So, where have the post boxes gone? I went to clear mine out the other day and it had been removed…

If find it interesting that those two boxes have been fenced off. It this to protect them? Because they are in an area that pedestrians are permitted still. Is there some danger, unseen, sufficient to warrant the protection of the green and grey box, but which pedestrians don’t need to worry about?

Maybe if pedestrians paid for rego, they’d be more entitled to complain about facilities…

In all serious though, I agree fully. Temporary diversions for works are rarely well thought through for people commuting on foot in Canberra.

An exception to this the work site on Mort Street in Braddon at the moment, where road centre lines have been shifted, bus stops moved, parking spots moved, all to make way for pedestrians to walk on the road (protected by concrete barriers) whilst the foot path is closed for adjacent building construction. A great example of well planned and implemented temporary traffic management.

Then around the corner at the intersection of Elouera and Lonsdale Streets, the foot path is also closed for construction. The only provision for pedestrians at this site are signs telling them to cross the road. Yet no temporary pedestrian crossing facilities have been provided for them to do so. Pedestrians must then cross the road near roundabouts which Canberran motorists come flying through at stupid speeds, blissfully ignorant of any road user around them who may not be in a motor vehicle. I have seen many a close call.

Anyone using a road who is not in a motor vehicle is among the most vulnerable road users. They should be the first considered and catered for when implementing temporary traffic management and diversions, not the last.

Calm down JB, your flaming your own website. They’ve been repaving that whole side of Civic, and it’s made a real improvement. Yes, a short term annoyance but how else are they to do it, you can build under people’s feet?

These changes have nothing to do with the others, it’s Australia Post blowing cash on a reno. Inconvenient, hell yes. But you can easily cross to the other side of the road.

I’m surprised no one has been injured crossing Rudd St at the corner of Marcus Clarke St. Wire fencing everywhere, no sight lines to on coming traffic, if you are riding you need to weave in and up and around in order to go up the curb.

c_c said :

Calm down JB, your flaming your own website. They’ve been repaving that whole side of Civic, and it’s made a real improvement. Yes, a short term annoyance but how else are they to do it, you can build under people’s feet?

These changes have nothing to do with the others, it’s Australia Post blowing cash on a reno. Inconvenient, hell yes. But you can easily cross to the other side of the road.

Well you may be content with mediocrity but some of us strive for and often achieve excellence unlike the excessively lengthy time that it takes to complete roadworks and repairs to pedestrian access areas. Mind you this has been the norm in Canberra for decades much to my chagrin.No hurry boys steady as she goes!

bundah said :

Well you may be content with mediocrity but some of us strive for and often achieve excellence unlike the excessively lengthy time that it takes to complete roadworks and repairs to pedestrian access areas. Mind you this has been the norm in Canberra for decades much to my chagrin.No hurry boys steady as she goes!

So you walk past and through these works everyday do you?

How would you do it better? Come on, upload a diagram genius and let’s see.

Some people need to harden up. (Though given how many people will barrel through a group waling in the opposite direction on the footpath, rather than just move a few inches to the side, why am I not surprised by the whining).

Why have competent project management and staggered works when you can just tell everyone to harden up?

c_c said :

bundah said :

Well you may be content with mediocrity but some of us strive for and often achieve excellence unlike the excessively lengthy time that it takes to complete roadworks and repairs to pedestrian access areas. Mind you this has been the norm in Canberra for decades much to my chagrin.No hurry boys steady as she goes!

So you walk past and through these works everyday do you?

How would you do it better? Come on, upload a diagram genius and let’s see.

Some people need to harden up. (Though given how many people will barrel through a group waling in the opposite direction on the footpath, rather than just move a few inches to the side, why am I not surprised by the whining).

c_c, do you have anything to do with these works? Seems strange to defend something like that.

OMG once I totally had to walk around a bit of fence … sooooo lame.

Worst day evah. This city just, like, totally sucks.

Jim Jones said :

OMG once I totally had to walk around a bit of fence … sooooo lame.

Worst day evah. This city just, like, totally sucks.

Perhaps try and consider that this is a busy stretch of pavement, and that not all pedestrians have the same mobility that you do.

