As a big fan of Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell, I just love the traffic updates from Lois Price in the Mad As Helicopter. Well today I’m feeling a bit Mad-Ass, so here’s my slightly cranky perspective on the impact the Blue Care development is going to have on traffic in the Sunrise Beach area.
Last week I put some questions to Cr Amelia Lorentson who followed up with Council staff on the issues relating to traffic around the cluster of schools and the intersection at Ben Lexcen Drive and Eenie Creek Road. My questions were:
- Does Council have a vision to activate the Sunrise Beach shops and make it a more attractive place, especially for younger people to be able to connect? Or will this from now on be geared more towards the retiree market like the rest of Noosa?
- What are the plans for walking and cycling infrastructure around the schools? How will the new development impact on those plans since the walking and cycling group was not even aware that this development was happening and that the road infrastructure around that site was about to change.
- Has Council done any future planning for traffic management and considered alternatives around the three schools since it’s clearly not working that well?
- Does Council have an evacuation plan in case of a big fire event – how does Council propose to evacuate 3 schools and an aged care facility with a single access road that already blocks up during pick up and drop off times?
I received answers on two of these questions:
Walking and Cycling Infrastructure
Regarding plans for walking and cycling infrastructure around the schools:
Council is in the process of preparing an update to its Walking & Cycling strategy which will address the planning for walking and cycling infrastructure around the schools. The strategy update will also take into consideration any changes proposed as part of the development.
Even though the cycling strategy has been more than a year in the making, nobody from Council has ever approached the schools to ask how access in that area can be improved. No representatives from schools were invited onto the walking and cycling planning committee. The only “engagement” the high school has received was a notice that the students were no longer allowed to park at the shopping centre. Apparently the tarmac needs to sit empty… just like the shop.
I’ll wait to see what they propose before I knock it further, but I truly believe that better community engagement right from the start of the planning phase would result in much better outcomes.
Future Planning for Traffic Management
My question on whether Council has done any future planning for traffic management and considered alternatives around the three schools received this brief answer:
The Noosa Traffic Study 2036 has an upgrade proposed in 2025 for the Eenie creek Road and Ben Lexcen drive intersection.
So I downloaded and had a look at that traffic study and it states:
5.3.3 Year 2036 – Ben Lexcen Dr / Eenie Ck Rd intersection
The 2036 analysis indicates that the existing Ben Lexcen Dr / Eenie Ck Rd intersection will have reached its capacity during holiday periods, and will be operating close to capacity during non-holiday periods. One option to achieve satisfactory operating conditions under year 2036 conditions, would be to increase the length of right turn lanes on each intersection approach, in conjunction with implementation of left turn slip lanes on each approach.
With those improvements, predicted operating conditions in the year 2036 during the critical AM holiday period would be DOS 0.85 with a 90 second traffic signal cycle time.
It is noted that the potential left turn slip lanes suggested above could be signalised, so as to remove pedestrian safety concern with such lanes in this environment having a number of schools in the vicinity.
There is a myriad of options for potential improvements to satisfactorily improve the capacity of this intersection in order to accommodate future traffic demands. It is beyond the scope of this study to consider all of those options in detail in order to then make firm recommendations. In the short term, rectification of the off-peak operational efficiency issues is recommended, through improvements to the efficiency of operation of the traffic signal timing.
The report is based on population projections for the Sunshine Beach area (which includes Sunrise Beach as well), which predicts a total increase of 184 people from 2021 to 2026, the period during which the development will be built (see table below).
Source: Noosa Traffic Study to 2036
So I had another look at the development approval for the retirement village and aged care facility which includes the following:
- 53 retirement village villas
- 4 two-storey apartment buildings comprising 54 apartments
- Village Clubhouse with a two-storey apartment building adjacent comprising 15 apartments
That is 122 independent living units which, if two people lived per unit, equates to 244 people. Add to that the aged care facility with 118 beds, a total of 362 additional people will soon be living on the small cul de sac on Grasstree Court. With this development alone we’ve already overshot the total predicted increase of 184 from 2021 to 2026. And this doesn’t even the consider the staff and support workers who will be on site on a daily basis. What a joke.
It will also be interesting to see if the Eenie Creek / Ben Lexcen Drive upgrade will require additional tree clearing to make way for the longer turning lanes as proposed.
Noosa Council has failed our Sunrise community and the decisions that are being made and signed off at the moment will lock us into a path for decades to come. It’s extremely shortsighted.
I do want to acknowledge Cr Amelia Lorentson for inviting me to a meeting with Lendlease last week and for always following up on my questions.
What are your thoughts? How can this be done better? Or do we need to demand better action like the residents of Wollongong is doing?
