Impact of the Commonwealth Games on Gold Coast travel

Traffic Alert

With the Commonwealth Games nearing, it’s a good time to check how you’ll be impacted when travelling around the Gold Coast during the event times.

The Games  Route Network (GRN) map shows the roads where the games traffic will be circulating.

The red ring connecting the Athletes’ Village and main venues and will be extremely busy and there will be Dedicated Games Lanes in operation during the games along these roads.

If your normal commute involves driving on any of the roads shown, or if you reside inside the GRN you can expect lengthy delays, changed intersection turning, signal phasing etc.

Also take note that driving in the Dedicated Games Lanes will earn you a huge fine.

The suggestions offered to deal with these changes to normal driving routes are:

• to re-time, re-route, re-mode your travel;
• reduce travel; or
• consider staying home.

For shorter commutes (less than 45 minutes), biking is recommended which may decrease travel time.

You can check out the interactive travel impacts map, which allows you to select the day and time of travel to view expected congestion hot zones.

Traffic modelling shows 6 million extra trips will be made on the transport network during the Commonwealth Games with the population of Gold Coast city doubling.

To keep everyone safe with such a population increase, there will be an additional 3,500 uniformed police, 2,100 defence personnel, and 4,500 security officers during the events.

Ticket holder transport

For ticket holders, there will be park and ride locations to get to events, but you must book a space beforehand.

Public transport service frequency will increase substantially, with heavy rail services every 10 minutes, light rail every 6 minutes and 800 extra buses on the roads.

These services are free for ticket holders to get to the venues.  Click here for more information on the free transport options.

Train Travel

For normal train commuters to Brisbane, the only train station available will be Varsity Lakes train station so take note if you intend to make use of the 1,000 parking spots there.

Robina Train Station car parking will be unavailable during the whole games and additional impact around Robina can be viewed here.

Impact in Robina

The most impact in Robina will be felt during Rugby Sevens, which is held at Robina Stadium on Friday 13 from 4:30pm to Sunday 15 4pm.

Don’t forget the Queen’s Baton Relay will be travelling through Robina on Tuesday 3^rd April, from 1 to 3pm and ends with a celebration at Lake Lido Promenade.

The Queen’s Baton Relay consists of a 10-car convoy with the runner in the middle and a rolling road closure, so expect a busy day around the Robina Town Centre along Scottsdale Drive, Cheltenham Drive and around Robina Stadium.

Other road changes to be aware of around Robina include:

Other things to consider

• Heavy transport operators have been advised to change their operations to 12am to 5am to reduce road congestion
• GCCC rubbish trucks will be operating at earlier times
• Courier, post and delivery services can be expected to be impacted

Find out More

For more information, check out the official Get Set for the Games website.