EXTENDING the light rail south to Gold Coast Airport and fixing the M1 are critical issues according to a majority of Gold Coast Bulletin readers.

The Bulletin’s exclusive Fair Go survey reveal 84 per cent of those surveyed back stage three of the city’s rapid transit system connecting Broadbeach to the airport.

And with 52 per cent saying the M1 is the city’s worst black spot, one of the Gold Coast’s leading business figures says the case has been made for federal funding to be directed towards delivering the projects.

Just four per cent of people named the Gold Coast’s roads as being excellent and Light Rail Business Advisory Group chairman Stephen Harrison said there was a clear need for trams to push south.

He called on the Turnbull Government to follow the commitment of Mayor Tom Tate who last month promised a $600,000 feasibility study into light rail stage three.

“Certainly support for the extension has been growing steadily over the past six months and we believe this is a vital link,” he said.

“We already have a connection to the north at Helensvale now so having the trams go to the airport where the majority of tourists arrived in the city would forever change this city.

“This connection will allow for those tourists to hop on and off through the city’s major centres in the south as they travel north.”

The Federal Government last year committed $95 million to stage two of the light rail connection from Griffith University to Helensvale.

This commitment came following the Bulletin’s Game Changer campaign.

Mr Harrison, the newly elected state UDIA president, said the increasing traffic pressure on the M1 made the case for improved public transport as well as funding road upgrades.

“The M1 has been under greater pressure over the past year and it can now take many hours for crashes to be rectified,” he said.

“To reduce this congestion it is important to have a viable alternative in public transport and mass transit is the only effective way to move large volumes of people in an efficient and timely manner.”

You can see the whole report on the survey in today’s Gold Coast Bulletin or in our digital print edition HERE