24 January 2014

Parkes Way Widening?

| JC
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Surprised it hasn’t been mentioned on here, but the other day there was a media release saying that the west bound work on the Parkes Way widening will be finished before the end of the month.

When I first heard it I thought they must have been mistaken as quite clearly the bridge over Sullivans Creek isn’t finished westbound, but going past today it is quite clear they are, for the time being anyway, not going to build the new west bound lane over the bridge and instead are going to modify the original plan to do away with the need.

They are currently removing the barriers on the Clunnies Ross Street and have removed the old line markings in readiness for new markings. The bridge over Sulliavns creek has had the abutments built, but clearly no deck has been installed west bound. All equipment has been removed and the road surface either side paved, just no bridge.

As mentioned the markings on the city side of the bridge have now been removed and last week they hastily built an off road bike lane just before the bridge. It now seems as if what they are going to do is come out of the tunnel in 3 lanes, as it has always done, cross the bridge with 3 lanes (again as it has always done), then have a very short exit onto Clunies Ross Street, then a dog leg to the right to pick up the 3 lanes over the Clunies Ross Street bridge. Yes it will be 3 lanes through but rather half arsed.

Bikes if they are brave or stupid enough to ride along Parkes Way it seems will have to go onto the new path, then cross the Clunies Ross Street exit before then picking up the lane along the bit that has already been finished.

Will be interesting to see when, if at all the other bridge is finished.

Now I know that the sub-contractor building the bridges went belly up and this has delayed the whole thing, but to not finish this is a joke. The government should hold Wodens who is the prime contractor for the road (who didn’t go broke) to account and get them to bloody well finish the thing properly, without dipping into the government purse yet again.

PS speaking of the delay I had to laugh when I read the TAMS website where it blamed record rain for the delays. Yet go to the Majura Parkway claims to be in front because of the good weather. Go figure.

http://www.tams.act.gov.au/roads-transport/major-construction-projects/parkes_way_widening

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JC said :

gooterz said :

New parkway is good is good. Anyone noticed all the new lines around?

What are you on about talking about new lines and in the post above blurred lines?

Most of south side appears to have spanking white lines now. Looks like they went over heaps of old ones as well as new roads or I’ve just not noticed it before.

gooterz said :

New parkway is good is good. Anyone noticed all the new lines around?

What are you on about talking about new lines and in the post above blurred lines?

New parkway is good is good. Anyone noticed all the new lines around?

gooterz said :

The parkway isn’t finished yet, still waiting for those blurred lines. Not to mention that there are still some potholes. Like the onramp to the parkway at glenlock interchange. That one that feels like they layed the road around a dead roo then scrapped it out leaving a hole.

For what ever reason they used a stabalised base with not hotmix on most of Glenloch, except the through lanes from Caswell Drive onto Tuggeranong Parkway. Yet to see any stabalised base road last more than a few years, though the hotmix lanes are not that crash hot either.

PS Parkes Way now 3 lanes west bound too, the way they have avoided the missing bit of bridge isn’t too bad. I had thought the dog leg after the Clunies Ross Street exit would be more pronouced but it is quite gentle, guess helped because the road curves a little to the left to compensate. Guess the only thing to have suffered with the missing bridge is the length of the off ramp onto Clunies Ross Street.

watto23 said :

And for those who use various thing to push their political beliefs and diss the current government, which IMO is definitely not perfect but going OK. I’m yet to see too many worthwhile projects coming from the conservative side of the fence. We had building a pool in Lanyon, because the two existing pools in Tuggeranong were too far for them to drive. And federally, its been all about letting the private sector do it all and our telecommunications infrastructure is third rate compared to other first world countries. Roads still need to be built.

Also I didn’t hear too many people cheering that after complaining about road resealing the day before the parkway resealing commenced, it was actually resealed wit hotmix. Now if only they could do more of that road!

Tuggeranong is a long narrow ‘towncentre’ however I thought it only had one pool? where is the other?

