Traffic is a mess in Lanyon

Sounds like it would be quicker going into town via the cotter. Has anyone tried it?

The new traffic measures have not worked, my cousin is heading to Midura today. They left early (well before 7) and they waited 70 minutes.

I rode my pushy, and left at 6:45 and there was already a line south as far as you could see towards Banks from the main roundabout at the shops.

Valleyboy said :

What with people in the Lanyon Valley being almost imprisoned there or being locked out for some hours at a time, and what with a proposal to spend doG-knows-how-much on a tramway at the other end of town that will only benefit a few thousand people, the present ACT government isn’t exactly courting votes from down this area.

Courting votes from the area? Based on the (non-existent) planning that has gone into the traffic, I don’t think TaMS or the MLA’s have a clue how many people live down there, and less of an idea how many people use the roads. They cannot court you if they do not know you exist. Maybe they are too busy daydreaming while looking at artists impressions of toy trains in Gungers.

It’s been announced today that they’re going to make both lanes of Woodcock Drive northbound only during 7-11am on weekdays. So, if you have to leave the Lanyon Valley in the morning – not necessarily to go to work for the day, but maybe for an appointment in the Tuggeranong town centre – then you can’t go back to your home before 11am?

Why couldn’t they have just closed and worked on one half of Tharwa Drive at a time?

What with people in the Lanyon Valley being almost imprisoned there or being locked out for some hours at a time, and what with a proposal to spend doG-knows-how-much on a tramway at the other end of town that will only benefit a few thousand people, the present ACT government isn’t exactly courting votes from down this area.

watto23 said :

Its the shortcutting going on that leads to most of the issues, because it means more cars sitting giving way to traffic on the right, most of which rat raced through the suburbs. The really needed to force the flow of traffic through the major roads and cut off the roundabout exit at Conder as well and funnel the traffic better. Its only because of impatient drivers taking shortcuts to avoid giving way to their right and thus jumping the queue that causes the issues.

What about the people who live on the short cut route? Should they somehow be forced to drive to the back of Condor to start their queueing as well?

filash said :

Worse this morning from the Conder end (Box Hill Ave) as there were no marshals there to control the flow (I guess extra congestion was people trying to shortcut via Lanyon Marketplace?)
Once you got to Woodcock Dr it was ‘ok’ (still very slow) – so efforts there have made a positive impact.

Its the shortcutting going on that leads to most of the issues, because it means more cars sitting giving way to traffic on the right, most of which rat raced through the suburbs. The really needed to force the flow of traffic through the major roads and cut off the roundabout exit at Conder as well and funnel the traffic better. Its only because of impatient drivers taking shortcuts to avoid giving way to their right and thus jumping the queue that causes the issues.

harvyk1 said :

Genie said :

It looks like the powers which be have realised that actual management of the situation is in order -> http://esa.act.gov.au/2015/01/07/new-traffic-flow-measures-for-south-tuggeranong-announced/.

Yes, it will be interesting to see how people handle a one way Woodcock, especially if they want to get _into_ Gordon of a morning. Oh, and of course both those lands still need to merge down to one to get onto Drakeford, so that will be fun to watch.

KB1971 said :

Yep, its a PITA but its for three weeks people (probably not even that I would imagine……), build a bridge.

We’ve tried that.

They keep falling down.

Genie said :

Alot of you are whinging it’s taking an hour to move 500m… that’s a 5min walk. Perhaps if traffic is so bad, you could park your car elsewhere and get a bit of exercise. I sure as hell would be parking my car and walking 5minutes over sitting in traffic for an hour.

Great, so it’s a 5 minute walk, how am I meant to then get the rest of the 25km into work given my car is still stuck on the wrong side of the traffic jam?

It looks like the powers which be have realised that actual management of the situation is in order -> http://esa.act.gov.au/2015/01/07/new-traffic-flow-measures-for-south-tuggeranong-announced/

I give them absolutely no points for creating this mess, but I am happy to see them actually trying to come up with an appropriate solution, unlike some of the people complaining about the complainers (strangely enough, mainly northsiders at least within my FB feed).

