13 March 2012

Barry Drive bus lane underway

| johnboy
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Chief Minister Gallagher is letting you know that Cord Civil have started work on the time travel busway:

ACT Chief Minister and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Katy Gallagher, today announced that local company Cord Civil has been awarded the $9m contract for the construction of a new bus lane on Barry Drive, with work having commenced this week.

“This bus lane is part of the Belconnen to City corridor which is one of the busiest bus commuter routes in Canberra connecting people to Civic as well as the University of Canberra, CIT Bruce Campus, Calvary Hospital and the Australian National University,” the Chief Minister said.

“It is also part of the Belconnen to City Transitway which will reduce commuting time, by several minutes, between Belconnen and the City, particularly during peak periods. A recent independent study showed there is a strong case for the Barry Drive bus lane.

“This has the added benefit of making bus travel more attractive which we hope will take some cars off this busy road,” the Chief Minister said.

Surveys undertaken during the morning peak period along Barry Drive show that 1800 people were being moved in 31 buses along the corridor between 7.45 am and 9.15 am. This made up around 25% of all people travelling during that period, with that figure expected to increase over time.

“This work will result in a new dedicated bus lane on Barry Drive from Clunies Ross Street through to Kingsley Street in the City; a new bus station at City West servicing the new ANU Exchange development with improved bus connections and access; on and off-road cycling facilities along Barry Drive; and new pedestrian facilities,” the Chief Minister said.

“The Barry Drive stage of the Belconnen to City works are expected to be finished late in 2012and subject to future funding, other stages of work will include bus priority measures along College Street and Haydon Drive in Belconnen and the duplication of College Street.

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Only just got back from overseas to encounter the new lights at kingsley street / barry drive heading into civic. What a nightmare. The new lights end up stopping traffic heading into civic because they decided to make the buses turn right from a LEFT bus lane. So traffic backs up all the way to McCaughey street when a bus decides to turn into Kingsley street.

And now cars turning into kingsley street have to wait for a green arrow. There was never any real problem turning into kingsley street before in peak hour because not many cars head to belconnen in the morning so you didn’t have to wait long for a gap in traffic. Now the turn right slip lane is queued all the back to obstruct cars in the right lane on barry drive for no reason as they are just sitting there waiting for a green arrow when there’s not even any cars coming the opposite direction. Is a give way green light too hard to ask for? OR can we not be trusted and HAVE to have a green arrow?

oh and the left lane of the 2 turn right lanes is useless for most people because you have to go into the carpark after making the turn. I almost got taken out this morning because someone decided to turn right from the left lane but needed to go straight towards ANU rather than into the carpark so went across 2 lanes in the process

what a cluster fcuk these new lights are.

Bus lane would be a lot more beneficial if ACT Govt reintroduced express bus services between Civic and Belconnen of the kind that the extremely popular route 333 used to provide. The current 300 series services could continue to provide the tedious “milk run” stops fot the ANU (on Barry Drive), Calvary Hospital and Canberra Uni (College St).

But a truly “rapid”, reintroduced 333 would probably be so popular that ACTION’s budget and staffing resources wouldn’t be able to cope.

Hate to be a pedant but the “time travel busway” was the $150 million dedicated bus only road plan. What we’re getting is the far more sensible “most of the bang but far less of the dollar busway”.

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