Hervey Bay has grown from a sleepy town of 16,000 in early 1980’s to a thriving regional city of over 68,000 in just four decades—an extraordinary 4.12x increase, averaging over 3% per annum. Yet one issue has been consistently overlooked in our city’s planning: car parking.
Despite this explosive growth, we’ve seen little investment in solving the transport and parking challenges that come with it. In fact, the infrastructure we had was systematically dismantled—railway lines pulled out, the iconic Urangan Pier shortened to prevent ship access, and our road network left to lag behind population demand.
Today, SUVs dominate our driveways, and public transport is scarcely a viable alternative for most residents – particularly for our ageing population, who need access to medical services and social activities. Meanwhile, car parks are not just failing to keep up—they’re shrinking. New developments, especially medical centres, often struggle to provide enough parking for staff, let alone patients.
Along the Esplanade, we’ve added hundreds of new dwellings and businesses, but no real parking strategy. If anything, we’ve lost spaces over time. There’s been no serious move to acquire or repurpose low-lying land a block back for overflow parking. Instead, we squeeze more activity into areas with limited capacity.
At the hospital precinct—our region’s most critical health hub—we’re building up around inadequate parking and minimal transit links, making access harder just when it should be easiest.
It’s time we asked: What’s the actual plan? Are we serious about solving this, or just hoping it sorts itself out?
We need a bold rethink: major investment in public transport, and strategic land acquisition for multilevel carparks in key precincts. Without it, we risk turning growth into gridlock.
What do you think—do we need a parking revolution?
