Cotter Road roadworks (rant)

Whitepointer said :

I agree with some of the previous comments, but some people really have absolutely no understanding of exactly how much work and red tape is involved in a projects like this.
Biggest f#ck up, As always Pedel Power were consulted at preliminary design stage to ensure that all of their requirements have been met, then unfortunately they decide that they wish to make major amendments to a fully approved design already under construction.
The funny thing is that TAMS & Procurement Solutions (both ACT Gov) actually consider, approve & direct the consultants engaged on the project to redesign the previous works, ensuring all points raised are addressed and to the satisfaction of Pedel Power. WTF!!
Mmmm, now that whole process would only take a day or so now wouldn’t it!
Also, remember this is only stage 1of 2 stages.

Really?

You sure about that? Maybe what was being constructed was not what was provided in the design stage hence Pedal Powers protrests? If there were any, the only time I have seen them speak up is when a whole cycle path was excluded from the construction of the Majura Parkway.

Pedal Power also usually release a press statement if they are going to advocate for change & I have not seen anything about this change to the Cotter Road works.

The other thing, Pedal Power are not a government body, they are a group that band together to advocate for cyclists. An added bonus for memebers is insurance and having a voice for individuals who ride bikes.

The government does not have to listen to them and can (and will) do what they want so I doubt “Pedal Power” changed it. The gubmint did when it was pointed out to them.

dtc said :

dpm said :

dtc said :

Thats cos they employ about 5000 workers at a time. Feel free to increase your tax contribution.

I wonder if you tripled the workers and then took 2/3rds off the project time, how that would go with funding?

Well, the main difference is that you have to come up with all of the funding today rather than spread it over 2 or 3 or 5 years. Plus you need to find that many workers available, which (as the mining industry found) can make things costly. Plus machinery etc.

But, based on an overal cost and assuming labour and machinery etc is available and no more expensive, then it shouldnt cost any more in total. However, that assumption will never be true.

Secondly, it means you take out the entire construction site rather than 100m here and then move 100m up the road. Which is fine for a greenfields site, not so fine when you shut down an entire road for 12 months.

Yes, they have lots of sites being upgraded at the same time, leading to lots of disruptions around Canberra (at the same time). This also uses more machinery, as each site seems to have lots of heavy gear that sits idle for long periods of time (in case it is need once a week). I know of one site that had two large diggers sent to it, which have sat idle for at least 4 weeks (no earth has been moved and I’ve never seen any workers using them). Also, each site needs it own work sheds, lunch sheds etc etc…

Say there are Y workers across all sites and it is going to take X years to finish all the work, wouldn’t it potentially be easier for the community to focus on fewer sites (with more workers at each) to get each done quicker, leading to less disruptions?
The overall work at *all* sites would still take Y workers and X years , thus the cost would still be spread over X years too?
Just wondering…. As you said, it wouldn’t work out perfectly, but surely it would be worth a try instead of the current level of hassle everywhere!
My guess is it is because the Govt contracts out each job seperately which leads to these inefficiencies. Anyway….

dpm said :

dtc said :

Thats cos they employ about 5000 workers at a time. Feel free to increase your tax contribution.

I wonder if you tripled the workers and then took 2/3rds off the project time, how that would go with funding?

Well, the main difference is that you have to come up with all of the funding today rather than spread it over 2 or 3 or 5 years. Plus you need to find that many workers available, which (as the mining industry found) can make things costly. Plus machinery etc.

But, based on an overal cost and assuming labour and machinery etc is available and no more expensive, then it shouldnt cost any more in total. However, that assumption will never be true.

Secondly, it means you take out the entire construction site rather than 100m here and then move 100m up the road. Which is fine for a greenfields site, not so fine when you shut down an entire road for 12 months.

…Still, it’ll be nice once it’s finished (in 2015).

Good luck! If the Grunge-ahlin Driveway is anything to go by, it will be about that time that they realise that everyone else was right afterall they really needed two lanes all the way along Cotter Rd – including the section between Tuggeranong Pkwy and McCulloch St. The road will be then reduced to 40km/h for half a kilometre either side of the actual roadworks while they complete Stage 37 of the Cotter Rd upgrade to rectify this.

Upon completion of this section, they will then realise that everyone else was right again and they really need to continue the two lanes all the way to Adelaide Avenue (instead of merging them into one at the intersection with Dudley St). This final section of duplication will then will be scheduled to commence in July 2017 and complete in June 2018, but probably won’t commence until March 2018 and it’s anybody’s guess when they’ll be done – especially if they hire super-slow Hewatt Earthworks like they did for the RSPCA round-about (Kirkpartick St).

switch said :

Has anyone worked out why they are bothering? I can see some sense in getting rid of the roundabout, but McCulloch St intersection was already two lanes each way wide, with turning lanes. And eventually when it is finished will all the lights be synchronised? Most others in Canberra are not. There are plenty of other works on Cotter Road that need attention, especially duplicating it all the way to the parkway.

They are duplicating it, these works are part of the upgrades to handle the traffic from Molonglo Valley.

I agree with some of the previous comments, but some people really have absolutely no understanding of exactly how much work and red tape is involved in a projects like this.
Biggest f#ck up, As always Pedel Power were consulted at preliminary design stage to ensure that all of their requirements have been met, then unfortunately they decide that they wish to make major amendments to a fully approved design already under construction.
The funny thing is that TAMS & Procurement Solutions (both ACT Gov) actually consider, approve & direct the consultants engaged on the project to redesign the previous works, ensuring all points raised are addressed and to the satisfaction of Pedel Power. WTF!!
Mmmm, now that whole process would only take a day or so now wouldn’t it!
Also, remember this is only stage 1of 2 stages.

Has anyone worked out why they are bothering? I can see some sense in getting rid of the roundabout, but McCulloch St intersection was already two lanes each way wide, with turning lanes. And eventually when it is finished will all the lights be synchronised? Most others in Canberra are not. There are plenty of other works on Cotter Road that need attention, especially duplicating it all the way to the parkway.

chewy14 said :

A good bunch of slaves would have these roadworks finished in no time at all.

Either that or make the decision makers work on the side of during the entire period that the roadworks are active. Better yet, map out the routes the pollies take to and from work, then erect some lower speed limits and lane closures. Make them sit for 30 minutes only to travel 200m and they’ll soon pull their fingers out.

It is pathetic. I don’t think they have enough machinery and are sharing machines between the different road works and it drags all the jobs out so they take forever.

Affirmative Action Man said :

dtc said :

Affirmative Action Man said :

Its all pathetic. In China they would have completed it in about 3 weeks. And why on earth don’t they keep working around the clock or at least until midnight with lights on. We are so uncompetitive in this country that eventually we will be swamped by the more efficient Asians.

Thats cos they employ about 5000 workers at a time. Feel free to increase your tax contribution.

Doesn’t have to be China – I’m sure the USA, Germany or Singapore would be more efficient.

I don’t begrudge anyone a decent wage but working flexi hours on important roadworks is a joke.

Penalty rates have made us uncompetitive. I get paid a rate Monday to Saturday with single loading Sunday or public holidays which is fine by me. My 14 y old was knocked back a after school job because they can offer 1.5 hours but Julia changed it to a minimum 2 hours.

I was hesistant about workchoices but can’t wait for them to bring it back.

LOL,

Who needs workchoices, I think we should be able to import foreigners who must work 5 years at $2 per day and then they can become citizens.

Either that or just bring back slavery.

A good bunch of slaves would have these roadworks finished in no time at all.