Clem Jones Tunnel

Motorway tunnel in Brisbane

The M7 Clem Jones Tunnel (CLEM7), known during its development as the North–South Bypass Tunnel (NSBT), is a A$3.2 billion motorway grade toll road under the Brisbane River, between Woolloongabba and Bowen Hills in Brisbane, Queensland. The tunnel was progressively opened to traffic from late on 15 March 2010 until just after midnight on 16 March 2010. It was completely open by 12:02 am. The tunnel was originally proposed by Labor Lord Mayor Jim Soorley in 2001, and was incorporated into the Liberal Party candidate Campbell Newman's five tunnel vision, called TransApex, in 2002. In December 2007, Brisbane City Council decided to name the tunnel the Clem Jones Tunnel in honour of the former lord mayor. On 16 July 2008, the Government of Queensland announced that the tunnel "heralds Queensland’s newest motorway the M7". It is Brisbane’s first privately financed inner city toll road, Despite being completed on time and on budget, the tunnel has been an economic failure due to incorrect predictions of traffic volume. RiverCity Motorway did not collect enough tolls to pay the interest on its $1.3 billion debt and went into receivership. With no hope of profit and therefore no dividend, RiverCity Motorways shares are now worthless, costing investors millions. On 25 February 2011, Rivercity Motorways was placed into receivership after being unable to pay interest on its debt. In December 2013, Queensland Motorways, operator of the Gateway and Logan motorways, took over tolling and operation of CLEM7. In July 2014, Queensland Motorways was acquired by a consortium (Transurban Queensland) led by toll road operator Transurban, which now manages and operates the tunnel.

The motorway is designed to alleviate traffic congestion in the rapidly growing city, especially in the congested central business district and Fortitude Valley. It has two lanes of traffic in each direction via parallel tubes. There are 41 cross passages spaced every in the tunnel for use in emergencies. The ventilation system incorporates 100 jet fans. The eight speed cameras form Queensland's highest concentration of fixed speed detection devices and have been justified as a way of reducing the potential for high speed crashes. A traffic control centre staffed by 50 personnel continually monitors the tunnel using 250 cameras. The red and purple colours were inspired by the jacaranda and poinciana trees. Included in the design are a series of urban enhancements such as parklands and road widening in adjacent suburbs.

The successful tenderer, Rivercity Motorway Limited, was announced by Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman on 27 April 2006, beating a bid by the Brisconnections consortium. Unreliable source: reason=domain on WP:BLACKLIST Contracts for design and construction were awarded to Leighton Contractors and a Baulderstone/Bilfinger Berger joint venture. Transurban declined to place a tender because of risk return factors. The losing bid by the Brisconnections consortium incorporated three lanes of traffic in each direction (as opposed to two lanes for the winning bid). With a price difference of A$20 million the decision to build a two lane tunnel was criticised in some circles as short sighted. The shares were listed on the ASX at $0.46, 8% below the offer price, and by August 2010 have traded for as little as $0.019. Dividends were discontinued in September 2008. The ASX issuer code for the Rivercity Motorway Group is RCY. The tunnel was acquired by Queensland Motorways in a $618 million deal with the RiverCity Motorway receivers in 2013. At the start of the project it was the longest road tunnel being built in the country. 3.5 million tonnes of excavated rock was removed by conveyor, stored in silos and taken away by truck. The system was designed to monitor site access and asset location and improve safety and efficiency in a high profile and potentially hazardous worksite. Difficult drilling conditions, due to the very hard Brisbane tuff rock under inner Brisbane, were encountered and overcome. Both purpose built double shield boring machines began on the northern end, with the first arriving in Brisbane in July 2007 and cutting commencing in December after testing. Each machine cost A$50 million to build. Florence completed tunnelling work on 16 April 2009, while Matilda completed tunneling work on 26 May 2009. There was some controversy over the environmental hazards that may be caused by construction and operation. One purple structure was built in Jurgens Street, Woolloongabba, another red stack was constructed in O'Connell Terrace, Bowen Hills. Following the run, the public walk through the tunnel attracted 55,000 people.

Starting on 22 March 2010, a new bus route 77 runs the tunnel at a cost of $1.6 million, linking Eight Mile Plains and Chermside, completing the cross city journey in 39 minutes every 15 minutes at peak times and 30 minutes off peak.

Toll collection is by an electronic tolling system using an e TAG fitted inside vehicles or by taking a photograph of the registration number, avoiding the need for vehicles to slow or stop. Rivercity Motorway claims the toll is the lowest per kilometre of similar tunnels in Australia. An image processing fee of 47 cents is levied on vehicles without an e tag from 15 September 2010. The tolls are expected to increase on 1 January each year according with Brisbane CPI. These toll rates are as expensive as the Sydney Cross City Tunnel which is Australia's most expensive toll road. Due to lack of patronage, on 28 June 2010 River City Motorways announced reduced tolls of $2.00 per car from 1 July 2010 until 15 November 2010, hoping to increase traffic. On 1 January 2014, new owners Queensland Motorways increased all tolls. Transurban Queensland now operates the tunnel. Toll prices for the tunnel were then increased every 1 July to be in line with other Brisbane toll roads.

The tunnel was predicted by Rivercity Motorways to carry around 60,000 trips each day. The lower traffic volumes resulted in the toll discount period being extended to 30 June 2010, A new record of 34,705 vehicles was reached on 13 August 2010. As of February 2012 the average volume is 21,990 vehicles per day, less than 50% of the predicted opening volume. Between June 2011 and June 2012, vehicle traffic decreased by 9% to an average of 24,055 vehicles per day. The traffic estimates produced for Rivercity Motorway by Maunsell (now AECOM) include a two year ramp up period from opening at 60,000 to an annual average daily volume of 100,000 vehicles in 2012. No ramp up had occurred by March 2011, and the volume of 34,075 peak If Northern Link is built, these estimates fall to 65,900 in 2014 and 82,000 in 2026 (40% less than the Maunsell estimates). In the most recent Rivercity Motorway Financial Report it was noted that "if traffic assumptions over the entire concession period differed to estimates by +/ 5% then the value in use would be impacted by +/ $99 million". After opening, the tunnel was found to save an average of eight minutes travel time. During the toll free period, traffic on the Pacific Motorway, Captain Cook Bridge, inner city bypass, and Story Bridge decreased by over 10%, while traffic on Lutwyche Road increased by over 20%. After the toll was implemented, only the Story Bridge and Inner City Bypass showed a reduction (of around 5%) in traffic compared to before the tunnel was open. The tunnel saw an average of 29,000 vehicles per day in December 2018, and dropped to 27,000 vehicles per day in December 2019.