6 September 2012

Change to speed limit on Monaro Hwy

| Madam Cholet
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Going southbound on the Monaro today I noted that the speed limit as you come off of the bridge over the Molonglo that the speed limit now goes from 60 to 90, and not 80.

I also noticed that going through the newly opened southbound section of the highway across Fyshwick, that the speed limit varies wildly from 60 (based on the roadwork signs), to 90, courtesy of a newly placed sign, and then back to 60 until you reach the 100 sign just beyond the Hindmarsh Drive exit.

It’s bad enough that every road I have to drive on, (Monaro, Majura, Edinburgh ave, Marcus Clarke and probably more), seems to have roadworks and that driving round Canberra is getting to be much like Sydney, but they could at least remove roadworks signs when the road is clearly FINISHED, at least in one direction.

Wondering why though that this section of the Monaro is all of a sudden deemed worth of 90k’s now?

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milkman said :

This MUST be just about finished by now. Drove through there today and almost everything done, but still still a bunch of yellow-vests propping up shovels and one lane closed.

IT’S OPEN!!

Oh sweet day, my commute took almost 15 mins less than normal this morning, Traffic cruised through at 90-100km/h (despite the 60km/h speed limit).

No more long lines of traffic waiting for the stupid roadwork!

So knowing the way most Canberrans drive, they’ll travel from 50km & then accelerate to 70km?

evanh said :

What annoys me is that William Hovel Dr is now 80 (recently used to be 90)

They just swapped all the signs with the ones on the GDE.

What annoys me is that William Hovel Dr is now 80 (recently used to be 90) apparently because some government chump decided that roads with traffic lights should only be 80. Of course, everyone one drives it at 100 anyway. Civil disobedience is healthy.

Madam Cholet12:42 pm 07 Sep 12

Pitchka said :

FFS, Canberran’s whinging about haviong to wait an extra 5-10 minutes in peak hour to get to work..

Are you all in that much of a farken hurry to get to work…

Try 45 minutes Northbound on the Monaro recently. The first day it turned to sh*t on that stretch a few weeks ago it took me 30 minutes extra to get my son to his swimming lesson – and that was around 9am!

And….if we get to work on time, we leave on time – very important when you have kids to pick up. And it does help not to have to get said kiddlies up and at ’em that much earlier to navigate the roadworks.

Pitchka said :

FFS, Canberran’s whinging about haviong to wait an extra 5-10 minutes in peak hour to get to work..

Are you all in that much of a farken hurry to get to work…

No, we just want to leave home 5-10 minutes later.

If I saw right this morning, the speed signs on the Monaro on-ramp northbound from Hindmarsh have been changed from 80 to 90 but the signs on the northbound Monaro itself just after Hindmarsh are still showing 80.

That is not what I call good organisation of the changeover.

Keijidosha said :

niftydog said :

If you’re talking Parkes Way eastbound…

The exit from Parkes Way onto Endinburgh Ave is being modified to allow for an additional intersection to accomodate traffic from Nishi: http://the-riotact.com/nishi-road-closures/79132

(link fixed)

That diagram seems all confused – they say eastbound off ramp, but to me the diagram shows the westbound ramp.

In any case, the ‘other’ ramp is also due for roadworks. Pretty soon you won’t be able to drive into the city because every road leading in or out will be completely overrun with roadworks.

deye said :

90??? FFS it should be 100.

The south bound lanes used to be 100 km/h directly after the bridge roadworks ended and before the Hindmarsh exit so the limit has been reduced to 90 km/h not raised from 80 km/h.

This same stretch on the north bound lanes was an 80 km/h limit from just after the speed camera to the start of the bridge road works.

niftydog said :

Madam Cholet said :

…new Nishi building yet? …coming off of the Parkes Way exit.

If you’re talking Parkes Way eastbound, it’s more likely to do with the upgrade of Parkes Way to three lanes. The retaining wall at the Edinburgh Ave exit is being re-built as part of that project.

The exit from Parkes Way onto Endinburgh Ave is being modified to allow for an additional intersection to accomodate traffic from Nishi: http://the-riotact.com/nishi-road-closures/79132

Madam Cholet said :

…new Nishi building yet? …coming off of the Parkes Way exit.

