The North West Transport Corridor (NWTC) is a preserved highway corridor that runs the entire length of McDowall Ward, from Carseldine to Everton Park. In the very southern part of the corridor a section of four-lane arterial has already been built, as the Everton Park Link Road, in 2021. You can find information on the history of the corridor on the TMR website here.
In the last couple of years, the future of the NWTC has re-emerged as a political football, kicked around by both major parties.
My big concern is, once the proposed tunnel under Gympie Road turns out to be economically unviable, we’ll be back to talking about a surface road down this corridor as a cheaper plan B: dividing the community, increasing traffic congestion, and re-enforcing car dependency.
On the other hand, this land represents an amazing opportunity: if it were degazetted as a transport corridor, the land could be used to build a school at Carseldine; a community center and library at Albany Creek Road; and a properly managed, wildlife-friendly, active-transport enabling, north-south green spine, connecting the existing east-west corridors along the creeks.
To that end, I have started a State Parliament petition, calling for the degazetting of the corridor.
You can find and sign that petition here:
The petition closes on April 12, and we will then get a response from Bart Mellish, as the Minister for Transport. It will be interesting to see what he has to say.