFICK BLOCK: Jamboree Councillor Mattew Bourke
with local resident Walter Wood.
POLITICIANS in the Centenary Suburbs might come from different sides of the political field, but they definitely agree on one thing.
Something needs to be done to tackle congestion on the Centenary Motorway in the Jindalee area.
Jamboree Councillor Matthew Bourke last week called on the State Government to fast track the upgrade of the Centenary Highway at Jindalee.
In a win for everyone, on the same day, State Member for Mt Ommaney Julie Attwood, announced she was launching a petition to upgrade the Centenary Motorway in line with the proposed Northern Link Tunnel.
Cr Bourke said people continuously came into his office and complained about the motorway.
"There's 120,000 people moving out to Ripley Valley and the Centenary Motorway will be their main link," he said.
"The Jindalee over-ramp and Sumners Road are a nightmare already.
"It's a car park on the local roads outside my office in the mornings too."
Cr Bourke said Brisbane City Council was doing its bit by building the northern link tunnel to fix the congestion at Toowong, and the Federal Government had upgraded the Centenary and Ipswich Motorway interchange.
"It's time to fix the middle bit," he said.
Ms Atwood said she had spoken to a number of residents over the past few weeks in relation to local hotspots at Jindalee and Sumners Road at the on-ramps.
"People are rat-running through the suburbs to get into a better position on the motorway," she said.
"At the last sittings of Parliament I spoke to the Minister for Main Roads, Craig Wallace, and he advised that he would thoroughly investigate those issues," she said.
"His department is looking at an improved strategy to manage congestion on the Western Freeway."
Ms Attwood said she had organised a further meeting with Mr Wallace to follow-up on these issues.
Local resident Walter Wood is so frustrated about the state of the motorway he has started a petition to get the work done.
"I moved here in 1973 and I've seen it get worse," he said.
"I work locally and I get comments from my customers all of the time about blockages.
"It takes me 15 minutes just to get from Riverhills to Sumners Road in peak hour."
If you would like to sign the petition you can do so at Cr Matthew Bourke's office or there is another petition at State Member for Mt Ommaney Julie Attwood's office.
