Program to avoid a jam

NOOSA Shire Council’s draft plan to better manage traffic into the future is open for public comment from 24 May until 14 June.
The Noosa Transport Plan 2016-2036 includes a 20-year vision to change the way people travel, a 10-year strategy for local transport planning and a five-year action plan.
Residents can comment on all three at yoursay.noosa.qld.gov.au, as well as upcoming public YourSay events.
The consultation calls for discussion about key issues such as a parking strategy, park-and-ride program, active transport, pathway, road network and public transport improvements, plus a behaviour-change program to reduce car use.
The council’s Planning and Infrastructure Director Martin Drydale said congestion seen on parts of Noosa’s road network at peak times could become the norm, without efforts to curb growth in the number of vehicles on the roads.
“We can’t keep building bigger roads to accommodate more and more traffic, nor can we continually upgrade intersections to handle heavier traffic flow.
“The costs to ratepayers will be enormous and we’ll end up with traffic lights, flyovers and other big city infrastructure that our community has fought hard, for many years, to avoid,” Mr Drydale said.
“To avoid six lane roads, traffic lights and future gridlock we need a plan that achieves a reduction in vehicle use and provides practical alternative travel options.
“If every resident used an alternative form of transport to get to work or school, even once per month, then we have some hope of reducing the need for bigger roads.”
Mr Drydale said input from a community consultation in January helped shape the draft plan.
“That input has been helpful. We know, for example, that some residents feel public transport access and frequency is insufficient, not just in peak holiday times, but even when it comes to accessing key precincts on weekends,” he said.
Comments can be emailed to mail@noosa.qld.gov.au, sent via post to PO Box 141 Tewantin, Queensland, 4565 or online via yoursay.noosa.qld.gov.au.
Copies of the draft plan are available online and for viewing at Noosaville and Cooroy libraries.
Council officers will be on hand to answer questions at scheduled times.
The council will provide information ‘pop-ups’ at Cooroy Library on 31 May and Noosaville Library on 2 June and the mobile library.
Residents can also have a say at a world cafe-style Your Say event at Noosa Leisure Centre on 4 June, between 8am and noon.