A road user has called for the completion of a missing road link to release morning and afternoon gridlock in a busy traffic bottleneck.
The lower section of Windsor Road, Burnside, is home to a TAFE college, primary school, high school, special school, retirement village and industrial area.
But the only way in and out of it, apart from a run along Blaxland Street and Carter Road, is through a roundabout at the junction with Perwillowen Road, which also carries traffic to and from another school.
The upper section of Windsor Road joins Nambour-Mapleton Road but the only connection between that and the lower part of the road is a rough track not open to vehicles.
Col Molloy, who has worked in the area for 25 years, said the morning and afternoon school-time congestion on Windsor Road could be relieved if the missing link was completed.
“The road goes up and suddenly disappears and then starts again,” he said.
“Surely, it wouldn’t take much to open it. Maybe they don’t want to upset the people who live along it.”
Mr Molloy said the bottom of Windsor Road was “a car park” morning and afternoon around school time, when the Windsor Road traffic ground to a halt trying to combine with traffic generated by St John’s College along Perwillowen Road.
He said it could sometimes take 10 minutes to shuffle 200m along the road and half an hour to move 2.2km between the TAFE and the KFC on the corner of Arundell Avenue and Lamington Terrace.
“We had a teacher leave at 2.30pm the other day and he was back 10 minutes later and said he couldn’t get out the driveway because there were 15 cars queued up to get out on to Windsor Road,” he said.
Mr Molloy said completion of the missing part of Windsor Road would not only alleviate congestion there but could also take some traffic out of the middle of Nambour.
Councillor David Law said the missing link on Windsor Road had been raised with him by people in the area when he was elected to council in 2020.
Cr Law learned there were plans for the road to be connected “at some point beyond 2036” and he advocated to bring that forward so that it was now due by 2030.
“It’s moved into the current 10-year plan but at least it’s in the current 10-year plan rather than the next 10-year plan,” he said.
Cr Law said peak periods on Windsor Road were “very challenging” and he would continue advocating for the road to be connected.
“It’s very obvious and it would help (relieve congestion) and I will keep doing everything I can to keep it in the current 10-year plan and get it happening sooner than 2030,” he said.
Former councillor Greg Rogerson said the missing link on Windsor Road had been the top priority for sealing during his time on council, and council officers had budgeted $400,000 to complete the work.
However, upon further examination of the work required, council officers realised the cost would be in the $7 million to $9 million range and the funds were not available at the time, he said.
The aerial imagery in this story is from Australian location intelligence company Nearmap. The company provides government organisations, architectural, construction and engineering firms, and other companies, with easy, instant access to high-resolution aerial imagery, city-scale 3D content, artificial intelligence data sets, and geospatial tools to assist with urban planning, monitoring and development projects in Australia, New Zealand and North America.
