2016-02-02 I&S Committee - Item 4 - Attachment 1 - Noosa Traffic Study

7 TIMING OF UPGRADING WORKS
Sections 5 and 6 of this report makes various recommendations in relation to road system
upgrades to facilitate satisfactory operation of the road network to the year 2036.
Recommended timing for implementation of those upgrading works has also been assessed
and is detailed below.


7.1 Department of Transport and Main Roads upgrading works
DTMR administer a large number of roads within Noosa including Bruce Highway, Eumundi
Noosa Rd south of Beckmans Rd, Emu Mountain Rd, Cooroy Noosa Rd (west of Gyndier Dr),
Cooroy Connection Rd and Pomona Connection Rd, Kin Kin Rd, Louis Bazzo Drive and
McKinnon Drive.

There is also an agreement from when previously State-controlled roads in the Coastal area
were “de-mained”, that DTMR would be responsible for duplication of Beckmans Road and its
intersections (including its intersections at each end). Planning for duplication of Beckmans
Road needs to commence as soon as possible, with implementation prior to 2020, at least for
the section between St Andrews Drive and Eumundi Noosa Road, for the following reasons:

(i)         The existing Beckmans Rd / Eumundi Noosa Rd intersection is currently operating
            close to practical capacity and would likely need upgrading within the next 5 years.

(ii)        The Sea Eagle Dr / Beckmans Rd intersection is already operating over practical
            capacity and this needs immediate attention.

(iii)       The eastern end of Beckmans Rd is already at the normal limit for a 2 lane road.

(iv)        The Cooroy Noosa Rd / Beckmans Rd intersection is not predicted to reach capacity
            over the design horizon, but delays to traffic turning right from Beckmans into Cooroy
            Noosa Rd are already relatively high and will become greater as time passes. Those
            delays add to the demand for rat running along St Andrews Dr. Provision of a
            roundabout at that intersection will facilitate reduction in rat running along St Andrews
            Dr, and rat running would be eliminated if the Beckmans Road configuration depicted
            in Figure 7 is adopted. The roundabout at that intersection should be implemented
            when Beckmans Rd is duplicated, although this intersection upgrade is not a driver for
            the duplication.

There are also existing issues on Cooroy Noosa Road through the Cooroy township, with the
Myall St / Elm St intersection already operating way over capacity, and the Diamond St / Elm St
intersection operating almost at absolute capacity under existing conditions. Planning and
design work needs to occur immediately, with implementation of upgrading to those
intersections to occur as soon as possible.

By 2036 it is predicted that upgrading of the northern leg of the Emu Mountain Road / David
Low Way intersection is likely to be required, as generally depicted in Figure 29.

DTMR is currently undertaking a planning study of the entire sunshine coast northern area,
which is known as NORCATS (Northern Sunshine Coast Area Transport Study). It is
understood that study is currently assessing whether to plan to duplicate Cooroy Noosa Road

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