Background

The Coomera Connector (formerly known as the Intra Regional Transport Corridor) will be a key link in an expanded road transport network between Loganholme and the Gold Coast where residential and business communities are growing rapidly.

Since the 1990s, the corridor has been identified in various public planning documents, such as published street directories, regional transport plans, planning studies and City of Gold Coast planning schemes. A joint 2015 study between TMR and the City of Gold Coast confirmed the corridor is a future strategic transport link that will relieve traffic congestion on the M1 and surrounding local roads.

Population growth and traffic impacts

Residential and business communities are growing rapidly in the northern Gold Coast area with an additional 600,000 people anticipated to live in the Gold Coast and Logan by 2041.

Without intervention, increasing demand on the M1 (particularly for local trips) may jeopardise its performance as part of the national land transport network (the main route used for interstate travel and to carry freight).

Traffic analysis from early 2019 identified more than 210,000 vehicles routinely use the M1 on the busiest days between Coomera and Nerang. Based on these traffic volumes, a solution to deliver extra transport capacity in the area between Coomera and Nerang needs to be prioritised.

The Coomera Connector will help to protect the function of the M1 and preserve its ability to service freight and inter-regional travel. It will also improve access, connectivity and liveability of local communities by providing transport infrastructure that supports and services future economic and residential growth.

The Intra Regional Transport Corridor

The Intra Regional Transport Corridor is the previous name for the Coomera Connector. The preserved corridor between Stapylton and Nerang was formally known as the Intra Regional Transport Corridor in the Queensland Government Gazette.

The entire corridor from Loganholme to Nerang was formally re-named as the Coomera Connector as part of the gazettal process of the northern section of the Coomera Connector corridor from Loganholme to Stapylton on 15 March 2019.

Declaration in the Queensland Government Gazette

Formal confirmation of the corridor in the Queensland Government Gazette allows the corridor to be protected from new development and provides certainty for property owners, business and residential communities on the northern Gold Coast.