Brisbane’s Liberal party has unveiled a massive US$1.7bn plan to build an ambitious 15km network of road tunnels over the next ten years in an bid to reduce traffic congestion in Australia’s Queensland capital.

Campbell Newman, the Liberal party’s mayoral candidate in forthcoming elections, said the plans involve the construction of three major tunnels and one smaller tunnel under the city.

These comprise:

  • a 3.6km long tunnel under Milton Road linking the Western Freeway with Hale Street at Paddington

  • a 5.8km long east-west bypass tunnel linking Old Cleveland Road with the Western Freeway at Toowong

  • a 5.7km long north-south bypass tunnel following a similar route to one proposed by incumbent mayor Jim Soorley, that would connect Ipswich Road at Woolloongabba to the inner city bypass at Bowen Hills

  • a 600m long tunnel between Hale Street and Merivale and Cordelia streets in South Brisbane

    It is envisaged that the costs of construction would be funded by standard A$2 road tolls.

    The city’s current Labour mayor Jim Soorley welcomed the Liberal party proposals but said the tunnels were not only financially unfeasible but also unsustainable. He said: “Several of the toll roads they are talking about we have looked at and they do not stack up.”