Coordinator-General gives go-ahead for Wooloowin Airport Link shaft

Queensland’s Coordinator-General Colin Jensen has approved the building of a $35 million controversial shaft in Wooloowin to ensure the $5.6 billion Airport Link tunnel is completed on time. Jensen’s decision was in response to a change request to address potential adverse impacts of the Wooloowin tunnel worksite. The decision means that tunnel builder Brisconnections can begin construction of a shaft 15m in diameter and 42m deep on vacant land at the corner of Kent and Rose streets, Wooloowin. (photo of Airport Link Kedron worksite by Derek Barry)

The problem arose when difficult ground conditions around the Kedron underground ramps meant extra work to construct more complex tunnel support. Without the change the Kedron caverns providing for the ramp connections with the mainline tunnels under Wooloowin would not be built in time to receive the Tunnel Boring Machines progressing westwards from Clayfield. Brisconnection’s solution was for a 29-month-long worksite to be built at Rose St complete with a large acoustic workshed, a shaft and access passage and a fitout of the tunnels when they have been constructed.

Brisconnections provided the change request to the Coordinator-General on 17 July which resulted in 163 public submissions. The main issues that arose from the submissions were: the change reason wasn’t abundantly clear, concerns about traffic and transport impacts, concerns about large trucks, environmental and social effects, and decommissioning and rehabilitation.

These concerns were also noted by community action groups. In his response Jensen noted three major potential impacts: construction impacts, spoil haulage (construction traffic), and visual pollution from structures such as the acoustic shed. Jensen recommended the worksite time be minimised, form a community consultation committee, immediate rehabilitation of the site, community development and management plans, a complaints resolution process and half-yearly independent audits.

Brisconnections won the bid to build the controversial tunnel in May 2008. The win also entitles them to operate the tolled tunnel for a 45 year concession period. Brisconnections is a consortium of Macquarie Capital Group, Thiess, and John Holland. The latter two are both being independent subsidiaries of Leighton Holdings Group and are jointly responsible for project design and construction. The Coordinator-General approved the initial project in July 2008. There will be two parallel north-south tunnels linking East-West arterial road at Toombul with the Inner City Bypass at Bowen Hills with an exit at Kedron linking Gympie and Stafford Roads.

In evaluating the justification of the Wooloowin change request, Jensen considered three factors: a) other alternatives, b) cost-benefit analysis and c) management of adverse impacts. Jensen sought advice from independent expert Graeme Peck of GM Peck and Associates. Peck told Jensen that the request was the only “reasonable probability” of ensuring the project met the original completion of June 2012. “This means that the benefits of the project to the Brisbane traffic network and hence the community as a whole will be available when expected," Peck said. Jensen noted that all other alternatives would have delayed the project by eight months.

According to Jensen there were “no better feasible alternative(s)”. On the second point he noted the benefits of congestion improvement, employment opportunities and community benefit versus the impact of delay to the project if the change request did not go ahead. He said it was “reasonable to assume” that the benefit would outweigh the $35m estimated cost. He then addressed the mitigation concerns acknowledging there would be negative impact as a result of the new worksite.

Jensen said that local business ambience and customer comfort would suffer due to increased dust, noise and vibration. He recommended a one-way construction traffic route to minimize spoils and haulage impacts and vehicle monitoring to ensure the route was being followed. He also banned haulage vehicle queuing near “sensitive” places including residences. All site workers would arrive via shuttle buses from the existing Kedron worksite. Jensen also placed conditions on the acoustic barrier for noise mitigation and all generators and associated equipment must be enclosed. The report also made recommendations in the area of dust, air quality, groundwater, contaminated lands, and flora and fauna.

A local residents' action group was disappointed with Jensen’s findings. Kalinga Wooloowin Residents Group response coordinator Brian Nally said the work site will destroy their community and force them to endure constant noise, dust and traffic from the shaft's construction. "They are claiming that they are doing this to stop the negative effects on the community at Kedron and Toombul,” he said. “We have shown that there are bigger effects on the communities of Kalinga and Wooloowin with this site." However Infrastructure Minister Stirling Hinchliffe welcomed the findings. "While I understand some sections of the community may not welcome the Coordinator-General's decision - I believe it's necessary to ensure the project is delivered on time,” he said. “[It] will mitigate prolonged impacts for the wider community."

