First and foremost, the most poorly designed piece of road infrastructure in the country is hands-down the reverse diamond interchange slightly west of the two roundabouts you're referring to. This pinnacle of QLD Government innovation was touted as the first (and hopefully last) reverse diamond interchange in Australia; which might've worked had they designed it with a couple of overpasses rather than **GOD DAMNED TRAFFIC LIGHTS** on what is one of the biggest gateways to Queensland's third biggest population centre.
As for the roundabouts, yes. There's a big plan underway to remove the Aura / Kawana Way / Caloundra Road intersection. [Details here](https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/projects/caloundra-road-kawana-way-link-road-and-bells-creek-arterial-road-intersection). Last time I saw any plans, stage 1 was to replace the roundabout with a brand new set of traffic lights (because traffic lights are what we need more of on the Coast.)
Lastly, there are plans to reduce congestion at the Caloundra Road/Nicklin Way roundabout near pelican waters; which NIMBYs on third avenue in Caloundra are ropable about. Like the project above, it features a brand new set of traffic lights on a Sunshine Coast motorway. It's still too little too late, and nothing like an actual public transport system that would give Sunny Coast residents any alternative to spending half our life in private vehicles at red lights; but maybe it'll be the pannacea SCRC presents it to be. You might even see it this decade, [details here.](https://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/news/project-footprint-released-for-caloundra-upgrade)
100% correct. That diamond interchange is the biggest embarrassment. What I find amazing is many people would of had to sign that off, including engineers.
As a civil engineer, I can’t help but shake my head every time I use that thing. Usually in traffic engineering there is a “priority” traffic stream the the lights are supposed to be sequenced for. I haven’t found it yet. Every direction is green light into red light. It’s dumb AF. What’s more, the size of the intersection required a lot of clearing on either side, for no benefit.
I can remember Mark Bailey spruiking the diamond interchange as worlds best practice and it would revolutionize traffic management on the Coast. Unfortunately they were too tight to build it properly with flyovers.
Lights could in theory work, if they actually timed them to miss cars. The system they have on some entry ramps where it only lets 2 cars on a time would make it flow much better. Have all 4 go green at once, let 2 cars on per light, go red. Wait a bit then repeat.
Theyve gotta have the switch set to reverse because whenever the lights turn off, cars are already coming right at you so you gotta stop again anyways.
You would be surprised. 2 flyovers back then would have been maybe $15M extra. Possiblymore considering the poor ground conditions. That's a lot of other potential maintenance or upgrades around the state that doesn't happen, so that less than 50% of people using this Interchange save maybe 30 seconds. The traffic at that interchange isn't expected to reach levels that would justify a system interchange until after the highway section to the south is upgraded to 6 lanes.
Absolutely fantastic news - replacing it with more lights is exactly what I had in mind so we can give the big brained boffins more time to get together and develop a longer term solution to be implemented in 2031, all the while jamming as many houses into Baringa and Nirimba
Not NIMBYs, the CTCU plan to put a road through Ben Bennett Bushland (remnant habitat) and Bicentennial Park is a purely political move and will do nothing to reduce congestion at the roundabout. I wish people would think ahead more than a few years at a time… we need public transport and a less car-centric culture. Many people stuck in the roundabout traffic could use active or public transport but culturally it’s not the done thing on the Sunshine Coast. In the face of climate and ecological collapse, the last thing we need is more cars on the road.
> The entire public transport network on the sunshine coast would need to be replaced for people to significantly use less cars
Which is what we should be working towards. Car infrastructure is big and inefficient. Once you get enough people driving, you'll never be able to keep up with congestion. Adding more roads/lanes means everything is spread out further, which means more people *have* to drive, meaning more traffic.
>There would need to be dedicated bus lanes added to all key roads and rail/light rail crisscrossed throughout the region.
The new light/heavy rail might be a good start. But as long as we're still designed things car-first, it's not going to change much, unfortunately.
Blame the NEWMAN State Government for this horrendous Stockland Aura mess. They went over the top of the local government, who fought and blocked that development for years.
Stockland promised to build all the large arterial roads at their cost to sweeten the deal. Sold house blocks for inflated prices, have heaps of people move in, and then have everyone pressure the Government to provide the infrastructure they promised to build! - which is what has happened.
No. One of the worst things to happen to the coast was the amalgamation of the councils. The behemoth that was formed become GC-lite, focused only on building and development. We’re now seeing the issues of the past 10 years come to fruition, and it’s only going to get worse.
There should have been a massive public transit system, car-free zones, and infrastructure put in place before the pre-signed approvals went out. Now it’s too late because the cost and inconvenience to do it would be prohibitive.
