Sunshine Coast drivers see red over congested roads

Media Release

RACQ received almost 2,000 nominations for locations where drivers experienced frustrating gridlock as part of the Club’s annual Red Spot Congestion survey.

RACQ Head of Public Policy Rebecca Michael said Caloundra Road, Sunshine Motorway, Bruce Highway and Nambour Connection Road were among the most troublesome locations identified by Sunshine Coast locals.

“We put the call out to drivers, who’re in the best position to identify problem spots, to help us locate the roads constantly causing them headaches behind the wheel,” Dr Michael said.

“Across the Sunshine Coast there were 186 nominations in total with the most common complaint for long traffic queues at the Caloundra Road and Nicklin Way roundabout and the Caloundra Road and Kawana Way Link Road roundabout.

“The Sunshine Motorway also featured in the top 10, with drivers frustrated at delays on the single lane sections of the motorway from Pacific Paradise to Coolum and Sippy Downs to Mountain Creek interchange.

“Despite the Bruce Highway topping the list this year, work is underway to upgrade the section between Caloundra Road and the Sunshine Motorway to six lanes. However, better rail connections for the Coast, further Bruce Highway improvements and major upgrades to the Sunshine Motorway are desperately needed.”

Dr Michael said the survey results would be made available to all levels of government and would be used by the Club to lobby for road funding and improvements.

“It’s clear congestion is an issue that really grinds our gears and costs us time and lost productivity, especially now that we’re returning to more frequent travel following last year’s COVID-19 lockdown,” she said.

“We’ll use this information to guide our policy and to lobby all tiers of government for solutions to bottlenecked areas.”