A NEW southern route for light rail has been proposed, calling for it to run west of Burleigh and join heavy rail before switching back to the coast near Tugun, completely sidestepping Palm Beach.

The Southern Gold Coast Think Tank, a group which includes planners and architects, has put forward the alternative tram extension in a brief sent to the office of Transport Minister Mark Bailey.

Proposed new southern route for light and heavy rail on the Gold Coast put forward by a southern think tank group.SGCTT spokesperson Philip Follent, the former City Architect, said that instead of heading south from Burleigh along the Gold Coast Highway, the light rail could veer west past Treetops Plaza Shopping Centre to the Boral quarry near the M1 before joining the proposed heavy rail route.

The trams could then head south across Tallebudgera Creek to Elanora before veering east again over Currumbin Creek to Stewart Road at Currumbin, near the warehousing sector, and finally south to Tugun and the Gold Coast Airport.

The current preferred options for light and heavy rail heading south on the Gold Coast to the airport.In an email to Mr Bailey’s chief advisors, Mr Follent wrote: “I believe the route from Burleigh to Coolangatta has all too easily been adopted as the most expedient – seemingly shortest route but with unrealistic costings in relation to the city’s most undulating, environmentally sensitive topography and creek crossings as well as scant regard for social impacts.