Majura Parkway kicks off

OpenYourMind said :

arescarti42 said :

EvanJames said :

I cannot think of a competently run or performed road project in Canberra in recent years.

I’m pretty sure the flyover and associated roads at the airport were built on time and within budget, although I’m pretty sure the airport managed that one.

I don’t profess to know anything about the process of managing, engineering and building roads.
But I wonder if the the belief that Canberra Airport Roads (CAG) builds better roads on time is true, then why is it true? What does CAG do differently:
Is it that they are better at managing civil projects or do they use better management firms?
Is it that they enforce contract defaults better than a Govt organisation?
Do they simply throw more money at a problem they know they need to fix?

If the CAG is so good at managing the building of roads, why can’t the ACT Govt outsource the whole process to CAG?

My suspicion is that CAG is simply able to throw more money at a particular problem and barge their way past political obstacles that our (and most Western) government face.

Try entering Canberra Airport from the East, or leaving towards the East, and then tell me this is a well-designed road system. Both junctions are appalling and were clearly designed to be cheap.

IP

arescarti42 said :

EvanJames said :

I cannot think of a competently run or performed road project in Canberra in recent years.

I’m pretty sure the flyover and associated roads at the airport were built on time and within budget, although I’m pretty sure the airport managed that one.

I don’t profess to know anything about the process of managing, engineering and building roads.
But I wonder if the the belief that Canberra Airport Roads (CAG) builds better roads on time is true, then why is it true? What does CAG do differently:
Is it that they are better at managing civil projects or do they use better management firms?
Is it that they enforce contract defaults better than a Govt organisation?
Do they simply throw more money at a problem they know they need to fix?

If the CAG is so good at managing the building of roads, why can’t the ACT Govt outsource the whole process to CAG?

My suspicion is that CAG is simply able to throw more money at a particular problem and barge their way past political obstacles that our (and most Western) government face.

EvanJames said :

I do not believe there’ll be ‘no traffic disruption”.

agree I noticed yesterday that there are warning signs saying major works for the Majura Parkway may result in delays!

the 60kmh speed limit from the Federal Highway to around the Springfield property means that I will be avoiding Majura Road if I need to travel to Sydney

EvanJames said :

I cannot think of a competently run or performed road project in Canberra in recent years.

I’m pretty sure the flyover and associated roads at the airport were built on time and within budget, although I’m pretty sure the airport managed that one.

EvanJames said :

How much chaos do you reckon our inept government and the outfits they contract can create here? Place your bets now. I fear that no matter how crazy the scenarios we imagine, the ACT Government’s ineptitude will exceed them.

For all the issues the ACT Govt has, I’m not sure that actually constructing the roads is their responsibility. The problem is probably the typical govt process of contracting the cheapest bidder, on the assumption that everyone who bids is just as competent as everyone else, so why not pick the cheapest.

http://www.majuraparkway.act.gov.au

“The Majura Parkway is an exciting new road development…”

What is it with these advertising droids – “exciting” is the word of the decade. A new sugar water flavour is “exciting”; a new shade of lipstick is “exciting”; the 437th women’s clothing shop in the mall is “exciting”; now a road is “exciting”.

OK – question – has anyone actually been excited by any of that stuff?

Don’t these idiots own a dictionary?

I cannot think of a competently run or performed road project in Canberra in recent years. was watching the stupidity on Majura Road late in 2012… they spent ages making a new lane into Majura Road to try and cut down on the epic block ups being caused by Gunghalinistas trying to get on the road from about 3pm onwards.

Ages to make the road slightly wider, without being too fancy. As usual, it would sit there untouched for days before something happened again. But eventually the new lane to the roundabout opened. Ta da. And a week or so later, it was being repaired as giant cracks between the new and old bits yawned.

Pathetic. A similar but smaller version of this has been happening with a new patch of road at the Oaks Estate intersection, a yawning chasm opens up periodically. And we’re paying for this.

Majura and Pialligo are major points of access to Canberra from NSW east (Quangers, coast road and Bung/Braidwood/captains flat/uncle tom cobbleigh and all), and from NSW north (sydney, goulburn) and Gunghalin. Possibly some from the Barton Highway as well.

How much chaos do you reckon our inept government and the outfits they contract can create here? Place your bets now. I fear that no matter how crazy the scenarios we imagine, the ACT Government’s ineptitude will exceed them.

Baggy said :

enrique said :

Fingers crossed, they actually might be able to do this one with minimal disruption since it is predominantly a greenfield build…i.e. it is essentally a set of new roads being built, not modifications of old ones…

Don’t keep your fingers crossed too long, you’ll cut off the circulation to your fingertips.

This is going to be another clusterfcuk, anyone with an iota of common sense knows this. You may have a perfectly valid and logical point about there being minimal disruption due to an entirely new road, but come on, you’ve seen how the muppets in charge of road-building here work.

My tip is for an AMC-styled “completion” about 6 weeks before the 2016 election, with ongoing work out to 2019.

=)

Funny because it’s true.

enrique said :

Fingers crossed, they actually might be able to do this one with minimal disruption since it is predominantly a greenfield build…i.e. it is essentally a set of new roads being built, not modifications of old ones…

Don’t keep your fingers crossed too long, you’ll cut off the circulation to your fingertips.

This is going to be another clusterfcuk, anyone with an iota of common sense knows this. You may have a perfectly valid and logical point about there being minimal disruption due to an entirely new road, but come on, you’ve seen how the muppets in charge of road-building here work.

My tip is for an AMC-styled “completion” about 6 weeks before the 2016 election, with ongoing work out to 2019.

dtc said :

I have lived in Canberra for a long time and I cant remember this many simultaneous roadworks. Perhaps its because they all seem to be around Civic where I go and not in places I never frequent. Still, it seems to be at an all time high. As I sit and watch the traffic bank up along Parkes way and its only the 2nd working week of Jan.

I reckon there is one roadwork team in the whole of the ACT and they rotate around the city. Day 1 Parkes Way, Day 2 ANZAC parade, Day 3 Majura Parkway, etc etc, until eventually 2 or 3 weeks later they begin the cycle again.

This way the government can employ minimal people and it can split the money over several budgets.