Is it wrong of me to suggest that now is the perfect time to consider carpooling, riding a bike or heaven forbid catch the bus !?

Alot of you are whinging it’s taking an hour to move 500m… that’s a 5min walk. Perhaps if traffic is so bad, you could park your car elsewhere and get a bit of exercise. I sure as hell would be parking my car and walking 5minutes over sitting in traffic for an hour.

I’d also be talking to coworkers to see if anyone lived nearby. Get a few less cars on the road. Chat to the boss to change your working hours, mine came in at 7am this morning to avoid the traffic.

Finally – I will point out this doesn’t directly effect me as I live northside. We’ve had our Majura Avenue carpark for over a year now, so I’m sure you can put up with this for a few weeks.

beebee said :

…and what is the plan if a severe fire breaks out down south in the meantime? Evacuation be interesting.

Nothing, same as last time if you remember, stay home, hose your roof. I doubt very much we will see a bigger fire event than 2003 in the next 20 years.

I would like to take a moment to thank all the workers for building us a new fire station, especially the ones that are currently doing overtime to get the sewer pipeline done and the poor buggers standing out in the sun all day holding onto a lollypop recievingscowles from the self centered whingers in their cars.

Yep, its a PITA but its for three weeks people (probably not even that I would imagine……), build a bridge.

The best whinge I have heard of today is from someone who lives in Gordon and works in Tuggeranong. This person is happy to whinge about sitting in traffic for 50 minutes but wont ride hit bike (a quality bike mind you) the 5km ON THE FLAT to work because he doesnt want to have a shower when he gets there…………….if it took 50 minutes to ride you are not doing it right.

When did we all get so soft………

Of course it is a mess – The local council (Don’t blame for me – I voted no on the referendumb like most of us…) doesn’t even know that Tuggeranong exists, probably because the suburb doesn’t start with a ‘G’ like the local councils star baby – Gungahlin.

Hey people who allegedly represent us – How about you start listening to people who don’t live in Gungahlin…

Nah – That will never happen…

beebee said :

…and what is the plan if a severe fire breaks out down south in the meantime? Evacuation be interesting.

They’ve said they have steel plates beside the hole which they can place over the earthworks if the road has to reopen in a hurry. They just don’t want to do that twice a day as it would be mildly inconvenient for the government.

…and what is the plan if a severe fire breaks out down south in the meantime? Evacuation be interesting.

rommeldog56 said :

chewy14 said :

mikal said :

Reply

Worse this morning from the Conder end (Box Hill Ave) as there were no marshals there to control the flow (I guess extra congestion was people trying to shortcut via Lanyon Marketplace?)
Once you got to Woodcock Dr it was ‘ok’ (still very slow) – so efforts there have made a positive impact.

Took an hour to travel 500m before getting to Woodcock Dr … (entered Box Hill Ave at 7am)
However, was better without the traffic control on Tue and Wed due to people having to actually obey the road rules and give way to the right.

Will be another nightmare on the way back south as I guess the only place they think gets congested is the Johnson Dr/Woodcock Dr roundabout … what about back to Calwell (Ashley Dr) and the Isabella Dr roundabouts? (actually IMO the way back wouldn’t be congested if people didn’t try and cut in and actually obeyed road rules again – get in the left lane early!!)

We all have our own opinions … but having 2 entries/exits (even one lane ones as per a number of years ago) for a longer time is still better than just one for a shorter time as people are travelling to distinct parts of the valley.

This what the motorists and bus commuters from Gungahlin will not be looking forward to:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-05/buses-backed-up-across-sydney-harbour-bridge/6000270

rommeldog56 said :

chewy14 said :

mikal said :

Reply

rommeldog56 said :

chewy14 said :

mikal said :

Reply

chewy14 said :

mikal said :

Reply

Well, except I headed north at about 6:30pm tonight when there were marshalls on Drakeford / Woodcock, and the queue was just as long (back to Isabella Drive).