The parkway isn’t finished yet, still waiting for those blurred lines. Not to mention that there are still some potholes. Like the onramp to the parkway at glenlock interchange. That one that feels like they layed the road around a dead roo then scrapped it out leaving a hole.

And for those who use various thing to push their political beliefs and diss the current government, which IMO is definitely not perfect but going OK. I’m yet to see too many worthwhile projects coming from the conservative side of the fence. We had building a pool in Lanyon, because the two existing pools in Tuggeranong were too far for them to drive. And federally, its been all about letting the private sector do it all and our telecommunications infrastructure is third rate compared to other first world countries. Roads still need to be built.

Also I didn’t hear too many people cheering that after complaining about road resealing the day before the parkway resealing commenced, it was actually resealed wit hotmix. Now if only they could do more of that road!

m00nee said :

JC said :

gooterz said :

yeah that one, and also the bridge deck of the GDE that was laid on the barton highway.

Again a sub contractor. How is the Government responsible?

The ACT Government are the contractees. It is their responsibility to ensure that the contractor fulfills their obligation to complete the contract as required. If the contractor sub-contracts a component of the work the onus then falls on both the contractor and the contractee to ensure that the work is completed as specified in the original contract.

Considering the contracted amount there should be a provision in the contract for the government to audit the finances of the contractor, as well as giving themselves the right to reject any sub-contractors that they consider to not be up to standard.

I couldn’t agree more, the government should hold their contractors to account. They should also audit their finances at tender time, and do of course. But my question was about how far do they go down the supply chain. In the case of Parkes Way the collapse was a sub contractor to the main contractor. Do you audit the books of all subcontractor too, and of course subcontractors to the subcontractors, such as those providing the concrete, the steel, hire of cranes etc? All of these subbies to subbies could delay a project too if they go bust, or do you just audit your prime contractor and if something goes wrong you only have the single throat to choke?

In the case of the Barton Highway birdge however the government did hold their contractor to account, the bridge was completed, hopefully without a top up from the government. But I still ask the question, how in this case was the bridge collapse the fault of the ACT government? Which was the original statement. Simple answer is it wasn’t, it was the fault of the engineer that certified the form work as safe and to plan that caused that collapse.

Not to mention that the government is ultimately responsible for the safety of everyone using or working on government land.

JC said :

gooterz said :

yeah that one, and also the bridge deck of the GDE that was laid on the barton highway.

Again a sub contractor. How is the Government responsible?

The ACT Government are the contractees. It is their responsibility to ensure that the contractor fulfills their obligation to complete the contract as required. If the contractor sub-contracts a component of the work the onus then falls on both the contractor and the contractee to ensure that the work is completed as specified in the original contract.

Considering the contracted amount there should be a provision in the contract for the government to audit the finances of the contractor, as well as giving themselves the right to reject any sub-contractors that they consider to not be up to standard.

gooterz said :

yeah that one, and also the bridge deck of the GDE that was laid on the barton highway.

Again a sub contractor. How is the Government responsible?

gazket said :

“Not quite sure how you can blame the government for a subcontractor going bust”

I’m sure they went bust before the Parks Way project started . Old mate put a new hat and won the new contract, no one at the gov gerried onto it .

They went bust after starting but yes then they started again. However they were not contacted by the government, they were contracted by Woden Constructions. Surely the onus is on Woden, not the government. If the onus is on the government, then to what level of checking should be done? Should all subbies and suppliers be checked? If so how would you propose to do it, and at what cost? The sensible thing is due diligence on the prime contractor and if something goes wrong hold them to account.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd12:58 pm 26 Jan 14

gazket said :

“Not quite sure how you can blame the government for a subcontractor going bust”

I’m sure they went bust before the Parks Way project started . Old mate put a new hat and won the new contract, no one at the gov gerried onto it .

Never done a tender for act gov before, have you?

“Not quite sure how you can blame the government for a subcontractor going bust”

I’m sure they went bust before the Parks Way project started . Old mate put a new hat and won the new contract, no one at the gov gerried onto it .