They’re building a road that connect the aura area to the highway directly so they all don’t have to come out only Caloundra road anymore - apparently it’s opening soon but it’s one lane each way 🙄 hopefully it makes a difference
When all of the tradies from down south start using it to enter Aura, what do you think will happen to Aura residents attempting to exit Aura via the Caloundra rd roundabout? Those workers are currently turning right into Bells Creek arterial rd from Caloundra rd, providing a gap in the flow of traffic out of Caloundra itself. I predict it's going to be almost impossible to use without lights.
I'd love it if ANYONE in SCRC Urban Planning Dept read this thread & found themselves questioning what they've inflicted on us the past decade & tore up all plans slated for the next ten & started from scratch taking our input to heart.
*BZZT*BZZT*BZZT* >Alarm goes off. I wake up.<
I dont know if we can blame SCC in this case. This is part of the DTMR state-controlled road network and Aura is a product of the State Government (full planning responsibilty for the entire site was with the Urban Land Development Authority).
>Can I ask if 40 minutes is an exaggeration? If so, what time of day does this happen?
10 minutes is common; 20 minutes is not abnormal.
There's a really steady flow of traffic from Caloundra to the Bruce and vice versa; so if you're on the Aura road to Caloundra or Kawana Way to Brisbane at peak time you're in a long queue that rarely gets an opportunity to move.
It doesn't help that sunny coast drivers seem to want a written invitation before they enter a roundabout, and these are single-lane intersections. So it only takes one scared retiree followed by one polite driver who thinks their horn is painted on to cause a 15 minute delay while grandma/grandpa waits for a totally clear roundabout before venturing into the intersection.
Try 8:10am or 5:10pm for best results.
It doesn't help that anyone that wants to go that direction completely blocks the path of everyone wanting to go straight ahead or left making the side in to another lane and getting past you all.
Roy's Road / Bell's Creek Arterial (south) opened about 25 minutes ago.
There are also plans to upgrade the Kawana Way Caloundra Road roundabout.
That specific roubdabout, is pretty much incapable of upgrading due to proximity on all four "corners".
First and foremost, the most poorly designed piece of road infrastructure in the country is hands-down the reverse diamond interchange slightly west of the two roundabouts you're referring to. This pinnacle of QLD Government innovation was touted as the first (and hopefully last) reverse diamond interchange in Australia; which might've worked had they designed it with a couple of overpasses rather than **GOD DAMNED TRAFFIC LIGHTS** on what is one of the biggest gateways to Queensland's third biggest population centre. As for the roundabouts, yes. There's a big plan underway to remove the Aura / Kawana Way / Caloundra Road intersection. [Details here](https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/projects/caloundra-road-kawana-way-link-road-and-bells-creek-arterial-road-intersection). Last time I saw any plans, stage 1 was to replace the roundabout with a brand new set of traffic lights (because traffic lights are what we need more of on the Coast.) Lastly, there are plans to reduce congestion at the Caloundra Road/Nicklin Way roundabout near pelican waters; which NIMBYs on third avenue in Caloundra are ropable about. Like the project above, it features a brand new set of traffic lights on a Sunshine Coast motorway. It's still too little too late, and nothing like an actual public transport system that would give Sunny Coast residents any alternative to spending half our life in private vehicles at red lights; but maybe it'll be the pannacea SCRC presents it to be. You might even see it this decade, [details here.](https://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/news/project-footprint-released-for-caloundra-upgrade)
100% correct. That diamond interchange is the biggest embarrassment. What I find amazing is many people would of had to sign that off, including engineers.
Engineer: Should we time these lights so people can travel through in an efficient manner? Engineer: No.
As a civil engineer, I can’t help but shake my head every time I use that thing. Usually in traffic engineering there is a “priority” traffic stream the the lights are supposed to be sequenced for. I haven’t found it yet. Every direction is green light into red light. It’s dumb AF. What’s more, the size of the intersection required a lot of clearing on either side, for no benefit.
I can remember Mark Bailey spruiking the diamond interchange as worlds best practice and it would revolutionize traffic management on the Coast. Unfortunately they were too tight to build it properly with flyovers.
Honestly can't believe they put lights in. Surely it wouldn't have been too much extra for fly overs
Lights could in theory work, if they actually timed them to miss cars. The system they have on some entry ramps where it only lets 2 cars on a time would make it flow much better. Have all 4 go green at once, let 2 cars on per light, go red. Wait a bit then repeat. Theyve gotta have the switch set to reverse because whenever the lights turn off, cars are already coming right at you so you gotta stop again anyways.
You would be surprised. 2 flyovers back then would have been maybe $15M extra. Possiblymore considering the poor ground conditions. That's a lot of other potential maintenance or upgrades around the state that doesn't happen, so that less than 50% of people using this Interchange save maybe 30 seconds. The traffic at that interchange isn't expected to reach levels that would justify a system interchange until after the highway section to the south is upgraded to 6 lanes.