Every time I see something like this, I ask myself, how would this be to navigate for someone in a wheelchair? Put yourself in someone else’s shoes (or in this case wheels) and imagine it from their perspective for a second, and then you might realise why this is more than just an issue of being annoyed at having to walk around something.

Jim Jones said :

OMG once I totally had to walk around a bit of fence … sooooo lame.

Worst day evah. This city just, like, totally sucks.

Take another look at the picture. Describe for me, in 50 moves or less, how you would negotiate that section of footpath from in a wheelchair without being forced onto the road? Or while pushing a pram?

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :

c_c, do you have anything to do with these works? Seems strange to defend something like that.

I have nothing to do with the works, except for walking through them almost daily for their duration.

Never had an issue.

The improvements made are nice, replacing some aged and sometimes dangerous pavement. The extensive remodelling around Canberra House on the corner of Marcus Clarke St was a big improvement.

Plenty of ways to walk a couple of metres one way or the other and avoid the works easily.

When you’re repaving pedestrian thoroughfares, it’s going to be inconvenient. And when the weather isn’t great, it’s going to delay things. You can’t damn well lay pavers under people’s feet, and you can only work so fast.

You know The Simpsons (back in the days when they did humorous social commentary) mocked what a lot of you are now doing. Remember the episode with the bear tax. One bear sighting and the whole town went nuts, thinking it was a crisis. They wanted the ‘crisis’ fixed, so the mayor introduced a bear patrol but raised taxes to fund it. Then the public complained about the tax.

Same thing here.

Antagonist said :

Jim Jones said :

OMG once I totally had to walk around a bit of fence … sooooo lame.

Worst day evah. This city just, like, totally sucks.

Take another look at the picture. Describe for me, in 50 moves or less, how you would negotiate that section of footpath from in a wheelchair without being forced onto the road? Or while pushing a pram?

I wouldn’t have been so myopic, would have seen an obstacle existed a few metres ahead and chosen to use the other side of the street, crossing at the pedestrian light at the Northbourne end or the safety island at the West Row end of Alinga St, proceeding on the Melbourne building side of the street.

This is just laziness.

Bad luck if your in a wheelchair.

Have you also explored the horrors up Marcus Clarke, Moore Street, Rudd Street, and along Barry Drive.

If it was just a one off, or for a week, I’d have just worn it. But this has gone on and on and in many places is downright dangerous.

johnboy said :

Have you also explored the horrors up Marcus Clarke, Moore Street, Rudd Street, and along Barry Drive.

If it was just a one off, or for a week, I’d have just worn it. But this has gone on and on and in many places is downright dangerous.

The horrors, my gosh. Yes, I have. Had to immediately call Lifeline and even then I’m scarred.

Very simple solution… walk around it!

Two sides to every street, two alternatives to every route I’ve observed.

Rawhide Kid Part3 said :

Bad luck if your in a wheelchair.

Or blind with a stick. That would be almost impossible to navigate, I would think.

Sure, if you can jump down a gutter and sprint across four lanes of traffic. No problem at all.

c_c said :

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :

c_c, do you have anything to do with these works? Seems strange to defend something like that.

I have nothing to do with the works, except for walking through them almost daily for their duration.

Never had an issue.

The improvements made are nice, replacing some aged and sometimes dangerous pavement. The extensive remodelling around Canberra House on the corner of Marcus Clarke St was a big improvement.

Plenty of ways to walk a couple of metres one way or the other and avoid the works easily.

When you’re repaving pedestrian thoroughfares, it’s going to be inconvenient. And when the weather isn’t great, it’s going to delay things. You can’t damn well lay pavers under people’s feet, and you can only work so fast.

You know The Simpsons (back in the days when they did humorous social commentary) mocked what a lot of you are now doing. Remember the episode with the bear tax. One bear sighting and the whole town went nuts, thinking it was a crisis. They wanted the ‘crisis’ fixed, so the mayor introduced a bear patrol but raised taxes to fund it. Then the public complained about the tax.

Same thing here.

Stunning logic from c_c: “I’ve never had an issue, so therefore anyone who complains needs to harden up.” Brilliant! Wouldn’t life be so much easier if everyone thought this way.