If you’re talking Parkes Way eastbound, it’s more likely to do with the upgrade of Parkes Way to three lanes. The retaining wall at the Edinburgh Ave exit is being re-built as part of that project.

Madam Cholet8:48 am 07 Sep 12

On the topic of roadworks and general blockages to getting to work, has anyone experienced the area around the new Nishi building yet? Reached a new all-time high this morning with traffic cones delineating a lane that is quite narrow coming off of the Parkes Way exit.

Not entirely sure what they are designing there but is obviously some kind of entrance way to the new eyesore. It’s not an entirely convenient spot to have traffic probably crossing lanes to go in the opposite direction. It’s hard enough to merge there at the best of times.

FFS, Canberran’s whinging about haviong to wait an extra 5-10 minutes in peak hour to get to work..

Are you all in that much of a farken hurry to get to work…

bundah said :

enrique said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

FFS can they please build an overpass over this unbelievably chaotic and ill-conceived idea of traffic flow???

Don’t have an aneurysm just yet man… it’s on the way…

http://www.majuraparkway.act.gov.au/

http://the-riotact.com/tag/majura-parkway

Yeah estimated completion date June 2016 FFS!

LOL – FFS of course its F 2016! There’s an unwritten rule around these parts that all F roadworks must take the maximum F time and pi$$ off the maximum number of people while being designed in such a way that the F job will need to be re-done all over again 2-3 years later…FFS! 😉

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd6:53 am 07 Sep 12

Doing 90 instead of 100 on such a short road makes absolutely zero difference to travel times, especially when there are traffic lights, round abouts and form one lanes.

deye said :

90??? FFS it should be 100.

There’s an interesting topic in legal theory that looks at the balancing act between imposing laws that do what is desired by authorities, and imposing laws that will actually be followed.

Some of the speed limits around the place sure don’t go for the latter. GDE is a wonderful example, the speed limit is nothing to do with the road or road users, the road is built for 100+
It’s to abate noise for nearby residents, and no one follows that speed limit.

deye said :

90??? FFS it should be 100.

And it will probably continue to be treated as such by most drivers…

Sgt.Bungers said :

Have been keeping an eye on it 🙂

Road isn’t fully opened yet, but when it is, the intention is to have a speed limit of 90 km/h from the Molonglo River to Hindmarsh. Apparently the limit will not be 100 km/h due to line of sight issues over the new bridges.

Pretty ordinary excuse, so many roads around the country are in much worse condition have 100km/h speed limits, take the Bobyan Road for instance….

Or the Tuggeranong Parkway, its pretty easy to get caught up in the clusterf#$k that is the southbound exit onto Hindmarsh drive in the afternoon. Or the crappy left hander heading north………

enrique said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

FFS can they please build an overpass over this unbelievably chaotic and ill-conceived idea of traffic flow???

Don’t have an aneurysm just yet man… it’s on the way…

http://www.majuraparkway.act.gov.au/

http://the-riotact.com/tag/majura-parkway

Yeah estimated completion date June 2016 FFS!

wildturkeycanoe said :

Whoopie doo!!, Now everyone can go faster to get to the bottleneck that is the Moreshead Dr, Fairburn Ave, Majura Rd intersections. I hardly ever use foul language, but FFS can they please build an overpass over this unbelievably chaotic and ill-conceived idea of traffic flow???
The only time we use this road is on Saturdays or Sundays around mid morning to go to Costco. That is a once in month event or less. Every single time we go there, the traffic is backed up from traffic light to intersection, in all directions, with no apparent reason except that the crossover of north-south and east-west traffic jams the whole area so everyone is stuck wondering WTF is going on. Honestly, two main arterial roads of this magnitude, with 2 lanes merging into one in two of the aforementioned, is a ludicrous idea by any standards. Then to complicate things, you have a government with the audacity to encourage development out at the airport without the infrastructure to support it. Sure the upcoming dual lanes on Majura Road will get traffic out quicker to the north, but that isn’t where everyone is heading, they are going south, east and west, into a myriad of confusion [No right turn sound familiar, going south on Morsehead Dr after the lights], then the chaotic build up going absolutely everywhere. The Monaro Hwy/Moreshead Dr roundabout doesn’t alleviate the problem at all, with a bypass slip lane encouraging traffic to into the mess eastbound, but not providing an escape west. Also the northbound traffic has two lanes going to Queanbeyan, but only the single lane [where most traffic is headed] going farther into the abyss.
Overpass, overpass, overpass!!! Bugger the dual lanes over the railway, get the cars over the airport traffic.
Whew….glad I got that off my chest, now, what was the original post about?

