Coronation Drive

History

Coronation Drive started out as a rough track that developed along the river during the 1840s. It was initially called Moggill Road (because it was the road to Moggill), then later (1870s) it became known as the River Road. In 1937 the River Road was renamed Coronation Drive in honour of the coronation of King George VI, a suggestion made by Archbishop James Duhig. On 13 May 1937, the Governor of Queensland Sir Leslie Wilson planted a small bunya tree on North Quay, Brisbane to mark the name change. Brisbane Lord Mayor John Beals Chandler undertook the improvement and beautification of the road in order to fulfill his vision of a gracious city.

Coronation Drive developed as the major transport route for the western suburbs along with Milton Road. A landslide caused by flood waters in 1974 closed Coronation Drive due to cracking and subsidence. The flood caused the redirection of Coronation Drive so that traffic inbound to Brisbane City turned left at the Sylvan Road intersection, and then right down Land Street. This diversion remained in place for nearly 30 years.

In 2004 Coronation Drive was completely redeveloped into its current day form, with the redirection removed and widening to allow 6 lanes of traffic. Former Lord Mayor Jim Soorley inaugurated a series of "tidal flow" traffic lights in both directions, as well as a dedicated bus lane, in order to ease congestion along the road. Upon the election of Campbell Newman, the bus lanes were changed to T3 Transit Lanes with three occupants required. In March 2007 the T3 transit lane restrictions were removed after Campbell Newman requested the change based on analysis showing that only 5% of vehicles actually use the T3 lane. The Labor opposition did not block the change.

In September 2008, the Council announced a decision to scrap the Tidal Flow System after conceding it as a failure. This decision was influenced by the construction of the Hale Street Bridge and also the maintenance cost of the system, amounting to $600,000 each year, with a further $7 million in repairs. Instead, 3 permanent lanes will be inbound to the city and 2 lanes outbound. Statistics show that more traffic travels inbound than outbound at both morning and afternoon peak hours. One of the inbound lanes will be made into a T2 lane once the Hale Street Bridge project is well developed.

Tidal Flow System

The Coronation Drive Tidal Flow System was implemented in 2002 to improve traffic flow along the routinely congested road. It consisted of overhead gantries displaying white arrows or red crosses to indicate which lanes can be driven in, LED signs on approach that indicated current lanes open, LED catseye markers embedded in the road that were turned on and off to move the median line and boom gates that would swing into the lanes when closed to stop use of the closed lane.

The Tidal Flow System was heavily criticised by the public for a number of reasons. These included the perception that the lane system was confusing and caused road accidents, especially when drivers were required to make turns on or off the tidal flow system. Lights in the road meant to guide drivers were often broken and during daylight hours were hard to discern. In particular, the right hand turn from Coronation Drive onto Lang Street (outbound) has two lanes and drivers were routinely confused as to which lane on Lang street they should turn into.

The Tidal Flow System was well over budget, with the cost of the system far higher than originally planned. The system was prone to vandalism, in particular the boom gates used to block off lanes were routinely hit by vehicles. Critics claimed that the tidal flow system had not been effective in improving traffic flow. The primary reason given is due to traffic in both directions being high at peak hour due to the University of Queensland bound traffic balancing the city bound traffic. The tidal flow system did not close lanes due to traffic accidents or roadworks, instead, traditional vehicles and signage were used, leaving a much touted feature of the system unutilised. Out of state or overseas drivers tended to not understand the system and its dynamic lanes, thus were likely to end up driving in T3/Bus lanes or not merging when they should.

The Tidal Flow System was dismantled and removed at the end of 2008 after a decision by the Brisbane City Council. A similar system was operated on the Houghton Highway across Bramble Bay at Redcliffe until the opening of the Ted Smout Memorial Bridge in 2011.

Major intersections and landmarks

• Grey Street / William Jolly Bridge
  • Coronation Drive: Coronation Drive retaining wall
• Boomerang Street / Go Between Bridge
• Cribb Street
  • 249 Coronation Drive: Cook Terrace
• Park Road
• Graham Street
• Lang Parade
• Chasely Street
  • 451 Coronation Drive: Moorlands
• Land Street
• Sylvan Road
  • 543 Coronation Drive: Regatta Hotel
  • 579–583 Coronation Drive: former Toowong Municipal Library Building
  • 600 Coronation Drive: Middenbury House
• Benson Street

