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

It can be seen from inspection of Figure 1 that State-controlled roads within Noosa Council
extend to the fringes of the Coastal area, but do not intrude into that Coastal area. In addition,
the State-controlled roads provide the primary access routes used by those parts of Noosa
outside of the Coastal area. Thus, State-controlled roads provide the primary access routes to
the Coastal area, and to the Noosa areas outside of the Coastal area, but all of the roads within
the Coastal area are administered by Noosa Council. For this reason, and also because the
majority of traffic issues are located within the Coastal area, a large part of this study is devoted
to roads within that Coastal area. However, the road system in the areas of Noosa that lie
outside of the Coastal area are also considered, particularly in Cooroy, where there are
significant concerns at several locations on the State-controlled road system.


1.3 Previous Noosa Traffic Study (August 2002)
The previous Noosa Traffic Study was documented within the “Coastal Area Traffic and
Transport to 2016” study prepared by Beard Traffic Engineering Pty Ltd in August 2002.
Since that was prepared, the then planned major road links have been completed, including
Eenie Creek Road and Walter Hay Drive. Those new road links provided significant relief to
congestion on the road system, while also facilitating new infill residential development
throughout the Coastal area, as well as commencement of a significant part of the Shire
Business Centre (Noosa Civic) at Noosaville.

This study adopts a similar philosophy to that adopted in the preceding study.


1.4 Variations in traffic throughout the year
Since preparation of the previous Noosa Traffic Study, a number of well-located permanent
traffic counting stations have been installed at strategic locations on major roads within the
Coastal area. These have recorded hourly traffic flow data at those locations throughout the
year. Unfortunately, not all of the data is complete due to intermittent equipment issues but
interrogation of the available data provides a wealth of information to inform this study. For
example, while traffic in some parts of Noosa are significantly influenced by school holiday
periods and events such as the Noosa Triathlon, a large proportion of the Coastal area
experiences peak daily traffic flows in the peak holiday season and are only marginally higher
than peak daily traffic flows that occur outside of school holiday periods. Thus, for a large part
of the Coastal area road network, traffic flows are relatively consistent throughout the year
irrespective of tourist and special event periods, while other parts are heavily influenced by
those tourist and special event periods (such as Noosa Heads north of Noosa Junction being
the most heavily influenced). The influence of those tourist and special events periods on the
road system diminishes the further you move from the most heavily tourist influenced part of
Noosa Heads.


1.5 Traffic growth
Traffic growth in the Noosa region into the future will be driven primarily by population growth,
as well as by new commercial developments. Population projections have been supplied by
the Queensland State Government to the year 2036, and these indicate that population growth
within Noosa will be low. Noosa Council town planners have advised that additional

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