"Today we see another example of this tired 20 year Labor Government's failure to plan," she said.
"If Exit 87 at Bermuda Street had been upgraded years ago to allow traffic to use alternative routes along Old Coach Road to Somerset Drive and onto Mudgeeraba Road all the way to Hinkler Drive in Nerang, much of this gridlock today could have been avoided," said Ms Bates.
"Major accidents such as these provide for no contingencies for motorists to take alternate routes."
"If this had occurred last week when most of the alternate roads in Mudgeeraba and Robina were flooded, motorists would have been stuck for much longer."
"Coupled with the fact that not one red cent of funding for the M1 has ever been allocated by the Rudd/Gillard Labor Government since John Howard allocated $455M in the Auslink Mark 11 funding in the 2007 Budget, residents still remain stuck in the Mudgeeraba carpark" said Ms Bates.
"Labor's former "Magnificent Seven", did nothing for roads on the Gold Coast, and sat on their derrieres from 2001 – 2007 before any upgrades occurred between Nerang and Tugun."
"Sadly, residents of Mudgeeraba are used to sitting in the "Mudgeeraba car-park" and simply can't trust Labor to keep their promises. They got another chance last time. Not again. Not this time," said Ms Bates.