For c_c’s next trick, he/she will demonstrate how if you don’t actually think about people with reduced mobility at all, you can make them disappear…

It’s a pity it’s too late to register a new party for the upcoming election. You could have gone with the “I don’t give a rats arse about anyone else so long as I’m not inconvenienced” party. Self-centered w^nkers of Canberra, unite!

The street work is moving to Post Office now .. ! This seems to have been going on for quite a while, and with the endless construction site at the ANU (and now the child care centre) .. it can sometimes be pretty exhausting.

The worst bit is probably the 4 way intersection at Moore St and Rudd St, where a shipping container has blocked the view for crossing pedestrians for some time.

I don’t believe this has anything to do with the footpath regeneration, but is more to do with the long overdue upgrade of the GPO – and I would imagine that most of this temporary fencing will be removed in a fairly short time frame.

Not really sure why the electricity box, etc had to be fenced off – but there you go….

Stinger, the majority of PO boxes are still on Rudd St, just moved along a few bays, while a small number are now on Alinga St: there was a letter placed in all GPO Boxes last week pointing out that some boxes were being moved. All the GPO Boxes will be relocated inside some time soon – so no more stepping over sleeping homeless people, or having to endure the smell of p1ss while collecting your mail!

c_c said :

johnboy said :

Have you also explored the horrors up Marcus Clarke, Moore Street, Rudd Street, and along Barry Drive.

If it was just a one off, or for a week, I’d have just worn it. But this has gone on and on and in many places is downright dangerous.

The horrors, my gosh. Yes, I have. Had to immediately call Lifeline and even then I’m scarred.

Very simple solution… walk around it!

Two sides to every street, two alternatives to every route I’ve observed.

Wow, some serious attitude here.

I have a colleague who is vision and mobility impaired. Usually they take themselves to lunch and to the bus stop, but can no longer do this. This person needs to arrange others to either go with them at lunch and often stays back late so they can arrange a lift with family .. while they managed when the construction was relatively consistent and contained, their routine around the city has been put on hold because, as John has said, the construction has steadily mounted and encroached on safe pedestrian access for some time. Sure we can have a whinge about how annoying it is to naviage fences and traffic, but for the disabled or people pushing prams I imagine it is really very frustrating.

So to all the folks on here claiming to be advocates for disabled and mobility impaired people, did you stop to think that the old pavement presented hazards that would easily cause such people to end up arse over turkey?

And none of you have explained just how pavement is meant to be replaced without causing short term inconvenience.

You know I was looking at where this photo was taken today at lunch time and guess what, all the fencing is gone. It was only their while the boarding was been put up. The area is now clear and pedestrians are moving through with ease.

But then again, even with all the fencing up all over the place, people were moving up and down the streets with ease so it was never really an issue.

People complain the government doesn’t listen to what they say about public works. Well with such princesses making so much out of nothing, I really can’t blame them.

c_c said :

bundah said :

Well you may be content with mediocrity but some of us strive for and often achieve excellence unlike the excessively lengthy time that it takes to complete roadworks and repairs to pedestrian access areas. Mind you this has been the norm in Canberra for decades much to my chagrin.No hurry boys steady as she goes!

So you walk past and through these works everyday do you?

How would you do it better? Come on, upload a diagram genius and let’s see.

Some people need to harden up. (Though given how many people will barrel through a group waling in the opposite direction on the footpath, rather than just move a few inches to the side, why am I not surprised by the whining).

Some of us have the capacity to consider others who are disadvantaged and empathise with their predicament and the inconvenience this tardy work has on their mobility.You obviously are much to egocentric and therefore couldn’t give a stuff.

schmeah said :

The worst bit is probably the 4 way intersection at Moore St and Rudd St, where a shipping container has blocked the view for crossing pedestrians for some time.

There’s no shipping container at that intersection. Never has been. There’s a couple up the road, but none that obstruct the view at the actual pedestrian crossings.

There is no impediment! The footpaths are great! You deserve no better!

What about the paving work happening outside the Uni Pub at the monent. Makes dodging the spew along there each morning that bit harder….

I’m sure I can speak for c_c: There is never any vomit in Civic!