Absolutely fantastic news - replacing it with more lights is exactly what I had in mind so we can give the big brained boffins more time to get together and develop a longer term solution to be implemented in 2031, all the while jamming as many houses into Baringa and Nirimba
That interchange cost almost $1bn…
Not NIMBYs, the CTCU plan to put a road through Ben Bennett Bushland (remnant habitat) and Bicentennial Park is a purely political move and will do nothing to reduce congestion at the roundabout. I wish people would think ahead more than a few years at a time… we need public transport and a less car-centric culture. Many people stuck in the roundabout traffic could use active or public transport but culturally it’s not the done thing on the Sunshine Coast. In the face of climate and ecological collapse, the last thing we need is more cars on the road.
[удалено]
> The entire public transport network on the sunshine coast would need to be replaced for people to significantly use less cars Which is what we should be working towards. Car infrastructure is big and inefficient. Once you get enough people driving, you'll never be able to keep up with congestion. Adding more roads/lanes means everything is spread out further, which means more people *have* to drive, meaning more traffic. >There would need to be dedicated bus lanes added to all key roads and rail/light rail crisscrossed throughout the region. The new light/heavy rail might be a good start. But as long as we're still designed things car-first, it's not going to change much, unfortunately.
Small correction. Diverging Diamond.
Blame the NEWMAN State Government for this horrendous Stockland Aura mess. They went over the top of the local government, who fought and blocked that development for years. Stockland promised to build all the large arterial roads at their cost to sweeten the deal. Sold house blocks for inflated prices, have heaps of people move in, and then have everyone pressure the Government to provide the infrastructure they promised to build! - which is what has happened.
No. One of the worst things to happen to the coast was the amalgamation of the councils. The behemoth that was formed become GC-lite, focused only on building and development. We’re now seeing the issues of the past 10 years come to fruition, and it’s only going to get worse. There should have been a massive public transit system, car-free zones, and infrastructure put in place before the pre-signed approvals went out. Now it’s too late because the cost and inconvenience to do it would be prohibitive.
They’re building a road that connect the aura area to the highway directly so they all don’t have to come out only Caloundra road anymore - apparently it’s opening soon but it’s one lane each way 🙄 hopefully it makes a difference
When all of the tradies from down south start using it to enter Aura, what do you think will happen to Aura residents attempting to exit Aura via the Caloundra rd roundabout? Those workers are currently turning right into Bells Creek arterial rd from Caloundra rd, providing a gap in the flow of traffic out of Caloundra itself. I predict it's going to be almost impossible to use without lights.
Unless they decide to give it a Brisbane post code, it’s highly unlikely.
I thought all the weekend heroes coming in from Brisbane that get choked there every Friday afternoon might implement some change
See you’d think but they only suffer a couple days a week in exchange for our glorious ecology. Then they get to forget about us again for 4-5 days.
Just out of curiosity, why are they heroes?
I'd love it if ANYONE in SCRC Urban Planning Dept read this thread & found themselves questioning what they've inflicted on us the past decade & tore up all plans slated for the next ten & started from scratch taking our input to heart. *BZZT*BZZT*BZZT* >Alarm goes off. I wake up.<
I dont know if we can blame SCC in this case. This is part of the DTMR state-controlled road network and Aura is a product of the State Government (full planning responsibilty for the entire site was with the Urban Land Development Authority).
How the hell should I know. I live in Sydney. In fact why am I seeing this post
Please stay there
It appears you have taken the wrong turn at the roundabout, simply follow it around until you find your correct exit.
Can I ask if 40 minutes is an exaggeration? If so, what time of day does this happen?
>Can I ask if 40 minutes is an exaggeration? If so, what time of day does this happen? 10 minutes is common; 20 minutes is not abnormal. There's a really steady flow of traffic from Caloundra to the Bruce and vice versa; so if you're on the Aura road to Caloundra or Kawana Way to Brisbane at peak time you're in a long queue that rarely gets an opportunity to move. It doesn't help that sunny coast drivers seem to want a written invitation before they enter a roundabout, and these are single-lane intersections. So it only takes one scared retiree followed by one polite driver who thinks their horn is painted on to cause a 15 minute delay while grandma/grandpa waits for a totally clear roundabout before venturing into the intersection. Try 8:10am or 5:10pm for best results.
God damn it why is this so true.
I've spent 20mins heading west just getting from GyG to Puma before I decided to turn left at Dan Murphys and go home. The 2 roundabouts are a mess
Coming from Kawana link road and wanting to turn to go towards Landsborough anywhere from 330 afterwards can easily take up to 40 minutes or longer
It doesn't help that anyone that wants to go that direction completely blocks the path of everyone wanting to go straight ahead or left making the side in to another lane and getting past you all.
Roy's Road / Bell's Creek Arterial (south) opened about 25 minutes ago. There are also plans to upgrade the Kawana Way Caloundra Road roundabout. That specific roubdabout, is pretty much incapable of upgrading due to proximity on all four "corners".