Penny Behan

The route of the Warrego to Centenary is NOT in my 2005 UBD but IS in the 2007. We contacted the company and they said Main Roads asked them to put it in the UBD in 2006. It shows the route through Karalee, Bellbowrie, Anstead, Pullenvale, Pinjara Hills, Kenmore and Fig Tree Pocket. Apparently it is NOT included in the current BRISWAY.

Penny Behan

Some of us were here before it was ever thought of being a road!

My grandparents were country people who moved to the city to find work and a
livelihood. In 1952 they bought a small acreage block in Kenmore and planned to raise their only son from there.

My grandmother was a firey person, getting involved in fighting a bridge through Fig Tree Pocket with others. Once that was defeated, the gaze was moved further down river to the site of the current Centenary bridge. The rest is history. This began as a two lane bridge and two lane road leading
to a small subdivision called Jindalee. This road ran close to my Grandparents land. There was limited action against this bridge and road as people were
tired from fighting the FTP bridge and less people were affected and it was only leading to Jindalee. As you know it is now one of the major freeways
in Brisbane now connecting to the Ipswich Motorway.

My father lived there when he was growing up and watched Kenmore slowly develop. When my grandmother was too ill to look after the acreage on her own, we moved in and I grew up living on that acreage block in Kenmore.

My parents remain living in the family home on that acreage block and my grandmother has died many years ago.

Russ Hinze, Minister for Main Roads was pushing through the Moggill Pocket Sub Arterial Road in the 1970s. My father was one of residents who tried to
expose the stupidity of the location of this road and called for alternatives. He would not sell voluntarily to Main Roads and refused to sell his property at the below market rate offer.

Eventually in 1980 it did not go ahead. Main Roads stopped its rapid progress in acquiring properties. My father and others were relieved. Main Roads did write to my father and advised it was not proceeding with the
project.

Main Roads now owned a portion of the land it required to build
the road and that it remained an option for the future on their maps. Main Roads also sold property it had purchased (Norman Street for example).

As time went on, it became less and less a priority. We attended public meetings and were advised it was not on their 20 year plans. It acquired land from owners unable to sell to private owners due to the gazetted road
zoning over their land.

Further time passed and we believed it made less and less sense to build the road on Russ Hinze’s corridor. We wondered why Main Roads would not fix the Kenmore Roundabout and provide support for OLR parents dropping off their children to the school.

Here we are today….

Sheryn Venamore

We moved into Twilight Street, 5+ years ago and will be directly affected by this road. As with all major purchases we did our ground work and paid a solicitor to do our conveyancing and were advised that a road was proposed back in the 70′s but it was not going a head and there was nothing in the plans to indicate there would be. We would not have bought this home if we had thought there was any chance of a road being put in our back yard. We bought this home because of the dog leash zone it backed onto, this was the clincher for us and we do not believe that we paid less for this house at the time than had we have bought elsewhere in a similar suburb.

Kathy

Sheryn – you obviously did your homework – unbelievable to be told ‘officially’ it wouldn’t happen. Unfortunately the ‘no plans’ clause says it all. We didn’t go to the extent you did but 16 years ago when we bought we were aware of the potential for a local road but were told by main roads dept that, while they couldn’t say it definitely wouldn’t go through, it had been on the drawing board for 15 years or so already and was very unlikely to proceed.

I wonder how many people buying at Moggill, Bellbowrie etc and concerned at the traffic delays were told the opposite, that is the road WILL go through versus us in our area being told (until recently) it would never happen. All the relatively new homes in the area (Gem, Kersley roads etc) must have been led to believe that too – like all of us, they wouldn’t have built or moved where they did if they thought a sub-arterial road was even a remote possibility.

Julie Woodward

I only came to Twilight street 2 and half years ago – I was told there was a possibility of a “local road” but it was highly unlikely and the agent told me there was nothing “on the books” until at least 2012. Never was a 4 lane motorway type road mentioned – clearly I would not have bought the house had I known. Having come from interstate I had no idea of the history of this road and took the agent at his word. Very, very unhappy!

Carol

Sorry to change the direction of the blog, there are some great suggestions for improving the traffic flow through Kenmore which I feel should seriously be considered and supported by the local population. Have any feasibility studies been carried out on the alternatives suggested? Also has any consideration been made for a City Cat express Service running From Bellbowrie to Kenmore then onto the city direct? Why does the City Cat stop at UQ?

Penny Behan

Hi Carol,
I have requested a meeting with Main Roads to discuss these issues 6 weeks ago via email and phone and then 2 weeks ago via mail with copies attached of 2 reports presented to Main Roads by Kenmore community groups 10 and 8 years ago. They said they will need time to prepare for the meeting. I will follow up. In 2000 Main Roads ran community consultation and our committee met over many months and generated many suggestions. I was secretary and kept copies of minutes/report. The suggestions would solve traffic congestion and school safety in Kenmore but most have not been implemented. I agree these issues should be seriously considered and supported by the local community in a stronger way than we have in the past. Ronan Lee has commented on the City Cat in the Brisbane Times. I think there is a link to his article on this site. Looking at sustainable transportation options should be something that is considered that may reduce road demand – always a good thing. Trying to be brief.

Kat

It is a false assumption that the only people who oppose the Kenmore Bypass live directly on the corridor.

It is also a false assumption that those people paid lower prices for their homes because of it. The data is pretty easy to crunch.

I would warn anyone near the proposed Stage Two of Moggill Pocket Sub-Arterial, if you think only Stage One will be built, and only support Stage One, you had better be advised on this issue. This isn’t scare tactics, this is the CURRENT tactic being used by proponents of the Kenmore Bypass.

Kathy

I agree it’s a false assumption people paid less because of the proximity to the road corridor. We certainly paid normal prices when we bought 16 years ago – there was no ‘cheap’ buys then because the stance was the bypass would never happen. At the time we checked the corridor out with Main Roads and were told the terrain made it too difficult (equating to too expensive) and it was highly unlikely it would be built.

And yes, anyone who thinks Stage 1 is it, is living in dreamland. As we’ve said over and over no government is going to spend hundreds of millions to ease the traffic woes of relatively few people. If Stage 1 goes in, Stage 2 is a certainty.

Craig Phasey

We purchased our house in December 2007 and checked our 2005 UBD when the agent advised that there was a road reserve next to the house (but that it had been investigated and rejected three times and would never be built). The UBD showed a clear area but no ‘proposed road’ as it now shows. If we got a discount then it is a great surprise. The house was still above the Kenmore median price.
If our houses are sold at depressed prices because of the possibility of the new road then surely all of the houses west of Kenmore are also sold at depressed prices because of the congestion in the area. I counter any argument that I oppose the road on financial grounds with the equally invalid argument that others support the road for their own personal financial gain – and to hell with the comunity we live in!