Text Box: Preserved Moggill Pocket Arterial Route Text Box: Consider: the broader regional context within which a Kenmore Bypass proposal should have been evaluated (see Considering the 'Lemon' of Queensland's Transport Planning) and the apparent inconsistency of both the Kenmore Bypass proposal (and rest of the Moggill Pocket Arterial) with the new philosophy embodied in the Western Brisbane Transport Network Strategy (WBTNS) - which involves a long term aim of reducing, rather than merely coping with, traffic; the lack of any reference to the results of traffic studies in the Kenmore Bypass Planning Study - studies that would hopefully indicate the impact on traffic congestion in Brisbane's western  suburbs in the medium term; the (passing but unexplored) reference by both the KBPS and the WBTNS to the adverse effect of a Kenmore Bypass / Moggill Pocket Arterial on the Centenary Highway; the effect of diverting umpteen thousands of vehicles per day from Moggill Road onto the Centenary Highway. The latter already tends to be congested at peak hour, and is likely to be subjected for some years to increasing through traffic because major urban growth zones under the SE Queensland regional plan are located at its outer end; the complex causes of traffic congestion (eg imbalance between demand and capacity; disruptive events triggering 'butterfly wings' effects on near-capacity roads). Of particular significant in this case is the congestion that can occur for several km before the point where the number of lanes on a heavily trafficked road is reduced (eg where 3 lanes merge into two, or two major roads merge without adequate provision of extra lanes); the fact that most traffic on Moggill Road does not currently seem to divert onto the Western Freeway / Centenary Highway (writer's observation). This implies that a great deal of any traffic using a Kenmore Bypass would only be on the Centenary Highway for a short distance. However while doing so (as illustrated by the diagram above) it would generate substantial congestion on Moggill Road and the Centenary Highway (and the latter would presumably back up into the Bypass itself); in particular the fact that a great deal of inbound traffic using a Kenmore Bypass during the morning peak would probably need to return to Moggill Road implies that congestion even on Moggill Road might  not be significantly reduced; the uncertain (but perhaps limited) prospects that congestion on the Western Freeway will be reduced by construction of the proposed Northern Link Tunnel from Toowong to the Inner City Bypass. Interstate experience is that traffic estimates for tollways tend to be too high, and paying a $4-5 toll to get to congested the Inner City Bypass may not appeal to inbound morning peak traffic. Moreover the feasibility of upgrading the Centenary Highway / Western Freeway to the 8 lanes that would be needed to cope with urban growth in Brisbane's SW corridor and the possible 2-3 freeway tunnels envisaged to continue that route north, north-east and east from Toowong is anything but assured. The overall conclusion implied by the above brief assessment is that, to reduce traffic congestion in the Western suburbs, every attempt should probably be made to upgrade Moggill Road to cope with the (traffic and public / active transport) demands placed on it while maintaining its integrity as a major route which is separate from the Centenary Highway / Western Freeway. It is alarming that regional traffic studies do not seem to have been an early stage of the KPBS. Investing heavily in engineering and environmental studies in the absence of such traffic studies (as the KPBS has apparently done) seems extremely foolish. [PS. It was noted subsequently, on 12/11/09, that Main Roads staff seemed to be conducting a traffic study on Moggill Road near the Centenary Highway exit].               Text Box: Western Freeway to Toowong. Tunnel to ICB from Toowong may not significantly reduce freeway congestion - given: (a) rapidly rising traffic volumes; and (b) congestion on ICB at north end of tunnel Text Box: Junction with Freeways where (say) 70-80% of Moggill Road traffic now continues along Moggill Road Text Box: with extra lanes along Centenary Highway only as far as Fig Tree Pocket Road Text Box: Possible Kenmore Bypass - diverting Moggill Road traffic onto the Centenary Highway Text Box: Moggill Road through Kenmore

 

 

Text Box: Congestion Issues Text Box: Current morning peak congestion on Moggill Road, due to problems east of intersection with Freeway. Thus, if most Moggill Road traffic rejoins Moggill Road after bypass to get to preferred destination, Moggill Road would still be congested during morning peak