GDE = Total Failure

Took the bus this am -William Hovell/Parkes Way seems to flow better now there is not that silly turn off lane. The Parkway was backed up to Hindmarsh though, so looks like nothing much has got better.

Interestingly the Australian Road rules state that the on ramps with the broken white lines actually are supposed to give way to the straight through traffic – that certainly wasn’t the case yesterday.

From what I was hearing on the radio this morning, a number of the arterial roads were running slow this morning. Cotter Road backed up to Coppins Crossing, the roundabout at Parkes Way/Kings Avenue was backed up down Kings Avenue, and Athlon Drive was also heavy.

Driving in this morning at 7:40, GDE was backed up beyond the Barton Highway overpass – approx 7km tailback I assume.

I took Northbourne to avoid the frustration. Back to the back streets of O’Connor for this rat.

GDE road has hit peak load already – and is a disaster…

There was an article in the CT today featuring a complaint from the NRMA which said GDE traffic gridlock is as bad as the worst traffic jams in Sydney.

While I understand that the Government wanted to get it partially operational for now, the second lane is not expected for another two years.

……and I had such high expectations for the GDE! I thought it would be magic, but the Government in all their wisdom found a way to f%$k it up.

Duke the road surface is decided on by the classification of the road. Well normally. The road surfaces that have been choosen are silly, but yet again they were choosen that way when the design was done. One of the plans on the GDE website clearly shows the changes in road surface. IMI it all should have been hotmix, none of the sprayed on tar shit. Look at when the put that out in Jerra, it lasted about 6 weeks before it started to break up and if I recall is no longer there. The spray on shit is only ok for cheap temp roads, such as the back road from Federal Highway/Majura road to Gungahlin. Not for a permament road surface.

Saw a few Subaru Foresters with those silly auxilliary lights on tonight. Mmm come to think of it, they all seem to have them on. Must be a bit like those daytime running lights on older Volvos. They dazzle a bit, but in laissez-faire Canberra who really gives a hoot about anybody else?

I think everyone got a bit ahead of themselves this morning thinking they could drive straight from the parkway onto parkes way when it’s the other way which has opened, the traffic was rediculous, but then it has steadily getting worse over the past 2 or so weeks.

I actually used the new southbound road onto the parkway tonight, admittidly I left work a bit late at about 6pm, and it was smooth sailing all the way.

It took me a while to figure out how someone would turn right from bindubi street onto parkes way, but then realised felix meant william hovell dr. I agree with him it’s been a lot quicker going that way, you get the casey stoners and michael schumachers going that way who think you doing 10km/hr over the 80 speed limit is still to slow on the narrow road and overtake dangerously at the first opportunity. reminds me stanhopeless should invest in building hard shoulders for the road for the cyclists with a death wish before someone (driver or cyclist) gets killed.

Anyway, I think you will find the original plan for the GDE was a 2 lane road each way, but it got cost cut by the current govt (and still didn’t make budget). Now they will need to try and fix the mess and build the other lanes in the next 5 years..

I regularly leave Mitchell at 5pm and head out to Stromlo Forest Park for a bike ride and found the quickest way is to avoid Glenoch Interschmozzle (haven’t actually tried it now the new bit is open) but to use GDE until Belco Way and then head towards Belco and turn up Bindubi St and then right onto Parkes Way and left onto Coppins Crossing Road. Takes about 20 mins during peak hour. Probably take 2hrs next time with all the extra traffic from RiotActers…Going via Glenoch takes usually 1/2 hour to the minute.

Roads are generally built one lane each way and then duplicated later. It is a lot quicker to build two lanes than 4. Budget costs also factor in to this. This allows the road to be used then added to in a later financial year.

Tempestas comment above got me thinking.

Cost appears to drive all decisions when it comes to roadworks, so I had a look at the income derived from rego and transfer fees noted in the ACT Budget papers. These are listed at about $26.5M.

This seemed low, so I checked the ABS figures on the number of vehicles registered on ACT roads.
177,000+ vehicles were shown in 2002! Let me guess at 200,000 today. If I allow an average of $400 per annum for registration alone (no transfer taxes included), my calculator tells me the ACT Gov is pulling in about $80M per annum.

I’m sure my maths are probably open to criticism, and I would love to be proved wrong, but how can $80M be called $26.5M in the budget papers?

Apparently the AIS and Aranda residents (who are easily spooked) got special noise reducing hotmix, everyone else got the cheapest stuff to pay for the noice reducing surface.

That sounds about right JC but I think the Government has felt the pressure of these delays and wanted it at least partially completed by this time. As you say we will put up with the delays in another couple of years when they put in the second lane.

Not working in road construction, does anybody know why the surfaces keep changing? It’s like they got a discount on ashphalt one week, then cement the next, because the surface, which is brand new, is rubbish!

Well Mick there was no sneakyness about it, it was always intended to be built as a two lane road and duplicated later. It is a stupid thing it should have been done now. What will happen is when the time comes, another round of disruptions and the cost will be far greater than if it was done today. The other thing that might happen is Athlon Drive, where duplicating it has been forgotton. Just take a look at that and think how hard it would be to start duplicating it. It was done properly where at least the intersections are already aligned and capable of taking the extra lanes.

