Coomera Connector Stage 2 Opens Industry EOI as Next Major Gold Coast Road Package Advances

The next section of Queensland’s Coomera Connector is going to industry.

The Queensland Government has opened industry engagement for Coomera Connector Stage 2, moving the next approximately 5km section of the future M9 between Pimpama and Coomera deeper into planning and design.

The current procurement is an Early Tenderer Involvement process, bringing major construction capability alongside the Department of Transport and Main Roads before the project reaches a future main-works stage.

Stage 2 will extend the motorway north from Stage 1 at Shipper Drive in Coomera to Yawalpah Road at Pimpama, with major road, interchange, bridge and active-transport interfaces already identified in the developing scope.

Stage 2 does not yet have a published construction value: Queensland has funded planning and design, while funding for Stage 2 delivery remains subject to future Australian and Queensland Government decisions.

The announcement forms part of the new Gold Coast Transport Plan and moves the next Coomera Connector section beyond internal planning into a more commercially significant phase of industry involvement.

TMR’s project page describes Stage 2 as the next priority section of the future motorway for planning and design.

This is Early Tenderer Involvement — not a construction contract award

The distinction is important because Early Tenderer Involvement occurs before a main construction contract is awarded.

An ETI process can give major delivery contractors input into constructability, staging, methodology, risk, market capacity and cost before the final delivery model and construction package are locked down.

It does not mean Stage 2 construction has already been awarded.

Pimpama → Coomera

Stage 2 extends the operating and under-construction motorway further north

The new section will connect into Stage 1 at Shipper Drive and continue approximately 5km north toward Pimpama.

Once Stage 2 is ultimately delivered, the Stage 1 and Stage 2 motorway sections would create approximately 21km of Coomera Connector from Pimpama through to Nerang.

Stage 2 already carries major road, bridge and interchange interfaces

Although final design is still being refined, the developing project scope gives industry a clear indication of the type of infrastructure involved.

Infrastructure Partnerships Australia’s current project profile also identifies overpass structures around Foxwell Road and Oakey Creek Road.

That creates meaningful engineering interfaces across motorway earthworks, structures, drainage, pavement design, utilities, environmental management and local-road tie-ins before detailed design is finalised.

Stage 2 has planning money — not yet a construction budget

TMR is explicit that Stage 2 is currently a planned investment.

Queensland has allocated funding toward planning and design, but funding for physical delivery will be considered by the Australian and Queensland governments later.

That future decision remains subject to project development, investigations and funding negotiations.

Future Construction

The EOI is shaping a future build — Stage 2 construction has not started

Large motorway delivery could eventually create a significant civil and structures program across the northern Gold Coast.

But the current milestone remains pre-construction.

Industry is being engaged now so TMR can improve constructability, refine design, understand risk and strengthen future cost certainty before delivery funding is finalised.

The $3.5B Stage 1 program shows the scale of motorway delivery — but it is a separate funded project

Stage 2 sits immediately north of the major Stage 1 Coomera-to-Nerang program.

Stage 1 is approximately 16km and is being delivered through North, Central and South packages with total current investment of approximately $3.5 billion.

The open Stage 1 North section gives Stage 2 a direct physical connection to an operating motorway segment rather than an isolated future corridor.

However, it would be misleading to describe the entire $3.5 billion Stage 1 program as complete or imply that Stage 2 shares that funding envelope.

Early Tenderer Involvement creates a different opportunity from downstream subcontracting

The current EOI sits at the top of the project delivery chain.

Major road and bridge contractors participating in ETI can help TMR test construction methodology, staging, design assumptions, major risks, program and market conditions.

That work can influence how the eventual construction contract is structured and, later, how packages flow through the civil supply chain.

Procurement Signal

For most suppliers, the important opportunity comes after this upstream EOI

The immediate process is aimed at major industry teams with the capability and TMR prequalification required for a motorway of this scale.

Smaller civil contractors, suppliers and specialist firms should still follow the ETI because the teams that emerge from the process may ultimately become the gateway to downstream construction packages.

If Stage 2 reaches construction, the supply chain could span the full motorway civil stack

The following areas are derived from the publicly described physical scope and normal requirements of a major motorway project.

They are future capability areas to monitor, not confirmation of currently open subcontract packages.

The EOI matters because Stage 2 is the next physical extension of a live multibillion-dollar motorway program

Stage 2 is not a disconnected planning exercise.

It will connect directly into the Stage 1 North motorway at Shipper Drive and extend the network deeper into the rapidly developing northern Gold Coast.

TMR says the overall 45km M9 is intended to provide an alternative north-south corridor east of the M1 between Loganholme and Nerang.

The Government’s new Gold Coast Transport Plan also places Stage 2 alongside a broader program of motorway interchange, bridge, active-transport and public-transport investment ahead of Brisbane 2032.