Monday it took me 15 minutes to travel the 3.8km from my home in Gordon to Drakeford Drive. This was without any traffic control whatsoever. 95% of drivers patiently allowed others to merge from off streets. Today with traffic control it took me 25 minutes to travel the length of Gordon, I was stationary in front of Gordon Primary for 15 minutes! This road closure has not been thought out…

Apparently they’re now going to deploy traffic marshalls to try and help ease congestion. Why this wasn’t always part of the plan is beyond me.

We knew it was coming, I think we knew it was going to be chaos and thus far it has been. Heard on the radio the Police are going to get involved in sorting the mess over the next day or to. Somebody really did not think this through. Last night traffic was backed up from Drakeford Drive, past Calwell shops almost to the Monaro Highway, I realise and i am not a road planner or traffic flow expert that some of these suburbs are one way in, one way out. Is it really that difficult to have worked out which intersections and roundabouts were going to jam up and to have installed temporary lights etc?

Bunda st was closed for 2 months and all they did was a few square meters of paving and some disgusting guard rail looking thing. Putting in pipes going to take a while .

harvyk1 said :

bd84 said :

Option 1 was close part of the road for 7 weeks and have people whinge about it for 7 weeks. Option 2 was to do it during the quietest time of the year and get it finished in 10 days and have fewer people whinge for only 10 days. People want it done at night, but would be the same people whinging when it makes noise.

Option 2 looks a lot better than option 1. They gave notice that it was going to happen, it can’t be that difficult for people to alter their travel times to avoid most of the congestion.. But people are creatures of habit and will keep banging their head against the wall to complain that it hurts.

so bd84, do you actually live down in Condor / Banks or Gordon?

The big problem is that they closed the road, put in detours and didn’t spend a second thinking about the flow on effects on other roads and most critically on nearby intersections, if they did, they would have put in some sort of traffic flow management (eg temporary traffic lights). A big part of the problem is that at roundabouts and T-intersections, everyone is slowing down to walking pace as they go past because people are “sneaking in”. Putting up some temporary traffic lights to help traffic flow would have gone a long way to easing congestion.

Reading in the paper this morning it seems the drilling wasnt an oprion in this case because of poor road base or something. I dare say this also stopped the whole “lets do one side at a time” thing too if the ground happened to become undstable.

mikal said :

Reply

mikal said :

Reply

Reply

bd84 said :

Option 1 was close part of the road for 7 weeks and have people whinge about it for 7 weeks. Option 2 was to do it during the quietest time of the year and get it finished in 10 days and have fewer people whinge for only 10 days. People want it done at night, but would be the same people whinging when it makes noise.

Option 2 looks a lot better than option 1. They gave notice that it was going to happen, it can’t be that difficult for people to alter their travel times to avoid most of the congestion.. But people are creatures of habit and will keep banging their head against the wall to complain that it hurts.

so bd84, do you actually live down in Condor / Banks or Gordon?

The big problem is that they closed the road, put in detours and didn’t spend a second thinking about the flow on effects on other roads and most critically on nearby intersections, if they did, they would have put in some sort of traffic flow management (eg temporary traffic lights). A big part of the problem is that at roundabouts and T-intersections, everyone is slowing down to walking pace as they go past because people are “sneaking in”. Putting up some temporary traffic lights to help traffic flow would have gone a long way to easing congestion.

Option 1 was close part of the road for 7 weeks and have people whinge about it for 7 weeks. Option 2 was to do it during the quietest time of the year and get it finished in 10 days and have fewer people whinge for only 10 days. People want it done at night, but would be the same people whinging when it makes noise.

Option 2 looks a lot better than option 1. They gave notice that it was going to happen, it can’t be that difficult for people to alter their travel times to avoid most of the congestion.. But people are creatures of habit and will keep banging their head against the wall to complain that it hurts.

Vote Labor.

Yeap, I was caught up in the chaos yesterday, both in the morning and evening.
Today I left home an hour early to make sure I missed the traffic jams, and I’ll be leaving work an hour early this evening for the same reason.

It turned my 25 minute drive into work into a 1.5 hour waiting game.

Considering the last set of pipes they ran under the road was done in a weekend and was done with only a lollipop man closing one lane at a time, I’d love to know who thought closing down effectively 2 of the 3 lanes out of Lanyon was a good idea.