Brisbane City Council Infrastructure Committee Chair, Andrew Wines, has condemned a call by a Greens councillor to permanently close roads at risk of flooding as “silly”, saying the proposition would be detrimental to Brisbane drivers.
At a Council meeting yesterday, Greens Councillor, Jonathan Sri suggested that low volume flood-affected roads should be removed from the city’s network, rather than being repaired.
“If what you’re staring down the barrel of having to spend millions of dollars on resurfacing roads that are just going to crack up again the next time there’s a big flood, maybe you have to start thinking seriously and talking to your transport planners about modelling, whether some of those low volume roads are better off being removed from the network and just converted to active transport,” Cr Sri told the meeting.
“Maybe let’s be mature adults about this one. Let’s look at the evidence. Let’s look at the cost benefit analysis and say, ‘hey it’s ok to close a road occasionally’.”
“The Council needs to recognise that some of those road assets are costing more to continually maintain and repair than they are actually worth.”
“I’ve looked at the costs, the escalating costs, of continually resurfacing and maintaining these roads and it’s just not sustainable.”
Councillor Wines today hit back at Cr Sri’s suggestion, slamming it as “silly”.
“Greens Councillor Jonathan Sri’s silly call to permanently close roads at risk of flooding would hurt Brisbane drivers,” the Infrastructure Committee Chair said.
“It would mean more time in traffic for everyone, from mum-and-dad motorists, police and ambulance personnel to buses and cyclists.
“Rather than permanently shut down roads as the Greens Councillor wants, we’re going to prioritise their repair under our Rebuild & Recover Program, just like we are with Brisbane’s flood-damaged bikeways, parks and sports clubs.”
Brisbane Lord Mayor, Adrian Schrinner recently announced budget changes which he says will allow Council to prioritise rebuilding and restoring a significant volume of flood-impacted assets and facilities including 285km of roads, 106 sports fields and 863 parks.
“This devastating flood came after two years of an unprecedented global pandemic which had a major financial impact on Brisbane,” the Lord Mayor said.
“However, years of sensible financial management means we can afford to refocus our prioritises like this without significantly impacting residents.”