The Rudd Labor Government will immediately provide $10 million to kick start urgent planning on the Gateway Motorway's two missing links.
The construction of the missing links will mean that Queensland motorists will have a first class arterial road linking the Pacific Motorway to the Bruce Highway.
The Rudd Government made this commitment in the Federal Budget to reduce the traffic congestion on this busy highway once and for all.
For 12 long years the Liberal Government refused to commit to building the two missing links - leaving Queenslanders with a road that was half built.
The $10 million investment - to be matched by $10 million from the Bligh Government - will allow planning work to start on:
* the 12.5km section from Nudgee Road to the Bruce Highway; and
* the 4.5km from Mount Gravatt-Capalaba Road to the Pacific Motorway.
The investment will fund critical pre-construction activities, such as community consultation, geotechnical surveys, design, environmental assessments and land acquisition.
From 2009-10, an additional $195 million will be invested in pre-construction funding for these links under the AusLink 2 Investment Program.
Kick starting this critical planning work means that the construction of the missing links could be ready to begin as soon as 2011 - instead of being on the never-never list of the former Liberal government.
The Queensland Government is currently investing $1.9 billion to upgrade the Gateway - the only north-south bypass of Brisbane - to six and eight lanes.
But if the missing links remain only four-lanes, motorists will be stuck in traffic jams when connecting to the Bruce Highway and the Pacific Motorway.
Already up to 70,000 motorists use these sections of road every day and if we do nothing, by 2012 over 94,000 commuters will be sitting in daily traffic jams.
Without an upgraded link to the Bruce Highway and Pacific Motorway, truckies from the port and airport - the fastest growing industry and trade precinct in Australia - will struggle to meet their schedules, pushing up costs for consumers.
Roads and rail lines are the arteries of the economy, and infrastructure bottlenecks push up the costs of doing business and add to inflationary pressures.
Under a ‘do-nothing' scenario, urban congestion will cost families and businesses in Brisbane $3 billion a year by 2020, with many working parents spending more time in their cars and less time at home with their kids.
That's why we're planning for the future with commitments such as the one we've made to the Gateway Missing Links, and taken the decision to establish the $20 billion Building Australia Fund to upgrade the nation's ageing infrastructure.