1. The Majura Parkway project includes an overpass connecting the new Majura Parkway to the Monaro – bypassing Pialligo Road and Morshead Drive (still 5 years away – or at least 1 lane each way… it is an ACT Gov project after all)
2. Once this is completed, many of the cars that currently use Fairbairn or Morsehead will no longer need to, hence freeing up the road space for east-west, airport and localised traffic
3. From what I can see, they are currently adding another lane on Majura Road Northbound from Fairbairn Ave to the turnoff to Woolies/Majura Park Shopping Centre (can’t find anything on that though – just observation). This should improve traffic flow in the interim as traffic backs up here at peak.
4. Development at the airport has nothing to do with ACT gov. They were not happy with it originally in the old days but as Airport is on Federal Gov land they cannot stop this.
5. “northbound traffic has two lanes going to Queanbeyan” – huh, has Queanbeyan moved?

wildturkeycanoe said :

FFS can they please build an overpass over this unbelievably chaotic and ill-conceived idea of traffic flow???

Don’t have an aneurysm just yet man… it’s on the way…

http://www.majuraparkway.act.gov.au/

http://the-riotact.com/tag/majura-parkway

Have been keeping an eye on it 🙂

Road isn’t fully opened yet, but when it is, the intention is to have a speed limit of 90 km/h from the Molonglo River to Hindmarsh. Apparently the limit will not be 100 km/h due to line of sight issues over the new bridges.

wildturkeycanoe8:50 pm 06 Sep 12

Whoopie doo!!, Now everyone can go faster to get to the bottleneck that is the Moreshead Dr, Fairburn Ave, Majura Rd intersections. I hardly ever use foul language, but FFS can they please build an overpass over this unbelievably chaotic and ill-conceived idea of traffic flow???
The only time we use this road is on Saturdays or Sundays around mid morning to go to Costco. That is a once in month event or less. Every single time we go there, the traffic is backed up from traffic light to intersection, in all directions, with no apparent reason except that the crossover of north-south and east-west traffic jams the whole area so everyone is stuck wondering WTF is going on. Honestly, two main arterial roads of this magnitude, with 2 lanes merging into one in two of the aforementioned, is a ludicrous idea by any standards. Then to complicate things, you have a government with the audacity to encourage development out at the airport without the infrastructure to support it. Sure the upcoming dual lanes on Majura Road will get traffic out quicker to the north, but that isn’t where everyone is heading, they are going south, east and west, into a myriad of confusion [No right turn sound familiar, going south on Morsehead Dr after the lights], then the chaotic build up going absolutely everywhere. The Monaro Hwy/Moreshead Dr roundabout doesn’t alleviate the problem at all, with a bypass slip lane encouraging traffic to into the mess eastbound, but not providing an escape west. Also the northbound traffic has two lanes going to Queanbeyan, but only the single lane [where most traffic is headed] going farther into the abyss.
Overpass, overpass, overpass!!! Bugger the dual lanes over the railway, get the cars over the airport traffic.
Whew….glad I got that off my chest, now, what was the original post about?

I’ve said it before, but it’s still true – the punters will take roadworks signs seriously just as soon as the muppets putting them up do.

This MUST be just about finished by now. Drove through there today and almost everything done, but still still a bunch of yellow-vests propping up shovels and one lane closed.

90??? FFS it should be 100.

The northern section with the nice divided lanes and wide curves was 80 because the distance between Morshead and Fyshwick would have been deemed too short for 100 and the old one lane each way would have been considered too bad for 100 – even though it was better than most other roads that are one lane each way and 100.

Ask Sgt.Bungers, he probably had something to do with it.

He’s been doing a great job over the past few years getting speed limit issues in Canberra noticed by the right people.

http://the-riotact.com/164-sites-found-with-bad-speed-limit-signage/66105

http://the-riotact.com/thanks-riotact-road-signage-compliance-win/53741

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