Additional $160 million for the Mooloolah River Interchange

The Palaszczuk Government will commit $160 million to the Mooloolah River Interchange to funding in last week’s State Budget, resulting in $320 million in joint funding to improve traffic flow for one of the Sunshine Coast’s most congested intersections.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the investment will create 290 jobs and join the pipeline of upgrades in the government’s $52 billion, four-year infrastructure program across the state that are supporting Queensland’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan.

The Mooloolah River Interchange is located on the Sunshine Coast, south west of Mooloolaba, and connects the Sunshine Motorway, Nicklin Way and Brisbane Road. These three key regional roads lack the capacity to accommodate forecast travel demand, resulting in significant congestion.

This project will deliver two packages of work: 

Package 1 – includes a new local road connecting Karawatha Drive to Brisbane Road, new flyovers connecting to Sunshine Motorway west, and an interim reconfiguration of the ramp connections between the Sunshine Motorway north-south and east-west carriageways. 

Package 2 – includes a new bridge linking Nicklin Way northbound to Brisbane Road.

The project will improve safety by reducing crashes at the Mooloolah River Interchange and improve travel time reliability on the Sunshine Coast.

Planning has been completed, which includes finalisation of  the detailed business case  and  the final planning layout for the Mooloolah River Interchange at Mountain Creek.

This project will improve north–south travel between key residential, employment, health and education facilities to support population, economic and tourism growth in one of Australia's fastest growing regions.

In addition to improved transport capacity, reliability and safety, the Mooloolah River Interchange will also improve access for local communities in the Mooloolaba, Mountain Creek and Birtinya areas, and improve active transport connectivity.

Benefits

Key features

The first stage of this project will include:

•  A new road overpass to provide a more direct and efficient connection from Nicklin Way to Brisbane Road in Mooloolaba.
•  A new local road connection between Karawatha Drive in Mountain Creek and Brisbane Road in Mooloolaba.

Future stages included in the planning layout will deliver: 

•  A new crossing of the Mooloolah River, connecting the Sunshine Motorway to Kawana Way.
•  A major interchange, the Mooloolah River Interchange, with connections to the Sunshine Motorway to the west and north, Nicklin Way to the south-east, and Kawana Way to the south.
•  An upgrade of the Sunshine Motorway from 2 to 4 lanes between the existing Kawana Way Interchange and the Mooloolah River Interchange.
•  A direct, safe and efficient connection for the Sunshine Motorway, north to west.
•  An additional northbound lane on the Sunshine Motorway.

Funding

The Queensland Government has committed $160 million to deliver this project as part of the Queensland Transport and Roads Investment Program. This is in addition to $7.5 million allocated to completing the detailed business case (Investment ID 845801).

The Australian Government has committed $160 million to deliver this project.

Stage 1 of the project is funded and will be constructed first.
 

Planning layout

Stage 1 plan (local road connections)

Mooloolah River Interchange location map 

1.  An additional northbound lane between the Mooloolah River Interchange and Buderim-Mooloolaba Interchange
2.  New Sunshine Motorway overpass for traffic travelling from north to west (replaces existing loop configuration)
3.  New overpass providing eastbound traffic with a direct link to Brisbane Road
4.  Duplication of the Sunshine Motorway between the existing Kawana Way Interchange and the new Mooloolah River Interchange, completing four-lanes to the Bruce Highway
5.  New direct local road connection between Karawatha Drive and Brisbane Road, removing the need for local drivers to weave across Sunshine Motorway traffic
6.  New overpass to connect Nicklin Way northbound with Brisbane Road (replaces existing loop configuration to Mooloolaba)
7.  New active transport provisions (pathways and cycle lanes) linking Parrearra, Mountain Creek and Mooloolaba
8.  New Mooloolah River Crossing connecting the Sunshine Motorway to Kawana Way
9.  New signalised intersection with Kawana Way

Current status

Community consultation on the planning layout will be undertaken in the coming months. Feedback provided by the community will be considered as part of the detailed design, which is the next phase for this project. 

Construction will start once detailed design is completed.