As part of the National Land Transport Network, both the Australian and Queensland Governments are planning for and delivering major upgrades and improvements of the M1 Pacific Motorway between the Gateway Motorway and the New South Wales border. $1.03 billion has been provisioned to upgrade the Varsity Lakes to Tugun section.

Following VLC’s work on the Preliminary Evaluation (PE) phase of the M1 Pacific Motorway (Varsity Lakes to Tugun) Project, TMR commissioned VLC to provide travel demand forecasting, transport network performance assessment, and economic assessment services to inform the Detailed Business Case (DBC) phase of the project. Two infrastructure options have been progressed through the DBC phase of the project, referred to as Project Case 1 and Project Case 2.

 

Client requirements

The Queensland Government commissioned VLC to provide travel demand forecasting, road network performance assessment and economic appraisal services for the options assessment and development of the Detailed Business Case for improvements to the Varsity Lakes to Tugun section of the M1 Pacific Motorway.

 

Delivered outcome

VLC provided travel demand forecasts using Zenith, which informed the basis of the options assessment, business case, economic and commercial analysis and social impact assessment. Road network performance including travel time benefit was also assessed using a Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA) model. These models underpinned the economic analysis which was also performed by VLC. VLC’s work has been heavily peer reviewed and is informing decisions being made by the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Building Queensland and Infrastructure Australia.

The impact to the M1 Pacific Motorway resulting from future extensions of the Gold Coast Light Rail were also assessed as part of this project.

A broad range of non-infrastructure treatments, existing infrastructure treatments and new infrastructure investments were assessed to determine the most appropriate solution aligned to the service needs for the Project.

Project Case 1 was aimed to improve the performance of the M1 Pacific Motorway between Varsity Lakes and Tugun through the use Managed Motorway interventions.

Project Case 2 was aimed to substantial upgrades to the M1 Pacific Motorway and Managed Motorways interventions noted in Project Case 1. The options analysis assessed the extent of infrastructure required, examined staging and constructability options and considered the economic viability of proposed solutions. Transport modelling and economic analysis reports were delivered to the client.