Eugene Summers

Eugene Summers is an Australian academic specialising in the science of traffic flow and urban development.

Eugene Summers was born in Belgrade in 1943, and immigrated to Australia with his parents in 1955. Originally named Antonije Zizek, Summers changed his name after suffering discrimination in his early age after moving to Australia.

Best known for his work Traffic Flow in the Inner Northern Suburbs, a discussion paper outlining the problems with Brisbane's transport infrastructure, Summers gained media attention in 1985 when he supported a radical plan involving introduction of a 8-lane highway to lessen the traffic problems along Brisbane's Coronation Drive. The concept for the plan was devised by a small group of University students, and was never officially commented on by the Queensland government. Summers was attributed to saying that the plan would involve 'halving the width of the Brisbane River between West End and St Lucia', and jokingly replied 'it'll only flood Toowong, and if they have a problem with that, tell them to move to Logan' when asked about the impacts the plan would have on water flow down the Brisbane River. After an investigation by the government of the time, the then Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, dismissed the rumours and stated that although Professor Summers was "an Australian national treasure" his plans for Queensland's infrastructure were 'too ahead of the times'.

Summers dropped his support in 1988 when it was held the costs and noises associated with implementing such a scheme would destroy Brisbane's reputation as one of Australia's most liveable cities.

Since 1995, Summers has been residing in Auckland, New Zealand, and guest-lectures at many universities across Australia via video link. He is currently working on his seventh book, "Where To Now? We've done Auckland, what else is there?".

He is also known to have keen interests in pollution, fine arts, the Australian Democrats and world peace.

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