The Tugun Bypass is 7.5 km long, bypassing the suburb of Tugun on the Gold Coast Qld and the Gold Coast International Airport situated on the border between the states of Qld and NSW. There is a 400-metre tunnel under the extension to the Gold Coast Airport runway. The bypass connects directly to the M1 between the Stewart Road interchange at Currumbin Qld and the Tweed Heads NSW bypass north of Kennedy Drive. It has significantly relieved traffic congestion on the Gold Coast Highway corridor.

For more than 20 years the Gold Coast has grown by 17,000 permanent residents a year, placing enormous pressure on the city’s infrastructure requirements. (in particular, the Gold Coast Highway between Currumbin Qld and Tweed Heads NSW). Speculation of the bypass began in the 1960s when the South Coast railway line was closed. (One of those stupid things thoughtless, short-sighted governments do).

It wasn’t until the Qld Beattie Government was in office at the end of last century that a firm commitment was made to the bypass. In 2003 Acting Australian Prime Minister, John Anderson and Qld Transport Minister Steve Bredhauer announced a 50 per cent joint agreement for the project allowing the project to proceed. In May, 2004 the Qld and NSW Governments finally agreed to build the Tugun bypass along the western side of the Gold Coast Airport after NSW reneged on an agreement signed in 2000. The NSW government had previously been reluctant to go ahead with the project, citing environmental and planning reasons. And while NSW agreed to the plan, they refused to contribute financially to the road.
In February, 2006 The Qld Premier announced the Australian Government had given final approval for the road, with construction to start the following month. The Premier said the Nsw Government imposed additional approval conditions that bumped up the price tag and 16 in NSW would be demolished to make way for the road.

The Pacific Link Alliance consortium won the contract to work with Main Roads to design and build the road, complete with tunnel and bridges over Hidden Valley. The tunnel was built with provision for a future rail line underneath. The bypass was officially opened June 3, 2008.

The project is jointly funded by the Qld Government 78% and the Australian Government 22% at a cost of $543 million. Despite over 60% of the road being within NSW, there is no financial contribution towards the road from the Government of NSW.

On the Tugun bypass, there is a border marker looking like a very tall and bent metal structure that sits in the median on the border between Qld and NSW.

The Controversy
On Sunday 18 May 2008, days from the rivalry between the two states, the NSW State Government hit the Qld Government with the land tax charges for building part of the Tugun Bypass on NSW land.
The Qld Premier was mailed the land tax invoice of $235,607.40 from the NSW Government. The Premier confirmed that the bill would be ignored by Qld because they did not contribute to the $543 million project.

The NSW Office of State Revenue issued the bill to the Queensland Government on May 6, asking for the payment for five years worth of land tax assessments.The NSW Chief Commissioner of State Revenue said Qld could pay in three installments of $78,535.80 over the next three months.”Failure to comply with the payment options . . . will result in the imposition of interest and the instalment plan will be cancelled. Interest will be imposed on any outstanding land tax or penalty tax. The current rate is 14.37 per cent per annum calculated daily,” he said.The assessments related to 16 properties in the Tweed Shire NSW bought by the Department of Main Roads from 2001 for the bypass construction.
Qld State Treasurer Fraser said at the time of the acquisition of the 16 properties, the NSW Government provided a transfer duty exemption to Qld. This was the end of the matter as far as the Qld government was concerned.

Link to article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49th_parallel_north#The_Canada_.E2.80.93_United_States_border

Fun stuff!