From what I can see, they have made the GDE with every intention of making it 2 lanes each way eventually. If you look at the super intersection, you can see where there is space for another 2 lanes. Same at Ginninderra Drive. THere are 2 big black walls where the road goes over, one has the overpass, the other one is blank.

I think they have been sneaky and just cut down the cost and time of putting the initial road in, and will expand it after this road has been in for a year or so.

Foresters are gold. Got a baby on board too – no sticker though.

Never owned a volvo. Had a Dato 120 Y bother though.

Subaru drivers are the new Volvo drivers. Especially the foresters with the ‘baby on board’ stickers.

Safety features. They buy them for safety features.

Don’t call me safety features.

non-existant ramps tend to not exist anywhere that they are expected to exist; albeit somewhat confusing it is art.

danman: in the “old days” I would have done Ngunnawal to Weston Ck via Gundaroo Dr / William Slim / (Ginninderra or Baldwin ) / Haydon / Caswell then the parkway.

Non-existant ramps would be fairly frightening, methinks.

And don’t forget the ‘special’ volunteer wannabe traffic police who merge in front of people to deliberately hold them up Tempestas – all in the name of ‘road safety’ of course.

I’m particularly worried about the “exist lanes” and the “exist ramp”: they sound very peculiar.
Ok so they were typos and you cant edit your posts here – either that or perhaps there is something existential and exit lanes and ramps.

Merging does seem to be a problem in this town, I’m always happy to go one for one, but based on the bad driving habits thread there are some who think they are special and entitled to merge later to ensure the traffic behind them is slowed even more.

Leave earlier – if you can – and dodge the worst of it.

Oh and Ngunnawal to Weston Ck 25 minutes on the speed limit. Thats a world of difference from going down northbourne, adelaide avenue then cotter road.

I leave Ngunnawal at 0720 most days and get to my undisclosed free parking in civic 15 minutes later.

At Between 0800 and 0930 this drive will take 30 to 40 minutes.

Even when I get stuck at work and caught in the evening rush hour, i still get home in a reasonable amount of time.

Put it down to first day nerves as everyone saw where the road went. And mongaloids who can’t merge… and I am talking to those who came from Belconnen Way/Aranda on to the GDE

I was hoping to find a traffic nirvana this morning, but like Tempestas said, it was actually worse.

So, if Glenloch is flowing well, then where’s the delays? Is it just nongs who can’t merge at speed?

Sounds like a mess. I’m particularly worried about the “exist lanes” and the “exist ramp”: they sound very peculiar.

Talking about mongrel drivers in magnas, volvos, camrys etc., I encountered a total mongrel this morning while walking across the zebra crossing outside the John Gorton Building. This small-d**ked character, who drives a somewhat decrepit-looking stretch limo sporting the numberplate “KINGPIN”, thinks it a grand idea to rev his engine and creep forward menacingly at pedestrians using a crossing on which they have right of way (and who were, I should emphasise, in no way dawdling).

Has anybody else encountered this jerk?

Got to work in 20 minutes this morning, awesome. Everyone stop complaining.

i hate this disater at peak hour. especially when stupid canberra drivers (not everyone) go that bloody slow in the morning when there are merge lanes and these people are the ones causing accidents. speed up people! also i think it should be 100km but ultimately it needs 2 lanes.
oh and nobody can take over the volvo drivers NOBODY!

fk the GDE… when are they ever going to duplicate ATHLON DRIVE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? 2×2 lanes thanks.. Its been the most annoying fkn drive to work for the last 7 years and its getting worse by the day… 2 lanes everywhere except when you get onto athlon between tuggers and the roundabout – yet they can spend millions on a useless solution on the other side of town… yes it is all about me

No DT you’re wrong, Camry is the new Volvo. I know it is wrong to stereotypem but it is friggin uncanny how many Camry drivers are complete nongs.

Drove from Mitchell to Woden in around 15 minutes on the weekend, but I still avoid the GDE during peak hour.

The idea of a single lane is simply diabolical!

Magna drivers. The new Volvo drivers.

Drove from Barton Hwy to Belconnen Way the other day behind a car doing a leasurly 70km/h without another car in sight.

Prehaps they wanted to take their time and enjoy the public art?

Got to work in 20 minutes this morning, awesome.

I’ve been through there a couple of times now…no problems. Has sped the drive from Gunners to Weston Ck up by 10 minutes or more for me.

Strangely the Glenloch bit, was where the traffic actually flowed, once the Civic traffic took its exist lane to Parkes way the traffic sped up.

What was it I said last week?
That the government had looked at the abortion that was the Glenloch interchange and found new ways to screw it up, and that’s the changes we were getting?
Seems like it was so.
Is it just me who refuses to take any path that will go via the Glenloch, for fear of getting stuck there for weeks in the neverending traffic jam?
I thank the gods I don’t have to commute through it.