The Infrastructure Australia report revealed concerns over how Queensland will cope with future population growth.

Top of the list?

Our already congested traffic networks.

Lewis Wiseman reports.

TRANSCRIPT

Brisbane’s population is predicted to grow to by an extra million people by 2031, and without a major overhaul, our roads will struggle to cope.

Paul Turner, RACQ: “The fact of the matter is we are going to need more roads, we are going to need new pieces of public transport infrastructure, and we are going to need to plan and fund that growth.”

As it stands, these major freeways are the most congested hot spots in south-east Queensland.

In peak hour they are at more than 90% capacity.

Without more funding to support our public transport networks, people will continue to brave bumper-to-bumper traffic chaos.

Milton Dick, Opposition leader, Brisbane City Council: “Well we know from Council’s own data that traffic congestion in Brisbane is getting worse. We’ve seen toll projects delivered that simply haven’t cut congestion.”

The State Opposition hopes this latest infrastructure report should pressure Labor to come up with the cash.

John-Paul Langbroek, Deputy Opposition Leader: “It begs the question as to whether Labor are going to fast-track their infrastructure plan, which is going to be a year in the making. What are they going to do about infrastructure as opposed to what they do now?”

And debate is likely to continue over how and who will tackle the big picture.

Lewis Wiseman QUT News.