Long way to go... traffic bumper-to-bumper on the Pacific Motorway. Credit:Tony Moore "What it says is that people are getting up at dawn just to get a good run to work," RACQ's general manager of advocacy, Paul Turner said. "Even with all the good work we done over the last decade with the tunnels and the like we need to understand that with a city growing at our rate we can't be complacent and stop," he said. "We have to look at what's next. "We've spent too much time playing politics. It's time we get to work."

There are now around 145,000 vehicles on the M1 each day. Mr Turner said Gold Coast tradies has started their own "rush hour" to Brisbane . "On the M1 there is now the tradies' rush hour at around 5am as hundreds and hundreds of utes travel north from the Gold Coast in towards Brisbane," Mr Turner said. "There is no doubt that what we are seeing as the peak in Underwood at 5am and the peak is probably an hour later on the Captain Cook Bridge an hour later," he said. "But we are seeing a spread of the rush hour both in the morning and in the afternoon."

In the afternoon, Pacific Motorway traffic numbers have increased by 14 per cent at 2pm, by 10 per cent by 3pm, 11 percent by 4pm, 9 per cent by 5pm and 10 per cent by 6pm. Mr Turner said Wednesday's Infrastructure Australia report prioritised two Pacific Motorway road projects; the Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes section and the section closer to Brisbane where the Gateway and Pacific motorways merge. Both should be built within five years. Mr Turner said the RACQ believes it is time for an urgent taskforce to get politicians from local, state and federal levels in one room to co-ordinate planning to achieve those projects and put politics aside. "The main focus is there, we know what needs to be done. It is now a matter of political will and money," he said.

He said this approach had worked well on upgrading the Bruce Highway and getting the Toowoomba Bypass underway. Mr Turner said this would rule out conflicting "lists" of projects from the Council of Mayors, the Local Government Association of Queensland, the state and federal governments. "Because they don't always align," he said. "So I think a taskforce with a strategic approach across the three levels of government and getting bi-partisan support would be a big step forward for the Southeast." Mr Turner said the RACQ agreed these projects should be done first between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

the merge of the Gateway Motorway with the Pacific Motorway near Rochedale;

the section between Mudgereeba and Varsity Lakes; and

the Cross River Rail linking the north and the south sides of Brisbane. Mr Turner said improvements to rail and public transport were crucial to a long-term solution, because only 10 per cent of Queenslanders now used public transport to work. "Rail is actually a choice that commuters make. Bus is usually a grudge purchase; whereas rail is something that people will choose to do instead of driving," he said. "So rail is fundamental to how we go forward." The Queensland Government on Thursday reported they hoped to have the new business case for the Cross River Rail project with the federal government by "mid-year" with the project also finished in five years.