19 June 2009

Tuggers Rejoice! Athllon Drive Duplication Complete!

| johnboy
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Jon Stanhope is proud to announce that the duplication of Athllon Drive through the Tuggeranong Town Centre has now been completed.

The rest of the associated works are on target for completion later this month.

    “This $2 million project sees the completion of the Athllon Drive duplication through the Tuggeranong Town Centre,” Mr Stanhope said. “The three-kilometre loop between Drakeford Drive (north) to Drakeford Drive (south) is now dual carriageway.

    “The new road will ease traffic congestion and improve the safety of this busy thoroughfare, which is used by 20,000 vehicles every day.

    “Road users can also expect better access to the Tuggeranong Town Centre and the new suburb of Bonython West.

    “Importantly, the works included on-road cycle lanes – part of the ACT Government’s commitment to fund cycle lanes on all arterial roads as they are upgraded.

Lucky they managed to get the cycle paths in…

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Igglepiggle said :

Well the duplication makes a difference to northbound traffic on Drakeford in the mornings as it approaches the Isabella roundabout . A long turning lane inot a dedicated lane as opposed to the quick merge there was before menas the long queue of cars that used to be piled all down Drakeford is gone!

That change was separate to the Athllon duplication and could have been done years ago simply by remarking the road. Many cars used to just slip down the left of the marked lane anyway. Better late than never I suppose!!!!!!

The stretch between the Waniassa shops and Sulwood is virtually a carpark each morning between 8 and 9.

No kidding. Has been this way for 15-20 odd years too.

Well the duplication makes a difference to northbound traffic on Drakeford in the mornings as it approaches the Isabella roundabout . A long turning lane inot a dedicated lane as opposed to the quick merge there was before menas the long queue of cars that used to be piled all down Drakeford is gone!

someoneincanb12:26 pm 20 Jun 09

I had the displeasure of a truck in front of me spraying up loose gravel that is/was in piles all over Drakeford Dve. I now have a chip in my windscreen.

The duplication of Athllon is laughable. What a waste of money to get public servants to work 10mins faster. The home trip still merges down to a single lane and is a traffic nightmare.

GottaLoveCanberra said :

And also, speaking of roadworks, what’s with the non cleaning of loose asphalt once they’re done? Namatjira Dr and that section of road crossing the Tuggers bridge were both utterly disgraceful!! I had black gunk and loose stones all over my rims/wheels and it was a bitch to get off!

This is just pure and simple. The ACT GOVERNMENT is NOT DOING ITS JOB. According to the ACT Governments website contractors who do this resealing work must sweep the roads within 24 hours of the resealing and then again within 7 days. None of the roads resealed this year were swept at all.

Where is the quality control over these projects. Surely when these works cost so much, someone in our Government should be overseeing that the job is done properly. No, I guess that would much too much sense.

I saw a street sweeper operating on Yamba Drive outside the Canberra hospital this week. Why on earth was this already clean road being swept when we have such a mess on Drakeford Drive, Soward Way, Newman Morris Cct, Namatjira Dr etc etc.

How can we take this Government seriously when they so obviously and blatantly get things so wrong, so often.

peterh said :

I have never seen that back road clogged.

It does bank up from the Isabella roundabout back to near the bus depot every night, not sure how its been faring since duplication

Reprobate said :

The stretch between the Waniassa shops and Sulwood is virtually a carpark each morning between 8 and 9.

That definitely needs duplication. Its ridiculous that its not. Something that may twist the government’s arm on this one is that besides College St, its pretty much the only single-lane stretch of the Intertown bus route.

miz said :

People who actually LIVE in Tuggers don’t use that loop much, as there are so many traffic lights along it . . ..

I find it quicker to turn off Drakeford onto Athllon at Kambah and go round that way to Bonython. If you get one green light along there you get them all, and if you keep going down Drakeford you get stuck between the last set of lights and the first roundabout.

I would expect that Glenloch would be upgraded as part of the GDE upgraded

There’s pretty noticeable open space that they’ve left for upgrades when they need it. Hopefully its not like the last time – 12 months of going to Belconnen to go to Civic.

GottaLoveCanberra11:09 pm 19 Jun 09

As for the cycles lanes, I’ve seen 2 cars already think it is a proper section of road for straight traveling while on my way too/from work.

And also, speaking of roadworks, what’s with the non cleaning of loose asphalt once they’re done? Namatjira Dr and that section of road crossing the Tuggers bridge were both utterly disgraceful!! I had black gunk and loose stones all over my rims/wheels and it was a bitch to get off!

