Construction of Stage 1 of the long-awaited Eastern Transitway is expected to commence in late August 2020.

This comes after 3 years after the Labor state government promised the project would be ‘fast tracked’ in 2017.

Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR) claim upgrading the Eastern Transitway corridor will:

• provide a faster, safer, more reliable and accessible public transport corridor for bus services during peak periods each weekday

• separate buses from general traffic, bus travel times will be reduced during peak periods

• support existing high frequency bus services, encouraging more people to use public transport and allowing for greater public transport capacity in the future

• benefit bike riders and pedestrians through associated upgrades to the active transport connectivity

Stage 1 of the Transitway runs along Old Cleveland Road from Narracott Street to Carindale Street, Carindale.

The upgrade includes major intersection improvements at Creek Rd / Old Cleveland Rd.

It actually delivers some significant improvements to Active Transport through the provision of dedicated shared paths, which were not included in the initial draft designs.

For example, it’s now possible to cycle directly from the Bulimba Creek Bikeway to Chris’ IGA at Carina without going on-road, which would have been impossible previously. That’s a great improvement and something I am grateful for.

There’s also some significant improvements to the Old Cleveland Road / Creek Road intersection, including pedestrian access to the traffic islands now having signalised crossings.

While I am pleased that this means better off-road cycling infrastructure and dedicated bus lanes along this strip of road, I can’t help but be disappointed with this offering from the State Government in comparison to their original plans - the Eastern Busway.

The Eastern Busway would have enabled tens of thousands of residents living along Old Cleveland Road and surrounds to gain access to fast, reliable and affordable public transport.

It was to be a dedicated busway - completely separate from general traffic.

Most notably, it was to include significant upgrades to the major bus stops along the corridor, including Westfield Carindale.

Sadly, the Eastern Busway was slowly but surely stripped out of State Government forward plans, then defunded until it didn't exist anymore.

It remains the only viable long term solution to traffic congestion along the Old Cleveland Road Corridor.

I’ve previously written about this forgotten project here.

In DTMR’s own words from their recently distributed Eastern Transitway flyer, June 2020:

“There is currently no funding for the design or construction of the Eastern Busway”

After TMR briefed me on Friday last week about the commencement of this work, they also advised community consultation will be conducted between 29 June 2020 and 12 July 2020 – that’s only 2 weeks!

I strongly encourage you to provide feedback to the State Government on the project: