Bear necessities: Second M1’s $355 million price tag to protect local wildlife
The Palaszczuk Government plans to spend a whopping $355 million on protecting local wildlife as part of building the $2.16 billion Coomera Connector alternative route between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
An artist's impression of the second M1 crossing the Coomera River. (Image TMR)
The budget includes $74.4 million on “lengthening, raising and modification” of bridges and other structures to ensure local wildlife is able to get across the road corridor.
The department has admitted building the road – dubbed the “second M1” – will have a “significant” impact on local koala and grey-headed flying fox populations as it will involve clearing nearly 70 hectares of their habitat.
Details of the hefty price tag are contained in the public environmental report on Stage 1 of the Coomera Connector, a 16 km four lane motorway that will run between Coomera and the Nerang-Broadbeach Rd.
The long-awaited road – jointly funded by the federal and state governments – is set to ease the chronic congestion on the M1, currently the only major road between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. To be built in three sections, Stage 1 of the project is set to begin later this year.
A map showing the route for the Coomera Connector, dubbed the second M1. (Image: TMR)
It is set to be the biggest upgrade of road transport links between Brisbane and the Gold Coast in more than 20 years.
The department says that without a second M1, the existing motorway will have to carry 246,000 vehicles a day by 2041, a figure about 87,000 vehicles more than its capacity.
The cost of the resultant congestion would top $3 billion a year, a more than seven-fold increase on what it was in 2016.
However, the public environment report on the project says it was have potential direct impact on a range of natural assets, including koala and grey-headed flying foxes.
“However, the potential for environmental and social disturbance due to the construction and operation (of the road) has to be balanced against the long-term benefits of the proposed action,” the department says.
It says if the road was not built, “the principle of intergenerational equity may be compromised, as future generations would experience the increased environmental and safety impacts associated with significant increasing congestion on the M1”.
In order to satisfy environmental concerns, the department says it will spend a total of $355 million on “avoidance, mitigation and offset measures”.
This would include more than $95 million alone on planning, monitoring and auditing of issues like water quality, noise and erosion and sediment control.
“Where additional funds are required above that proposed…TMR will seek permissions for these funds from the Queensland Government,” the department says in the report.
