A Sunshine Coast urban design firm says a town’s main street needs a makeover, to improve accessibility and appeal.
Placemaking consultants POMO issued a statement iterating that Buderim’s Burnett Street is overwhelmed as a thoroughfare and social and commercial centre.
“When a main street is forced to behave like a road, the village around it loses,” the company said.
“At peak times, school-hour congestion can lock the centre up, and drivers looking for a way around it push into surrounding streets.
“For pedestrians, the issue isn’t just inconvenience, it’s safety. Burnett Street lacks enough safe crossing points, particularly near key community spaces.”
A Department of Transport and Main Roads spokesperson told Sunshine Coast News there were safety measures for pedestrians.
“Signalised pedestrian crossings are located on two key sections of Burnett Steet,” they said.
“These operate in conjunction with zebra crossings on nearby sides streets to support safe pedestrian movement.”
TMR stated that streetscaping and renewal projects are typically local government projects.
Sunshine Coast Council stated that there are no plans for streetscape works, along Burnett Street, in the council’s current schedule of budgeted projects.
The street is used by about 14,400 vehicles per day when data was last collected in 2024, which was a 7.2 per cent increase from 2020.
POMO stated that investment in the town was needed for more than managing traffic.
“It’s about Buderim’s identity. Buderim has long been known as a destination: a village people choose to visit, stroll, meet friends and spend time.
“That status has been in steady decline. You can see it in the way Burnett Street is increasingly dominated by ‘necessary’ businesses: medical, finance and essentials – the places you go because you have to, not because you want to linger.
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“Those services are vital, but when they become the dominant mix, it signals discretionary retail trade is weakening and the main street is losing its pull.”
POMO director Stephen Burton said it was a “problem” in many towns across the country.
“When a main street stops providing a compelling reason to come and stay, local spending leaks away,” he said.
“People still come for appointments and errands, but they don’t browse, they don’t dine, they don’t bring visitors, and they don’t spend any more money or time than they have to. The street becomes transactional.
“Over time, that drives empty shops, the after dark economy disappears, safety issues arise and confidence really plummets.”
The media release stated that “Burnett Street is Buderim’s front door”.
“Buderim is a community that values quality, amenity and ease of movement. For many residents, shade, safety, walkability and safe crossings aren’t ‘nice-to-haves’, they’re deciding factors in whether people participate in village life at all.”
POMO is calling for: more frequent, safer pedestrian crossings and slower, more predictable movement through the village centre; shade, seating and pedestrian-friendly streetscape improvements that make it easy to stay longer; and a staged renewal plan that includes clear, funded program for the street that strengthens Buderim’s role as a destination and local economic hub.