Antagonist said :

gooterz said :

KB1971 said :

JC said :

slashdot said :

Because they are ultimately responsible for the roads. They do a terrible job contract managing, and we get stuck with sub-par roads that cost a fortune and then must be immediately upgraded *cough* GDE *cough*

Thats why the government is responsible. Sadly no-one gets sacked for doing a shit job in the public service

The GDE was poor planning for sure, not helped of course by the Howard Government and save the ridge delaying and costing more.

But in this case what could they have done any differently? How are they meant to know that a sub contractor to a company they use all the time was going to go bust?

And that is only one project that I have seen that immediately needed an upgrade. All the others around town are doing just fine.

Road resurfacing, Athlon average speed camera, hospital waiting times magic bus way.

+1.

Want a specific example in KB1971’s back yard? Try the road resurfacing of Pitman St, Tuggeranong.

yeah that one, and also the bridge deck of the GDE that was laid on the barton highway.

gooterz said :

Road resurfacing, Athlon average speed camera, hospital waiting times magic bus way.

What about road resurfacing? Without getting into the normal shit fight yes chip seal is shit, but there are not endless rivers of money and it does the core job which is to extend the life of the road until it needs replacing.

Average speed cameras on Athlon, not sure who decided on that one, but they would have been better placed on the Tuggernaong Parkway.

But hospital waiting times, have you ever had to get anything done at Canberra hospital or do you just parrot the local Liberal Parties lines? Because tell you what in the past 14 months my mother has had two operations there, one was an emergency to remove bowel cancer and more recently elective surgery on her leg. The bowel cancer was first and they did a good job. They then booked her in to have reversal of colostomy 6 months later, but due to another medical issue, they quite rightly didn’t do it. Point being this was elective and was scheduled more or less as soon as it was medically right to do so. No excess wait at all.

The the leg problem, not life threatening and elective, refereed by GP, 1 month wait to see the surgeon, operation done 3 weeks later. Top job and top surgeon too.

Oh on top of that my wife had a baby at Canberra hospital, again couldn’t speak more highly of the system. Some may well complain because she was sent home the day after, but that was the right thing to do even though two days later it was found the bub had a feeding issue and had to go back in.

Top care all round. Guess the core issue is people really don’t understand what elective is about and opposition parties of all ilk use it as fodder to get themselves elected by shit canning the government of the day. The reality is of course different.

RadioVK said :

I’m sure that when they originally announced the project, TAMS said that only the Eastbound side would be three lanes all the way through, and the Westbound side would only be completed between the Sullivans Creek bridge and Glenloch interchange. The plan (I think) was to put in the infrastructure for the other bridge extension now, and complete it later.

I had a look on the TAMS website, but the information they have is a little vague. It also says this:

“Clunies Ross Bridge widening for the westbound carriageway is also complete and waiting for the placement of the wearing course, which will happen in Janurary 2014.”

Sounds like it’s as done as it’s going to get for the moment.

Part right, you are correct when originally announced it was east bound only with NO work being done on the west. That changed pretty quickly though. Not doing this last bridge is very much a last minute thing, no doubt related to the collapse of the bridge builder (sub contracted by Wodens, not the ACT gov).

gooterz said :

KB1971 said :

JC said :

slashdot said :

Because they are ultimately responsible for the roads. They do a terrible job contract managing, and we get stuck with sub-par roads that cost a fortune and then must be immediately upgraded *cough* GDE *cough*

Thats why the government is responsible. Sadly no-one gets sacked for doing a shit job in the public service

The GDE was poor planning for sure, not helped of course by the Howard Government and save the ridge delaying and costing more.

But in this case what could they have done any differently? How are they meant to know that a sub contractor to a company they use all the time was going to go bust?

And that is only one project that I have seen that immediately needed an upgrade. All the others around town are doing just fine.

Road resurfacing, Athlon average speed camera, hospital waiting times magic bus way.

+1.

Want a specific example in KB1971’s back yard? Try the road resurfacing of Pitman St, Tuggeranong.

