Queensland Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls wants a second M1 motorway on the Gold Coast but is refusing to commit to it if the Liberal National Party wins the next election.
Mr Nicholls was at the northern Gold Coast suburb of Coomera on Tuesday flanked by local LNP MPs and candidates to launch a petition calling on the government to commit to the project.
The petition proposes the first stage of the so-called "Second M1" be built along an already-earmarked 36.5km corridor between Stapylton and Nerang.
"This would be a truly transformative project for southeast Queensland," Mr Nicholls said.
"We wouldn't be standing here now if we didn't believe this was a worthwhile project but we're not the government at the moment.
"In terms of the election, I simply say to Annastacia Palaszczuk, stop playing games, stop mucking around with people's future and name the election date."
Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Jackie Trad criticised Mr Nicholls' proposal, saying instead of petitioning the government, the opposition leader should aim higher.
"This is a man who when in government, when he was the treasurer of Queensland, spent not one cent on fixing the M1," Mr Trad told reporters in Gympie.
"If Tim Nicholls needs to be petitioning anyone about the M1 and congestions between the Gold Coast and Brisbane it should be his millionaire mate (Prime Minister) Malcolm Turnbull.
Ms Trad said the Turnbull government had previously refused to fund several M1 upgrade projects, including the Gateway motorway merge upgrade, at more than a 50-50 split because Queensland refused to sell state-owned assets.
A duplication of the M1 has not been a vote-winner in the past, with former Labor premier Wayne Goss famously losing eight seats in the 1995 Queensland election, partly due to his second motorway plan which was dubbed the "koala toll road" because it would have cut through a koala habitat.
The RACQ has already signalled its support for a second highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
"It's obvious we need to have a secondary route and this plan allows the road to be built with little disruption to motorists currently travelling between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, which is certainly a positive," RACQ spokesman Paul Turner said in a statement.
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