There are plenty of roads around the place that need duplication, but let the Government get their hands on it means it will become another halfarsed job. The “duplication” of Athllon drive is complete, why on earth would they duplicate the road and still have part of it form into one lane for the roundabout at Anketell St? Bloody idiots.

It also looks as if Cotter Road is having its duplication complete as when I’ve gone through earlier this week, road digging up was being done.

But even Erindale Drive needs duplicating to atleast the Ashley Drive roundabout (Erindale Shops)

Felix the Cat8:55 pm 19 Jun 09

The Flemington Rd duplication in Gungahlin is underway but it looks like it will be a bottleneck too (surprised much?) as it appears to stay one lane each way as it goes through the dogleg near Aussie Junk and also goes back to one lane before the first roundabout near GTC. What is the point of these half-arsed roads? Do the job properly or don’t bother doing it at all. Dual carriagway from Northbourne Ave to GTC is what’s needed. Realign the Northbourne end of Flemington so it meets up with Phillip Ave and build a flyover and reclaim the Flemington bus lane near EPIC for cars not the bi-annual buses that allegedly use it.

I’m sure if you have a plate and a handful of cold sapaghetti you too could be an ACT road designer. Just throw one at the other, and not in that order.

Glenoch was obvious to anyone who thought about it. And yet people call for GDE duplication. That will only make Glenoch worse!

While it’s taking a while, I think the roadworks on Tharwa Drive is only one effective road upgarde out of many failures which have occurred around Canberra in recent years. I do look forawrd to its completion but I can’t forget the frustration of the GDE, the bridge at the north end of the Monaro as it meets Pialligo Ave and the spaghetti junction at Gelnloch.

Bronto said :

Believe me, it still has bottle necks with all those annoying roundabouts that are so narrow. Stanhope has no idea.

Agree. The approaches to these roundabouts have been intentionally heavily curved which slows traffic way more than is necessary. This just causes more congestion, more tyre wear and more fuel use. Roundabouts were originally designed to enhance traffic flow, not hinder it. Not sure if it’s Stanhope himself but someone in the ACT Government/Public Service needs a swift kick up the bum.

Tharwa Drive won’t be done for months, I’d say. A long way to go by the looks of it.

I live down towards Lanyon, and work at the Tuggeranong Office Park so I use this sectin of road daily. Unfortunately the bit they have just spent heaps of resources on is still clogged in the evenings. 2 lanes merged to one, then merged at the Ankettel Rd roundabout with traffic coming out of Ankettek Rd. Part time traffic lights controlling the flow out to Isbella Drive/Drakeford Drive to assist the southbound traffic on Drakeford Drive. Just wait until the new housing estate is complete – this section of road is still a real mess and will only get worse.
At least this piece of work was actually completed before they crowed about it.

Anyone know how many more months before they finish the duplication of Tharwa Drive? Does not even rate a mention of the Roads ACT website.

So, another achievement like the GDE?

think tillyard drive round the back of fraser.

this is how much use this section has.

Believe me, it still has bottle necks with all those annoying roundabouts that are so narrow. Stanhope has no idea.

People who actually LIVE in Tuggers don’t use that loop much, as there are so many traffic lights along it . . .

I wish they’d fix the Monaro, so you don’t have to keep merging from three lanes at Isabella, to two, to one lane . . . daft.

Reprobate said :

Yeah, big deal, the traffic volume in the duplicated area doesn’t compare to the single lane between Drakeford and Sulwood Drive. The stretch between the Waniassa shops and Sulwood is virtually a carpark each morning between 8 and 9. Still, why be bothered to ask the Govt to duplicate that stretch when they would probably paint the new lane red and say it’s for buses only…

Oh, and while I’m at it – what other colours should we unneccesarily paint our roads for minority users? Green = bike paths, red = bus lanes; maybe yellow for Floriade tourists and Pink for planning ministers?

and didn’t you think they were going to duplicate that stretch when they closed off athllon? nope. chipsealing…

Yeah, big deal, the traffic volume in the duplicated area doesn’t compare to the single lane between Drakeford and Sulwood Drive. The stretch between the Waniassa shops and Sulwood is virtually a carpark each morning between 8 and 9. Still, why be bothered to ask the Govt to duplicate that stretch when they would probably paint the new lane red and say it’s for buses only…

Oh, and while I’m at it – what other colours should we unneccesarily paint our roads for minority users? Green = bike paths, red = bus lanes; maybe yellow for Floriade tourists and Pink for planning ministers?

whoopee. and when you hit athllon drive, it becomes single lane. so does isabella drive. so the only benefit is for the officeworkers in the tuggeranong office park, or the new centrelink building. I have never seen that back road clogged.

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