I’m sure that when they originally announced the project, TAMS said that only the Eastbound side would be three lanes all the way through, and the Westbound side would only be completed between the Sullivans Creek bridge and Glenloch interchange. The plan (I think) was to put in the infrastructure for the other bridge extension now, and complete it later.

I had a look on the TAMS website, but the information they have is a little vague. It also says this:

“Clunies Ross Bridge widening for the westbound carriageway is also complete and waiting for the placement of the wearing course, which will happen in Janurary 2014.”

Sounds like it’s as done as it’s going to get for the moment.

KB1971 said :

JC said :

slashdot said :

Because they are ultimately responsible for the roads. They do a terrible job contract managing, and we get stuck with sub-par roads that cost a fortune and then must be immediately upgraded *cough* GDE *cough*

Thats why the government is responsible. Sadly no-one gets sacked for doing a shit job in the public service

The GDE was poor planning for sure, not helped of course by the Howard Government and save the ridge delaying and costing more.

But in this case what could they have done any differently? How are they meant to know that a sub contractor to a company they use all the time was going to go bust?

And that is only one project that I have seen that immediately needed an upgrade. All the others around town are doing just fine.

Road resurfacing, Athlon average speed camera, hospital waiting times magic bus way.

JC said :

slashdot said :

Because they are ultimately responsible for the roads. They do a terrible job contract managing, and we get stuck with sub-par roads that cost a fortune and then must be immediately upgraded *cough* GDE *cough*

Thats why the government is responsible. Sadly no-one gets sacked for doing a shit job in the public service

The GDE was poor planning for sure, not helped of course by the Howard Government and save the ridge delaying and costing more.

But in this case what could they have done any differently? How are they meant to know that a sub contractor to a company they use all the time was going to go bust?

And that is only one project that I have seen that immediately needed an upgrade. All the others around town are doing just fine.

slashdot said :

Because they are ultimately responsible for the roads. They do a terrible job contract managing, and we get stuck with sub-par roads that cost a fortune and then must be immediately upgraded *cough* GDE *cough*

Thats why the government is responsible. Sadly no-one gets sacked for doing a shit job in the public service

The GDE was poor planning for sure, not helped of course by the Howard Government and save the ridge delaying and costing more.

But in this case what could they have done any differently? How are they meant to know that a sub contractor to a company they use all the time was going to go bust?

JC said :

enrique said :

I haven’t seen all the details yet but on the face of it this sounds like another ACT government road upgrade/expansion project poorly managed, poorly completed, over-time/over-budget, and of questionable usability/quality.

I’m not surprised really – this has been going on for quite some time on many other sites.

Not quite sure how you can blame the government for a subcontractor going bust and how that can be poorly managed. Do you expect the government to have super human powers to crystal ball gaze?

What they do have control over is how they hold their prime contractor to account. I would have thought they would have insurance against delays by their subbies going bust.

Because they are ultimately responsible for the roads. They do a terrible job contract managing, and we get stuck with sub-par roads that cost a fortune and then must be immediately upgraded *cough* GDE *cough*

Thats why the government is responsible. Sadly no-one gets sacked for doing a shit job in the public service

enrique said :

I haven’t seen all the details yet but on the face of it this sounds like another ACT government road upgrade/expansion project poorly managed, poorly completed, over-time/over-budget, and of questionable usability/quality.

I’m not surprised really – this has been going on for quite some time on many other sites.

Not quite sure how you can blame the government for a subcontractor going bust and how that can be poorly managed. Do you expect the government to have super human powers to crystal ball gaze?

What they do have control over is how they hold their prime contractor to account. I would have thought they would have insurance against delays by their subbies going bust.

On the way back from the airport yesterday, I went past this area and was surprised that the bike path looks so narrow (and looks like an afterthought). JC is right, the area around the Sullivans Creek bridge does look half-arsed and looks the opposite of the CONFIDENT BOLD READY image the ACT govt is trying to sell us.

I haven’t seen all the details yet but on the face of it this sounds like another ACT government road upgrade/expansion project poorly managed, poorly completed, over-time/over-budget, and of questionable usability/quality.

I’m not surprised really – this has been going on for quite some time on many other sites.

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