Around $25 million worth of combined upgrades – comprising the latest $12 million stage of duplicating Sippy Downs Drive – plus years of transport planning and design integration with the State Government’s Bruce Highway and Sunshine Motorway upgrades.
This is a snapshot of the council planning and projects that have made, and will continue to make, life easier for Sippy Downs residents by making their daily travel faster.
Division 6 Councillor Christian Dickson said it was a milestone for the overall Sippy Downs road network for the latest stage of the Sippy Downs Drive upgrade to now be underway.
“We have worked hard over several years to ensure these road upgrades could all be done as quickly as possible as they are not only needed for future population growth, but to make necessary improvements to current traffic flow,” Cr Dickson said.
“The community has continually asked for council to make it easier to travel around Sippy Downs and, through multiple interconnecting road upgrade projects, we have been able to deliver that.
“Anyone who travels along Sippy Downs Drive and nearby areas around school pick-up and drop-off times, and at other peak times, knows how essential these improvements are.
“The most recent upgrades in this area have been the previous stages of widening Sippy Downs Drive to four lanes, but there has been one piece of the puzzle missing.
“The volume of traffic coming off the highway, and off the motorway from both directions, means the full length of this road needs to be four lanes with signalised intersections to avoid bottlenecks.
“A collaborative approach between TMR and council has ensured both the designs for Sippy Downs Drive and the highway upgrade are integrated to accommodate traffic volumes.
“I have received some mixed feedback about the current stage of construction, which required removal of the fig tree in the roundabout to allow for the new intersection.
“I completely understand the community’s concerns because I, like many people, would have loved for this tree to stay – but ultimately it is not possible to both retain a roundabout in that location and create the improved traffic flow we need.”
Fast facts
The latest stage of Sippy Downs Drive widening, from two lanes to four plus cycle lanes, is a $12.2 million project due to be completed in late 2019.
This stage of the Sippy Downs Drive project is one part of more than $23 million in upgrades to the road (constructed from 2012-13 to 2019).It is the fourth stage and will upgrade the link between Siena Catholic College and the Sunshine Motorway (approx. 600m of road). It includes two signalised intersections.
The first section of construction on this stage of work, now underway, is earthworks and vegetation clearing – both are required to allow for an additional two lanes of traffic and the connecting intersection to be constructed. Some elements of this work, including removal of the fig tree, must be done at night to ensure public safety – the machinery and traffic control required would cause unnecessary risk and disruption to the high number of motorists during the day.
Later stages of construction will see Sippy Downs Drive tie-in with the new motorway off-ramps upgrade and the signalisation of the Sippy Downs Drive and University Way intersection.
The fig tree was unable to be retained in the location of the current roundabout as a roundabout cannot accommodate the large volume of traffic on this road now and in the future. Council investigated transplanting the tree elsewhere, however this would have incurred very high costs and there was a low chance the tree would survive. The high costs were due to the services required by professional arborists and horticulturists for the replanting and ongoing maintenance following cutting of the root system and the extensive traffic control and road closures required to move a tree of this size. The low viability was due to the root cutting, extensive pruning, lifting, transport, suitability of soil conditions and replanting required.
More than 25,000 vehicles travel on Sippy Downs Drive each day and more than 22,000 travel on University Way each day. This is forecast to double with development in the area.
This project includes:
20,000m3 of earthworks
760m of stormwater pipes to be laid
3km of kerb to be laid
400 tonne of asphalt to be placed
Council also constructed a $1.6 million bikeway on Claymore Road in 2011-12.