RACQ

Unroadworthy
Roads Survey
2018

Author Public Policy

Date July 2018

Title: RACQ Unroadworthy Roads Survey

Issued Date: July 2018 Page: 1 of 7
Introduction
To raise awareness about the condition of Queensland’s roads, the RACQ conducts the
Unroadworthy Roads survey asking respondents to nominate those roads they consider to be in
a poor or inadequate condition, unfit for the function they are designed to perform and not
providing an acceptable level of service to the road user. This 2018 survey adds to the growing
database of respondent views gathered in previous surveys conducted in 2001, 2005, 2008,
2011 and 2016.

The views expressed by respondents to the abovementioned surveys provide road user
feedback on road features which complement other RACQ studies of crash statistics and
technical road design information analysed and discussed in the Australian Road Assessment
Program (AusRAP).

The main aims of the survey were to:

• identify the worst roads in Queensland according to members’ perceptions for the
purpose of lobbying government authorities for increased levels of road funding;
• establish the major deficiencies and problems associated with Queensland’s road
infrastructure; and
• compare results with previous Unroadworthy Roads surveys

Results from the survey will be provided to road authorities to help identify and support
improvements on their road network.

Title: RACQ Unroadworthy Roads Survey

Issued Date: July 2018 Page: 2 of 7
Results
RACQ received:

• 1643 total responses; highlighting

• 607 different unroadworthy roads throughout Queensland

Image 1 (below) shows a heat map of locations nominated by respondents. This interactive map
is available under the Unroadworthy Roads tab at https://www.racq.com.au/cars-and-
driving/representing-queensland-drivers/road-surveys-and-assessments

Additional comments provided by respondents, by road name and suburb, can be found in the
Unroadworthy Roads Technical Appendix available from the link above.

Image 1 – Heat map showing nominated Unroadworthy Road locations

Title: RACQ Unroadworthy Roads Survey

Issued Date: July 2018 Page: 3 of 7
Table 1 – ‘Top 10’ roads with summary description of nominated problems
#
Rank Road Name Responses Summary description of nominated problems
Respondents nominated that the Bruce Highway was rough, narrow, pot holed, lacked overtaking opportunities
1 Bruce Highway 94 and was prone to flooding, especially from Gladstone to north of Mackay. Congestion issues were also raised
between Brisbane and Sunshine Coast.

A vocal community identified problems with pot holes, sharp curves and only a single lane underpass of the railway
2 Alma Road 81
line.

Respondents mostly nominated lack of safe overtaking opportunities, rough, pot holed and a narrow road surface
Mount Lindesay between Browns Plains and the NSW border. Dangerous intersections (Greenbank Road is currently being
3 70
Highway upgraded) and high mix of heavy vehicles. Traffic growth has outstripped upgrades, especially between Park Ridge
and Jimboomba, creating congestion and difficulty in overtaking, while the highway condition has deteriorated.
Narrow, winding and slippery road with a lack of overtaking opportunities on the Kuranda Range section. Cairns to
Atherton sections also prone to surface failures, poor patch repairs and lack of safe overtaking opportunities.
4 Kennedy Highway 64
Respondents said that these issues, combined with the significant number of heavy vehicles makes this road
unsafe.

Poor surface prone to pot holes and surface failures - Traffic volumes increasing as it links emerging communities at
=5 Henry Road 50
Griffin to Dohles Rocks Road and Bruce Highway.

Most responses highlighted the significant congestion and safety issues to the south of Brisbane, southern Gold
=5 Pacific Motorway 50
Coast area and at Exit ramps 49 to 57.

Dangerous intersection at Foxwell Road / Learning Street. Motorists feel unsafe when turning right out of Learning
7 Foxwell Road 27
Street due to high speeds and a blind corner.

Speed limit too high, potholes, trees, poor visibility, overcrowded, no lighting. Poor visibility, speeding and poor
8 Yawalpah Road 25
driver behaviour at Attenborough Rd roundabout off the M1.

Road is narrow, high speed and in poor condition. High volumes of traffic and lack of overtaking lanes and
Ipswich Boonah
9 23 opportunities leads to dangerous overtaking manoeuvres. Unsafe intersections, blind corners and hidden
Road
driveways. Road quality and condition has not kept pace with increase in traffic.

Respondents identified that the road is in very poor condition, rough, pot holed and not up to standard, especially
10 D’Aguilar Highway 18 between Woodford and Kilcoy. It is a very busy corridor carrying a significant number of heavy vehicles with very
few overtaking opportunities.

