Div 7: Driving investment into better roads and community facilities
Published 17 June 2022
Division 7 Councillor Yvonne Barlow says Budget 2022-23 will be a year of action, putting into practice the feedback received from numerous community engagement surveys and Kallangur’s Neighbourhood Planning meetings.
She said critical road projects and community facilities would be the big winners in Budget 2022-23.
We have an expectation that living in Moreton Bay comes with a relaxed lifestyle and open spaces, and that we won’t have the kinds of traffic issues found in the big cities,” she said.
So Council is biting the bullet and making major investments to fix our traffic bottlenecks, including a combined total of almost $7.2 million to kick-start a bigger $82.4 million upgrade of Old Gympie Road.
It's a massive Council investment and great news, as we finally begin a series of prioritised stages that starts with the Old Gympie Road intersection with Boundary Road at Dakabin.
In the coming 12 months, you’ll see construction start, including new traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, bike lanes and landscaping, which will improve safety, increase traffic flow and reduce delays.
We are also starting work on other sections of Old Gympie Road, with design work and moving services such as power lines, drainage and fences.
Once this work has been completed, you’ll see construction in stages, with upgrades at major intersections, traffic lights, widening from two to four lanes, bike lanes and drainage improvements.
It will make such a difference for people who use Old Gympie Road every day to drive their kids to school, go to work or the shops, and I consider it a critical infrastructure investment now before our population booms.
We know that we also need to fix the major roads that feed into Old Gympie Road so a big-ticket item in the budget is an upgrade for Alma Road in Dakabin, starting with the Marsden Road intersection.
We have $1.3 million set aside to install traffic lights, add traffic lanes and median strips between lanes, construct bike lanes and complete the work with landscaping.
The Federal Government has committed to funding part of this project so we will have a completed project in two or three years that will keep the residents of Dakabin moving.
All of this spending is about taking the challenges out of the ‘too hard’ basket, making the decision to prioritise our roads and getting on with upgrading them so that we will have a road network that can cope with the numbers of cars we will have in coming years.
But what I really want to start doing is inject a greater sense of community in our area, which is why I’m excited to announce we’ve begun organising a new Christmas Carols event here, especially for locals.
It will be called the Murrumba Christmas Spectacular!
It will be at John Oxley Reserve in Murrumba Downs to celebrate all the amazing schools, sporting groups, and community service organisations that make our suburbs such a wonderful place to live.
It will have the added benefit of showcasing how our renovations at John Oxley are going.
We recently completed the scout den ahead of schedule with the support of Federal Government funding - and now we are making sure that the little athletics and soccer clubs have the same access to modern and fit-for-purpose facilities.
Budget 2022-23 has an initial $185,000 as part of a bigger $3.5 million project for a multi-purpose building at the reserve, a storage shed, lighting, turf, irrigation, seating, gazebos and landscaping.
The two big projects at the reserve are the $1 million multi-purpose building with a kiosk, public amenities, office and storage space and a 3000 sqm parkland space with signage, pathways, seating and barbecue shelters.
It's the first phase of a staged John Oxley Reserve Master Plan that will make sure the reserve meets the future demands of the community in what we know is a growth area for families.
And we have funding for playground equipment, amenities and picnic sites along Fresh Water Creek in Kallangur, fitness equipment at Garrong Reserve in Dakabin, and tree planting and wildlife fencing at Black Duck Creek in Murrumba Downs.
Budget 2022-23 delivers a record $259 million capital works program to provide the infrastructure and investments locals have told us they want to see in their communities, via feedback in the Moreton Says survey. This Council wants to ensure our priorities align with our community’s values.
Budget Highlights for Division 7
- $5.2 million to upgrade the intersection of Old Gympie and and Boundary Road at Dakabin
- $1.3 million in 2022-23 to upgrade the Alma and Marsden roads intersection in Dakabin, as part of a larger $3.35 million project including Federal Government funding
- $700,000 to begin upgrading a section of Old Gympie Road in Kallangur, between Viney Avenue and Highet Street
- $500,000 to begin upgrading a section of Old Gympie Road in Dakabin, between Alma Road and Goodwin Road
- $341,674 to upgrade parkland along Fresh Water Creek in Kallangur
- $300,000 for wildlife fencing, including for koalas, and tree planting at the Dohles Rocks Road crossing of Black Duck Creek in Murrumba Downs
- $200,000 to begin upgrading a section of Old Gympie Road in Kallangur, between Nellies Lane and Whitehorse Road
- $150,000 for new fitness equipment at Garrong Reserve in Dakabin
Video transcript