Brisbane commits itself to the 20th century: Newman approves another tunnel

Brisbane Mayor Campbell Newman announced the building of a third tunnel today linking the Western Freeway and the Inner City By-Pass to be built entirely with council funds. Newman said Brisbane City Council had approved funding from the Queensland Government with excavation to begin by the end of next year. He says the 4.7km tunnel will be built by 2014 and will go ahead without a private partner (unlike the North-South & Airport Link tunnels it follows). The project will cost $1.7 billion at current estimates. The Rudd Government will fund half a billion of that as an election promise and Newman believes he may squeeze another $300m out of them. That still leaves a billion dollars to be funded by Brisbane ratepayers.

Newman claims the tunnel had a “compelling case” to solve the traffic problems of getting from the west of Brisbane to the north. The council says South-East Queensland’s rapid population growth and development is placing significant pressure on roads, leading to congestion, delays, increased accident rates and reduced urban amenity. It believes efficient movement of people and goods is important for maintaining quality of life and economic sustainability and Northern Link will help free up the congested arterial road network from “unnecessary cross-city traffic”.

But is this investment the best use of a billion dollars of council money? Will the rising price of oil eventually leave these tunnels as expensive white elephants? And should Brisbane be promoting transport solutions that favour private motor vehicles in an era when we are supposed to be moving towards a carbon neutral society? Why indeed are federal governments underwriting this behaviour?

The contradictions of Brisbane Council’s actions are obvious in their own Annual Report. This document lauds its own commitment to buy 100 percent “green power” while elsewhere on the same page it boasts about spending billions on road tunnels and the Hale St Bridge. The assumption is that these developments are good for Brisbane so there is little concern for what is lost or what it costs. Newman riffs off his "Cando" nickname and those that are against the plan are pilloried as standing in the way of progress.

But protest groups do exist. The likes of Communities Against the Tunnels and Stop the Hale Street Bridge Alliance lament the council’s shortsightedness on environmental grounds. They say future historians will judge the “Clem7” North South Bypass Tunnel which opens next year as Brisbane’s biggest mistake since Clem Jones removed the trams (so perhaps ironically appropriate the tunnel is named for Jones). There are also single-issue groups such as the Toowong Tunnels Solutions Group which focuses specifically on the number of off-ramps on the Northern Link.

Thi follows the public submissions to the Northern Link most of which which were opposed to tunnel exits in Toowong and Kelvin Grove. People objected on several grounds such as increased local traffic, noise and air quality issues, pedestrian and cyclist concerns, loss of social connectivity and amenity and impacts associated with construction. Mayor Newman has assured them there will be no intermediate exit points which may close down opposition – and make the tunnel cheaper.

But there is very little scrutiny about the overall wisdom of Newman’s ambitious multi-billion five tunnel strategy. The media seem more content about beating up traffic jams than questioning whether there is a better way of solving the problems. Politically, it is the continuation of a Queensland tradition of untrammelled development with very little consideration for the long-term. For the last 50 years transport policies in this state have focussed on the public funding of large scale roadways. One of the few voices to question this approach is Chris Butler in his law journal paper “Slicing through space”. He says government departments attempt to impose large scale technological solutions for transport problems without regard for their wider impacts on urban life. Butler calls it “brutal modernism”.

But the peak hour problems that Newman is supposedly trying to solve are not caused by insufficient road capacity. It is because of the immense dislocation between where people live and work. Increasingly people are moving to new housing estates far from the city and far from public transport. Governments eagerly help the movement of people to these remote but cheap areas with the aid of generous home ownership grants. But when they move into their new homes, they find the roads are the only way of getting about. They then become part of the problem, which as Chris Butler says, is a structurally dependence of Australian society on the car. This is the real problem that we need to solve – and Cando's tunnels will be of no help.