Legacy Way and TransApex projects cut travel times: Brisbane City Council
Motorists are enjoying faster travel times since the opening of Legacy Way with travel times reductions of up to 31 per cent on Milton Road and almost 70 per cent for vehicles using the new tunnel since it opened in late June, according to Brisbane City Council.
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the 4.6-kilometre tunnel that connects the Western Freeway with the Inner City Bypass was following in the footsteps of its TransApex siblings that were continuing to deliver travel times savings across the city to reduce congestion.
Cr Quirk said travel times on many alternate surface roads were often faster now than before the key upgrades.
“There is no denying the delivery of key infrastructure such as the Clem7, Go Between Bridge, Airport Link and now Legacy Way is helping to improve travel times for motorists,” he said.
“These pieces of infrastructure are an integral part of solving our city’s traffic pressures and our latest traffic data shows that travel times can improve by up to 80 per cent in comparison to their surface road alternatives.
“With Legacy Way now open, in addition to the other TransApex roads, more than 120,000 vehicle movements have been removed from Brisbane’s surface roads each day which is delivering consistent and reliable time savings for motorists right across Brisbane.”
Cr Quirk said motorists using Milton Road were experiencing travel time savings of around 40 per cent in both the morning and evening peak periods.
“Legacy Way has reduced travel times between the Western Freeway and the Inner City Bypass by 10-12 minutes, saving about two-thirds of the previous travel time,” he said.
“On the surface, there are 6,700 less motorists using Milton road which has seen travel times drop by 31 per cent in the morning peak and 12 per cent in the afternoon peak.
“Traffic congestion in Brisbane costs business and resident’s time and money, equating to around $1.3 billion per year, and without the right level of investment in our transport system, this could rise to $3 billion by 2020.”
Cr Quirk said as more people became aware of the travel times savings being achieved in Legacy Way, he expected patronage to increase.
“Clem7, Airport Link, Go Between Bridge and now Legacy Way are reducing congestion pressures on our road network as we manage the increasing population growth of our region,” he said.
“Motorists using the Clem7 are cutting travel times by more than 60 per cent and saving more than ten minutes off the trip in the morning and evening peaks while those using the Go Between Bridge can save more than 70 per cent and AirportLink motorists care saving more than 40 per cent.”
Source: News Release, Urbanalyst, 19 October, 2015, http://www.urbanalyst.com/in-the-news/queensland/3664-legacy-way-and-transapex-projects-cut-travel-times-brisbane-city-council.html