Coronation Drive | |
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Coronation Drive and Brisbane CBD viewed from Toowong Village in November 2019 | |
General information | |
Type | Road |
Length | 3.1 km (1.9 mi) |
Route number(s) | State Route 33 |
Major junctions | |
Northeast end | Pacific Motorway (M3), Brisbane |
Southwest end | Benson Street to High Street / Moggill Road (State Route 33), Toowong |
Location(s) | |
Major suburbs | Milton |
Coronation Drive, popularly known as Coro Drive, [1] is a road in Brisbane, Queensland which connects the Central Business District to the suburb of Toowong. It follows the Brisbane River from the Riverside Expressway, through the suburbs of Milton and Auchenflower, until it terminates in Toowong at Benson Road and High Street.
Coronation Drive is six lanes wide for the majority of its length, with the Bicentennial Bike Path also for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The road is one of the busiest in Brisbane, carrying an average of 75,560 vehicles per day between July and December 2014. [2]
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. [3] 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. [4] Brisbane Lord Mayor John Beals Chandler undertook the improvement and beautification of the road in order to fulfill his vision of a gracious city. [5]
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.
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. [6]
In September 2008, the Council announced a decision to scrap the Tidal Flow System after conceding it as a failure. [7] 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. [8] 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. [7] One of the inbound lanes will be made into a T2 lane once the Hale Street Bridge project is well developed. [9]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(October 2011) |
The Coronation Drive Tidal Flow System was implemented 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.
This article contains a bulleted list or table of intersections which should be presented in a properly formatted junction table.(December 2021) |
The entire road is in the Brisbane local government area.
Location | km | mi | Destinations | Notes | |
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Brisbane City | 0 | 0.0 | Riverside Expressway – south | Eastern end of the Coronation Drive (State Route 33) road continues as the Riverside Expressway (M3) to – Pacific Motorway, Gold Coast | |
0.1 | 0.062 | Grey Street (State Route 10) – William Jolly Bridge | Eastbound exit only | ||
v – Brisbane City boundary | 0.5 | 0.31 | Hale Street – north – Inner City Bypass (M3) / south – Go Between Bridge | No westbound access to Go Between Bridge | |
Milton | 1.3 | 0.81 | Park Road | No right turn from Park Road | |
Auchenflower | 2.3 | 1.4 | Land Street | No right turn from Land Street | |
Toowong | 2.7 | 1.7 | Sylvan Street | ||
3.1 | 1.9 | Benson Street | Western end of the Coronation Drive (State Route 33) | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi |
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The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane in 1823. The penal colony of Moreton Bay later adopted the same name, eventually becoming the present city of Brisbane. The river is a tidal estuary and the water is brackish from its mouth through the majority of the Brisbane metropolitan area westward to the Mount Crosby Weir. The river is wide and navigable throughout the Brisbane metropolitan area.
The William Jolly Bridge is a heritage-listed road bridge over the Brisbane River between North Quay in the Brisbane central business district and Grey Street in South Brisbane, within City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Harding Frew and built from 1928 to 1932 by MR Hornibrook.
Milton is a riverside inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, the population of Milton was 2,274 people.
St Lucia is a riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census St Lucia had a population of 12,574 people. The University of Queensland is the main attraction of St Lucia, with the university, and residential colleges covering a large proportion of the suburb. St Lucia is home to a diverse range of people and families. Typically, the student population of St Lucia is high, especially in dwellings in the immediate vicinity of the university, but the suburb is also home to wealthy professionals and families.
The Houghton Highway is a 2.74 km (1.70 mi) reinforced concrete viaduct, the second bridge to be built across Hays Inlet at Bramble Bay connecting the cities of Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. The bridge, along with the third bridge, the Ted Smout Memorial Bridge, were the longest bridges in the country until 27 March 2013, when the Macleay River Bridge opened in Kempsey, NSW.
Toowong is a riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Toowong had a population of 10,830 people.
Taringa is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Taringa had a population of 8,376 people.
Indooroopilly is a riverside suburb 7km west of the Brisbane CBD, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Indooroopilly had a population of 12,242 people.
The Western Freeway is a 5-kilometre-long (3.1 mi) freeway in western Brisbane that runs from Milton Road in Toowong to the western side of Indooroopilly where the freeway becomes the M5 Centenary Motorway. The freeway bears the symbol and forms part of Metroad 5. There is one interchange, at Indooroopilly onto Moggill Road. A bicycle path runs the length of the freeway, allowing commuting to Toowong and onto Brisbane by bicycle.
Brookfield is a rural residential suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Brookfield had a population of 3,524 people.
TransApex was a road transport plan devised by Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman in the early 2000s to connect existing motorways and major arterial roads with new transport links and divert cross-city traffic out of the Brisbane central business district. The plan is currently being delivered by Brisbane City Council at an estimated total cost of over $10 billion across five stages. According to the Brisbane City Council website, TransApex is "the biggest urban road project proposed in Australia".
Auchenflower is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Kenmore is a riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Kenmore had a population of 9,675 people.
Moggill is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Moggill had a population of 4,641 people.
Chuwar is a town and suburb of Ipswich in the City of Ipswich and a locality of the City of Brisbane in South East Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, the suburb of Chuwar had a population of 2,244 people.
North Quay is a location in the Brisbane central business district and the name of a street in the same area, running along the Brisbane River from an intersection near Makerston Street to the top of the Queen Street mall, linking the Victoria Bridge and the William Jolly Bridge along the river's northern bank. It was the site of Brisbane’s initial settlement, at a point where a stream flowing from Spring Hill provided fresh water, later collected in a reservoir on Tank Street.
Moggill Road is a major road in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It commences at High Street at Toowong and terminates at the Moggill Ferry in Moggill. It is part of State Route 33. The road carried an average of 39,305 vehicles per day between July and December 2014.
The Go Between Bridge, formerly known as the Hale Street Link, is a toll bridge for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists over the Brisbane River in inner-city Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The bridge connects Merivale and Cordelia Streets in West End to Hale Street and the Inner City Bypass at Milton. It is Brisbane's first inner-city traffic bridge in 40 years and carries around 12,000 vehicles per day. The bridge opened to traffic on 5 July 2010 and is now operated by Transurban Queensland.
East-West Link is a proposed road tunnel in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It forms the fifth and final component of Brisbane City Council's TransApex plan to connect motorways across the city, construct new river crossings and divert cross-city traffic out of the Brisbane CBD.
Middenbury House is a heritage-listed house at 600 Coronation Drive, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1866. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 July 2014.