It was a landmark night for Brisbane with the long-awaited Clem 7 tunnel opening to traffic around 11.30pm last night. One of our team was on the spot to be one of the first through and he captured this video.

And no, this isn’t normal driving speed, the trip takes over 4 minutes but we’ve sped things up a little – it is just a tunnel!

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman is wearing a big smile today and he deserves praise. His election promise in 2004 was to get serious about inner Brisbane traffic and his “Transapex” masterplan  is about diverting cars around our CBD. The 4.8km Clem 7 tunnel is the first step and in skipping 24 sets of traffic lights its impact on our inner city will be significant.

Watch next for the opening in June of Hale Street Link, now called the Go Between Bridge. It’s about time Brisbane had these sort of solutions.