They want to keep motorists safe and off the tracks but the light rail won’t budge on boom gates.
The RACQ, Mayor Tom Tate and anti-light rail campaigners want to stop motorists from driving on to tram tracks at the Sundale Bridge in Southport but light rail contractor GoldlinQ says automated barriers are not a solution to the problem.
Over the past 18 months, five cars, including an unmarked police car, have been trapped on the bridge.
Bill Hauff, a retired engineer with Queensland Rail and campaigner against the light rail, said boom gates would stop some cars driving on to the tracks but it was only a matter of time before there was a death on the tramlines.
“It’s amazing we haven’t had any fatalities,” he said.
“Having the tram-tracks at the same level as other vehicles is dangerous. Boomgates would be better than nothing,” Mr Hauff said.
Nerang boomgate supplier for Automatic Solutions Michael Kelly said the gates could be installed on the tracks near the intersection of Queen Street and Ada Bell Way.
“We have booms up to eight metres, which would be suitable for the tracks,” he said. The gates could handle peak-hour trams, he said, as they were able to operate at nine-second intervals.
“A suitable starting price would be $3000 per boom. A gate that drops down when it detects an unscheduled vehicle could also stop cars.”
Read more: Boom gates to stop motorists driving on to Gold Coast tram tracks have fallen on deaf ears