The Bruce Highway again attracted the most nominations for a single road in Queensland,
similar to previous surveys (see Table 1). However, as a proportion of total responses received,
the Bruce Highway has dropped substantially since the 2011 survey, indicating that Federal and
Queensland Government investment in the $8.5 billion, 10-year, Bruce Highway Upgrade
Program (2013-2023) has improved the quality and standard of the road.

This was replicated for the Warrego Highway, dropping from 2nd highest number of responses in
2011 to 8th in 2016 and in this survey to 30th. There has been significant investment over the
past 3-5 years to widen, install overtaking lanes, improve drainage and flood immunity and
rehabilitate sections, improving the standard of the corridor.

Alma Road at Dakabin received the 2nd highest number of nominations and has not featured
prominently in previous surveys. They identified road surface failures a substandard curve and
the single lane underpass of the North Coast railway line.

The Pacific Motorway jumped up to 2nd in the survey, mainly due to significant congestion and
safety concerns to the south of Brisbane (Eight Mile Plains to Loganholme), southern section at
the Gold Coast and at Exits 49 to 57. Motorists feel the road is not fit for purpose as part of
Queensland’s major north-south corridor.

Title: RACQ Unroadworthy Roads Survey

Issued Date: July 2018 Page: 4 of 7
The Mt Lindesay Highway, Kennedy Highway and D’Aguilar Highway all attracted similar
complaints, being generally rough and narrow with a lack of overtaking opportunities.

Henry Road did not feature in the 2016 survey, however it received equal 5th highest number of
nominations in this year’s survey. This road is under pressure with increased traffic volumes
from emerging communities in Griffin, as it provides a link to Dohles Rocks Road and Bruce
Highway. Respondents identified a poor surface prone to pot holes and surface failures.

Yawalpah Road and Foxwell Road had not received many responses in past surveys but are
both emerging areas with increased traffic demand. Yawalpah Road registers complaints about
surface condition, speeding and concerns at the roundabout at Attenborough Road, at the exit of
the Pacific Motorway (M1). Foxwell Road was identified as having a dangerous intersection at
Learning Street, with high traffic volumes, lack of sight distance to enter Foxwell Road and
speeding issues raised.

Ipswich Boonah Road featured at No.9 position. Respondents were forthcoming with their
assessment, citing it as dangerous, due to being a narrow, high speed, high volume road in poor
condition lacking overtaking chances. Unsafe intersections, blind corners and hidden driveways
was also nominated. An overall assessment is that the road quality and condition has not kept
pace with increases in traffic.

Most nominated problems

As shown in Table 2 below, the top five problems were ‘Rough surface’ (60% of responses),
followed by ‘Narrow road / lanes’ (49% of responses), ‘Poor shoulders’ (45% of responses),
‘Lack of overtaking opportunities’ (37% of responses) and ‘Flood prone’ (30%). Respondents
were able to nominate more than one problem on a road.

Table 2 – Most nominated problems

#
Problems Responses
Rough Surface 980
Narrow road/lanes 798
Poor shoulders 747
Lack of overtaking opportunities 602
Flood prone 493
Tight curves / blind crests 474
Poor road markings 466
Poor drainage 415
Slippery / Loose surface 383
Narrow bridge/culvert 299
Poor or inadequate road lighting 424
Hazardous roadsides 294
Poor signing 273
Poor or no guard rail 269
Objects block visibility 273
Steep grade 142

Title: RACQ Unroadworthy Roads Survey

Issued Date: July 2018 Page: 5 of 7
Historical ranking of problems

The top four problem responses in 2018 (‘rough surface’, ‘poor road shoulders’ and ‘narrow road
/ lanes’) were the same for all previous surveys (2001, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2016), as shown in
Table 3 below.

‘Rough surface’ has topped the list in all surveys while ‘poor road shoulders’ dropped to third in
2016 and again in 2018 with ‘narrow road / lanes’ taking second.

A lack of overtaking opportunities was not included as a road problem option in the 2001 survey
but was suggested by respondents within the ‘problem description’ area of the survey form.
Hence it was added into all surveys since 2001 and has received the fourth highest number of
nominations since 2005.

A lack of overtaking opportunities is a frustration for motorists and becomes more prevalent as
traffic volumes rise.

