There are a lot of houses now on the gap end of Gap Creek / Dillon Roads – some of these houses would need to be resumed.

Also, at the very end of Payne road, there are $1Mill plus houses that would overlook the road should it run directly accross the road to the West of Yoorala Street.

Between Yoorala Street (which is the street running directly East of the Enoggera Dam wall) and the Dam Wall is Enoggera Creek and a large area on parkland. Would they be likely to fill in or build over Enoggera creek, given that it is in a catchment area, and that the creek flows all the way as far as Herston and beyond?

The Dam spillway also flows into Enoggera creek. It would be a shame if the Yoorala Street area was distroyed, but it looks like the obvious choice, given that there are large tracts of parkland in that area.

Your thoughts?

Andrew E – sorry I wasn’t clear. What I was attempting to say was that NIMBYism is alive and well in inner Sydney.

Sacha, I rang Geraldine Knapp’s office today. She represents The Gap Ward in the BCC and usually knows what is going on. They told me that there was nothing stirring. There was provision for a study in the State budget, but it’s not happening this year and they spent the money on something else.

What’s more Geraldine sez that the route through The Gap just won’t happen, which means not in the foreseeable future.

I think a bypass through Moggill and the heading left at Rafting Ground Road just before Kenmore would be feasible. It’s acerages on the left and not many houses on the right. You’d miss Kenmore Hills, swing past the Brookfield Showgrounds, which is sacred territory, and then head down Gold Creek Rd for a bit before linking with The Gap Creek Rd.

I’d reckon Karana Downs is safe because you need to come east to pick up the Cunningham Highway (Warwick) traffic.

Strathpine/Lawnton/Petrie is where you’d probably join the main north road. On a map it’s practically a straight line from Moggill through the back of The Gap.

If I get time I’ll ring my local State member, because it’s their road. But Geraldine Knapp’s information is probably better than theirs.

A hidden issue, alluded to by Andrew E, is that there are no standard gauge freight rail links between Toowoomba (and effectively the rest of Australia) and the Port of Brisbane, or north of Brisbane. Frieght from the interior has to travel down the range and though Ipswich to get to Acacia Ridge, and most of it just keeps going all the way through to the Port itself. The train line west from the port stops at Acacia Ridge, is close to capacity, has to compete with the citytrains (as Andrew E points out), and travels straight through the ‘burbs. When I used to live in Hawthorne we could hear the screeching wheels of the freight trains as they went through the bends at Norman Park and Morningside. Must be hell for those living nearer to the tracks.

If some dedicated freight rail links are built then at least some of the commuter traffic problems should be eased. That goes for the entire country, not just Brisbane.

that always comes to my mind here in Sydney, is that it sometimes seems that people aren’t willing to share the pain around. It’s certainly an issue in the inner city.

Sasha, I didn’t really understand this – if anything the opposite is true. The inner west NIMBYs are to blame for all sorts of piecemeal approaches/tortured compromises like the Anzac Bridge, that absurd bottleneck at the start of Victoria Rd Rozelle, the F4 stopping at Strathfield (there are so many others but I’ll stop there), and the fact that rail lines to the ports have to compete with passenger traffic.

Nobody moves to Glebe to get the sort of natural ensconcement one finds in Otford or Bullaburra or Cherrybrook, and once people realise that we’ll all understand the city better.

The Feds are responsible for the national highways but whatever they do has implications for the roads in other jurisdictions. You have endless planning, all agree and then Godzilla just decides to do something else (much more expensive) anyway.

Down and Out Of Sài Gòn, it’s nice where you are. I know the area quite well.

At the other end of Dillon/The Gap Creek Rd at Kenmore Hills it’s some of the most pleasant suburbia you’d see anywhere. I drive through 6-8 times a week and it lifts my spirits every time.

Brompton/ Upper Kedron is west of The Gap on my map and just east of Enoggera Reservoir, but you’re right, it should cause least bother there. But Kenmore would be a mess whichever option was taken.

I’m not sure that Peak Oil is going to stop the car. We could achieve a decarbonised grid in Australia and use electric cars or equivalent. The freedom that wheels give you is going to be hard to give up on and may not be necessary.

But the thought did occur to me that this is unfolding very much like a script from “The Games”. Any chance of involving Clarke, Dawe and Riley?

The locals aren’t too happy with upgrading Gap Creek/Dillon to bitumen. Expect the whole suburb to become NIMBY central when the bypass plans are finalized.

The only route I can see that makes me happy for me is to build the thing just east of The Gap, and then tunnel under Brompton into Upper Kedron. The latter seems to be unoccupied land that was cleared for development, but has lain vacant for a decade or so. But that would really blow the estimates.

I suspect the whole issue is moot with Peak Oil. It’s no use building bypasses when petrol is expensive and less available, as may happen in a couple of years.