Mayor’s column | Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce monthly newsletter – November 2024
Big things happening on Springfield Parkway
I recently inspected progress at the Springfield Parkway Springfield Greenbank Arterial Duplication project. Significant development has been made with the completion of a giant 3.6-meter-high culvert, installed along Opossum Creek, futureproofing the road from flooding events.
The culvert is made up of three cells, using an impressive 20 tonnes of steel and more than 160 cubic metres of concrete, working to divert thousands of litres of water away from the road during rain and storms.
Greater Springfield has had its fair share of storms, and we’re already seeing the benefits of this culvert. The culvert is an important part of Stage 2 of the project. Stage 2 continues with construction starting next year on lane duplications from two to four lanes along Springfield Parkway from the Springfield Greenbank Arterial intersection to Topaz Road.
LGAQ Annual Conference
Councils from across the state came together last month at the 2024 Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) Annual Conference. Together, we set next year’s advocacy agenda for the LGAQ by voting on motions put forward by all councils.
Ipswich put forward motions to better protect our heritage, for greater investment to treat fire ants, and to push for an extension to the Federal and State government’s Voluntary Home Buy-Back Program – all were strongly supported by our fellow councils.
Over three days, I was privileged to learn, share and engage with other councils as we heard from our State’s political leaders, as well as Federal Local Government Minister Kristy McBain and Shadow Minister Darren Chester.
I had the honour of sitting on a panel as we discussed cost-shifting from the State government to councils, giving me the opportunity to highlight our We Can’t Wait advocacy campaign. We Can’t Wait caught the attention of the state with major progress being made in the case for a second river crossing.
E-scooter trial coming to an end
Access to shared e-scooters across Springfield will soon be changing, as the Beam trial comes to an end on Friday 22 November. Beam recently informed council they withdraw operations in Ipswich, following a positive 15-month trial.
I was pleased to see how popular the e-scooters were, with more than 27,000 trips being made in Springfield, Spring Mountain and Springfield Lakes, averaging 76 trips per day between July 2023 and June 2024. I was also happy to hear there were no serious safety incidents and fewer than one per cent of trips resulted in a community complaint.
Council is now working on analysing the data to see how e-scooters can be used in the future as part of the council’s iGo Transport Plan. I encourage those who used a shared e-scooter during the trial period to head over to shapeyouripswich.com.au to complete a short survey.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
It’s hard to believe, but Christmas is right around the corner, and with that comes a stocking stuffed with events across our city.
Council has released this year’s program of joyful events as we come together to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year.
The popular St Nicholas Precinct light display is coming back, along with many wonderful community events right across the city.
See the full program here.