BY student reporter PAM GRUMETZA.

Over 300 outraged Toowong residents gathered to protest Brisbane City Council's proposal to divide the inner city suburb, interrupting a community consultation on the Northern Link at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

The Northern Link, which includes 5 kilometers of bored tunnel from the Western Freeway in Toowong to the Inner City Bypass at Kelvin Grove, is the fourth of five components of Brisbane City Council's TransApex Project.

If the proposal is approved after the Environmental Impact Study is released later this year, construction will begin as early as 2010 taking an expected three to four years to complete.

The proposed works associated with the Northern Link will result in widening Milton Road from 4 to 10 lanes, widening Croydon Street from 4 to 7 lanes and the resumption and removal of several businesses and houses in the Toowong area.

The Toowong Tunnel Solutions Group demonstration, which included a 30 meter long banner to symbolise the proposed widening of Milton Road to 10 lanes, was intended to raise awareness of Brisbane City Council's plans and to mobilize the wider community to oppose the proposed plans.

‘This proposal with its 10 lanes going through the heart of Toowong is a complete overkill and will effectively divide and destroy a vibrant community,' President of the Toowong Tunnel Solutions Group, Nicholas Feros said.

‘The children will face very real safety issues walking to school, connections to pedestrian and bicycle routes, ferries and public transport services will be impeded, if not inaccessible,' Mr Feros said.

The existing gap in motorways between the western suburbs and north Brisbane means motorists travel towards the Central Business District forcing those travelling beyond the inner city suburbs to mix with local traffic.

With traffic congestion in Brisbane caused by vehicles feeding onto Milton Road and Coronation Drive from the Western Freeway predicted to increase by 10 to 20 per cent by 2026, Brisbane City Council's views the Northern Link as the best solution.

Brisbane Deputy Mayor Graham Quirk said, ‘I hope that come Christmas time, we will see us out to tender for this very, very important traffic congestion-busting measure which will assist not only the people of the western suburbs, but also people from as far away as Ipswich and people from the north wanting to head west, as people do in the cross-city journeys they make both for work and pleasure as they undertake their travel through the centre of the region.'

The Northern Link will provide an underground, free flowing route for traffic travelling between the western and northern suburbs and is expected to reduce traffic on Milton Road and Coronation Drive and reduce traffic noise and improve air quality on roads where congestion will be reduced.

‘If it reduces the rat race it's a good thing, hopefully noise and pollution will be reduced and it will be safer for pedestrians in the back streets. It's a good thing for our property,' Jason Fitzpatrick said.

‘My concern is the lack of thought for pedestrians either side of Toowong, including school kids who are traversing to and from the train. The width of the 10 lane road is wider than Roma Street in the city,' he said.

The main tunnel entrance on the Western Freeway will be located either side of the existing Western Freeway and will enter the ground to the east of and parallel to Frederick Street.