The entire road is in the Brisbane local government area. road continues as the Riverside Expressway (M3) to – Pacific Motorway, Gold Coast

| title-bg = #999999 | text-width = 150 \RP4\~~ Riverside Expressway/Pacific Motorway \RP4\WCONTg Brisbane River downstream to Moreton Bay \RP2+l\RP2yRP4new\RP2+r\WASSER RP1s+4\RP2\RP1K+l\RP2KwnRP1\WASSER North Quay hSKRZ-G1aq\hSKRZ-G2q\hSKRZ-G1q\hSKRZ-G2q\hKRZWeq Kurilpa Bridge (Pedestrian Bridge) RP1KesRP1\RP2KwnRP1\RP1\RP2\WASSER RP1xRP1!~lAMPEL\RP2xRP1!~lAMPEL\RP1rf\RP2\WASSER ~~ Herschel Street RP1xRP1!~lAMPEL\RP2xRP1!~lAMPEL\RD1+r\RP2\WASSER ~~ Makerston Street RP1KenRP1\RP2KwsRP1\RD1Kl\RP2KwsRP1\WASSER ~~ Emergency access only from Makerston St RP1\RP2l\RP2yRP4sew\RP2rf\WASSER RP1xRP2!~lAMPEL\hRP2aq\RP4uhRP2\hRP2q\hRP2oWeq Grey Street/William Jolly Bridge RP1wRP2\RP4\WASSER ~~ Eagle Terrace RP1l\RP1q\RP4KwsRP1\WASSER \RP2+l\RP2yRP4new\RP2+r\WASSER CONTg@Gq\hSKRZ-G2aq\hSTRq\hSKRZ-G2q\hKRZWeq!~CONTf@Fq Merivale Bridge, Roma Street to South Brisbane RP2q\RP2wRP2\RP1K+l\RP2KwnRP1\WASSER ~~ Exford Street RP4KswRP1\RP2xRP4!~lAMPEL\hRP1oRP4a\RP2oRP4\RP4oWq Inner City Bypass/Go Between Bridge RP1KneRP1\RP2uhRP1w\hRP1r\RP2\WASSER ~~ Boomerang Street (to Milton Road) \RP2KenRP1\RP1q\RP2KwsRP1\WASSER \RP2l\RP2yRP4sew\RP2rf\WASSER \RP2q\RP4wRP2!~lAMPEL\WASSER Cribb Street \RP2q\RP4wRP2!~lAMPEL\WASSER Park Road -startCollapsible-collapsed-replace \LRP4\WASSER Local Road Connections \RP2q\RP4wRP2!~lAMPEL\WASSER ~~ Graham Street \RP4\FERRY\WASSER Milton ferry terminal \WCONTgq\RP4oW\WASSERq\WABZgr ~~ Milton Canal \RP2q\RP4wRP2!~lAMPEL\WASSER ~~ Lang Parade \RP2q\RP4wRP2!~lAMPEL\WASSER ~~ Chasely Street \RP2q\RP4wRP2!~lAMPEL\WASSER Land Street \RP2q\RP4KwnRP1\WASSER ~~ Patrick Lane -endCollapsible- \RP2q\RP4wRP2!~lAMPEL\WASSER Croydon Street/Morley Street \RP2q\RP4wnsRP2\WASSER ~~ Landsborough Terrace \RP4\FERRY\WASSER Regatta ferry terminal \RP4\WCONTf Brisbane River towards Centenary Bridge -startCollapsible-collapsed-replace \LRP4\ Local Road Connections \RP2q\RP4wnsRP2\ ~~ Booth Street \RP4!~lAMPEL\ \RP1q\RP4wRP1\ ~~ ~~Toowong Village access \RP4ensRP2\RP2q~~ ~~ Archer Street -endCollapsible- \CONT4+f!~PORTALf\RP4\ Main Line railway to Auchenflower \tSTR!~TRAIN2\RP4\ Toowong station \CONT3+g!~PORTALg\RP4\ Main Line railway to Taringa \RP4\ ~~Benson Street, to High Street

References

References

1. "Brisbane's Coronation Drive traffic".
2. Kristian Silva. (18 March 2015). "Brisbane traffic increasing, report shows". Fairfax Media.
3. [http://www.toowongwest.org.au/history_street_names.htm History of a street name - West Toowong] {{webarchive. link. (2011-02-18 , accessed 8 March 2011.)
4. (14 May 1937). "In other cities". National Library of Australia.
5. (14 May 1937). "IN OTHER CITIES.". [[The Advertiser (Adelaide).
6. Laverty, John. (1997). "Brisbane:Corridors of Power". Brisbane History Group Inc.
7. [http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21421381-952,00.html Courier Mail Article on Removing T3 lanes]
8. (1 September 2008). "Coronation Drive's tidal flow system scrapped". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
9. Tony Moore (27 August 2008). [http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/coronation-drive-lane-system-a-failure/2008/08/27/1219516522271.html Coro Drive lane system 'a failure'] {{webarchive. link. (31 August 2008 . Brisbane Times.)
10. Tony Moore (2 September 2008). [http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/months-to-ditch-coro-drive-expensive-flop/2008/09/01/1220121101992.html Months to ditch Coro Drive 'expensive flop'] {{webarchive. link. (6 September 2008 . Brisbane Times.)
11. Phipps, Julia. (1 September 2008). "Permanent lanes replace Coronation Dr tidal flow". Nationwide News.
12. {{cite QHR. 14909. Coronation Drive (North Quay) Retaining Wall. 600134
13. {{cite QHR. 15025. Cook Terrace. 600250
14. {{cite QHR. 14827. Moorlands. 600052
15. {{cite QHR. 15106. Regatta Hotel. 600331
16. {{cite QHR. 16747. Toowong Municipal Library (former). 602011
17. {{cite QHR. 15105. Middenbury. 600330