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Clem Jones Tunnel (Clem7)
Written by cityadmin2
March 19, 2010
Hits: 939
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2.5 (3) |
about the listing
| address | Bowen Hills to Woolloongabba/Kangaroo Point, Brisbane |
| year | 2010 |
| cost | $3000m |
| citymaker(s) | Brisbane City Council, Rivercity Motorway, LBBJV, others |
6.8km toll-road tunnel bypassing central Brisbane. Dual tunnels each carry two lanes of traffic, with access at Bowen Hills in the inner north, and Woolloongabba and Kangaroo Point south of the river. First in a series of planned cross-city tunnels and other road links that include the Go Between Bridge and Airport Link. A project of many giant statistics, of which two of the smallest are: Clem7 passes the Brisbane River 60m beneath the surface, and took more than 3 years to construct.
User reviews
Average user rating from: 3 user(s)
People should really wait a bit longer before judging this, both Sydney and Melbourne have tunnels like this, it just happen that ours is the longest. It will work out just fine without all of the congestion after the toll kicks in and will be even better when the Airport Link is finished. And where is the Brissy pride for years we have been sitting in the shadows of Sydney and Melbourne quietly grumbling that the government would never build stuff like they get . Then all of a sudden they build us the longest and arguably the best road tunnel in the country and we complain, and added to that once the Airport Link is completed we will have the two longest road tunnels in the country.
Clem7, a.k.a. The Big Hole. Quick when there're no tourists.
6.8km to travel 5km as the crow flies.
Post-oil uses: mushroom growing? Linear velodrome?
The Clem7 tunnel was opened in mid-March 2010 with expectations high among many motorists about its congestion-busting powers. Clem7 is a project first promised by the then Lord Mayoral candidate in a 2004 local election campaign, and 100 000 vehicles per day are predicted to use the tunnel to bypass the traffic-choked CBD. Others are less optimistic about the long-term benefits this massive investment in road infrastructure will bring the city.
As a piece of engineering the Clem7 is certainly impressive. To draw a line representing 6.8km on a map makes barely a stroke. Seeing the tunnels up close it is clear that building 6.8km of tunnel is quite another thing. This is a big project and undoubtedly the designers and builders of this infrastructure deserve credit for their skills.
Infrastructure that is almost totally underground can’t be said to have much urban design impact…or can it? There is obvious scepticism from some about the effects such road-building will have on the city, particularly close to the tunnel entries. The project team, instead, have made much noise about the “urban design” features of Clem7’s above-ground infrastructure. Most apparent, and sometimes from a long way away, are two tunnel “ventilation stations” (chimneys to you and me), 36m and 43m tall and clad in colourful cladding styled on the poinciana and jacaranda trees that Brisbane’s subtropical streets are well known for. Make up your own mind.
Neater perhaps are the tunnel’s entry canopies, large, morphing structures said to be “an example of urban design and safety coming together”. We don’t consider this urban design at all but, hyperbole aside, these structures are clever and interesting in a “road art” kind of a way, and brighten up otherwise dreary infrastructure. And why not. There ‘aint much in the way of views down there.
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