Table 3 - Ranking of problems for 2001, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2016
RANK
Problem 2001 2005 2008 2011 2016 2018
Rough surface 1 1 1 1 1 1
Poor road shoulders 3 2 2 2 3 3
Narrow road/lanes 2 3 3 3 2 2
Lack of overtaking opportunities N/A 4 4 4 4 4

‘Top 30’ List of roads with number of responses to identified problems

Table 4 below lists the top 30 nominated roads and the number of responses to each individual
problem listed on the survey form. The full list of nominated roads are provided in the
Unroadworthy Roads Technical Appendix.

Respondents also had the opportunity to provide specific comments about the problem with
each road they nominated. These additional comments are provided in the Unroadworthy Roads
Technical Appendix.

Title: RACQ Unroadworthy Roads Survey

Issued Date: July 2018 Page: 6 of 7
Table 4 - ‘Top 30’ List of roads with number of responses to identified problems

IDENTIFIED PROBLEMS
Tight Poor or
Narrow Lack of curves / Slippery / Narrow inadequate Poor or Objects
# Rough road / Poor overtaking Flood blind Poor road Poor Loose bridge / road Hazardous Poor no guard block Steep
Rank Road Name Responses Surface lanes shoulder opportunities prone crests markings drainage surface culvert lighting roadside signing rail visibility grade
1 Bruce Highway 94 64 37 46 37 37 14 32 22 20 19 21 15 17 14 14 8
2 Alma Road 81 28 60 27 15 21 53 28 14 10 41 35 11 24 11 19 4
3 Mount Lindesay Highway 70 41 37 38 46 29 14 18 12 13 10 27 16 14 16 13 2
4 Kennedy Highway 64 34 44 44 52 10 40 14 26 41 4 20 21 8 21 14 21
5 Henry Road 50 44 29 27 15 45 5 27 38 19 1 36 11 11 14 5 1
6 Pacific Motorway 50 8 13 9 8 2 2 10 1 1 2 1 2 4 2 3 -
7 Foxwell Road 27 3 3 4 - 2 16 2 1 - - 6 2 4 1 3 -
8 Yawalpah Road 25 14 14 7 12 3 10 6 4 4 8 10 3 9 4 1 2
9 Ipswich Boonah Road 23 18 13 19 20 15 10 5 10 6 2 11 7 1 4 7 -
10 D’Aguilar Highway 18 16 6 7 12 7 6 5 4 5 1 4 2 3 4 5 1
11 Cunningham Highway 15 12 6 6 5 2 1 5 3 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 -
12 Dohles Rocks Road 15 14 11 12 6 10 4 9 9 5 - 10 5 4 4 2 -
13 Moore Park Road 13 10 9 10 6 12 5 2 7 4 2 4 3 2 4 2 -
14 Youngs Crossing Road 13 10 8 7 - 11 4 2 2 1 8 9 - 1 2 - 3
15 Yandina Bli Bli Road 12 - 6 1 3 6 6 1 - 1 11 1 2 2 1 1 2
16 Capricorn Highway 11 6 2 4 7 2 2 1 2 2 1 3 2 2 2 2 1
17 Linkfield Road 11 - 6 2 2 - 2 - - - 3 1 - 1 1 - -
18 Waterford Tamborine Road 11 6 4 4 5 4 2 2 2 3 2 3 2 4 1 2 1
19 Captain Cook Highway 10 5 5 5 5 4 5 3 2 6 - 1 1 2 1 1 2
20 Centenary Motorway 10 - 2 1 5 - - - - - 2 - - - - - -
21 Mossman Mt Molloy Road 10 7 4 5 1 8 1 3 6 1 3 2 1 1 1 1 -
22 Rickertt Road 10 3 6 5 4 8 - 2 6 - 7 4 - 2 - - -
23 Beechmont Road 9 5 9 8 9 2 9 5 5 4 3 5 3 - 9 5 3
24 Brisbane Valley Highway 9 7 5 7 7 2 2 3 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 - -
25 Fitzroy Developmental Road 9 9 4 3 4 3 2 4 2 5 4 4 2 1 1 2 1
26 Gore Highway 9 9 4 7 6 6 2 1 - - - - - - 1 2 -
27 Palmerston Highway 9 9 3 5 2 - 2 1 4 3 - 1 3 - 1 2 3
28 Tamborine Oxenford Road 9 2 1 4 1 1 5 1 1 4 - 3 1 2 1 3 2
29 Warrego Highway 9 8 4 2 4 1 2 2 4 2 1 1 2 2 3 1 1
30 Marlborough Sarina Road 8 7 5 6 3 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 4 2 3 3 2

Title: RACQ Unroadworthy Roads Survey

Issued Date: July 2018 Page: 7 of 7