The upgrade will include a widening of Australia Avenue and Underwood Road to improve traffic flows,as well as left slip lanes and a U-turn lane on the northbound approach to Homebush Bay Drive.
After considering 12 options,transport officials have chosen what is known as a “diverging diamond interchange” for the upgrade. Queensland already has one such interchange in place,while the sunshine state is developing another two.
Federal Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher said it was a “very challenging intersection” which had about 4000 vehicles an hour pass through it before the pandemic.
“When there is an event at Olympic Park … it can back up very quickly. The DFO there generates a lot of traffic and so this is a very congested roundabout,” he said on Tuesday.
Asked why the upgrade plan had taken so long,Metropolitan Roads Minister Natalie Ward said it was a complex area and the challenge was working around pillars that supported Homebush Bay Drive without disrupting traffic during construction.
“Otherwise,it would take longer and cost more to remove those[pillars] with significant disruption to the community,” she said.