6 March 2013

Government apologises for Barry Drive cockup

| johnboy
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Tony Gill has been thrust forward to catch bullets for this morning’s latest conniptions on Barry Drive:

The ACT Government wishes to apologise to motorists and other road users for this morning’s traffic delays on Barry Drive.

“The delays were caused by unapproved works by the contractor during the morning peak,” said Tony Gill, Director, Roads ACT.

“We have spoken to the contractor this morning to remind them of their responsibilities to ensure there will not be a repeat episode.”

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Blokes are on moreshead drive today, between the Duntroon playing fields, knocking down trees and grinding them up into chips. I imagine there’s been a full study on the best way to completely stuff up one of the busiest traffic areas leading into Canberra.

EvanJames said :

grump said :

9:40am this morning there was one, yes I counted them all) ONE, guy working on this whole strip between Clunies Ross street and the turn in to ANU.

ONE!!! 🙁

was he putting out more cones and closing more of the road? Then you won’t see any activity for months, but the closed bits will stay closed. And around it goes.

Incorrect.

I’ve seen the figures put out by Katy and they say that 200 people were working on that stretch of road.

Well who am i to dispute the numbers? If Katy says there’s 200 then 200 it is after all they’ve never fudged the figures!

Did Tony get hauled in to Katy’s office because she was caught in a traffic delay? I thought she took a helicopter to work given that Gov Co seems oblivious to the pain inflicted upon the citizenry.

The reason for the continual roadworks is called a budget cycle.

Why is the Monaro 60 where it used to be 90 (personally think it should be 80 for a bit but there you go) after coming across the river? There isn’t even a blade of grass turned on this section. Just because there is going to be roadworks along there sometime in the next 4 years doesn’t mean we need to practice at going slower.

And why are the 60 take care no lines signs out after lines have been marked?

Amateurs, the lot of them.

grump said :

9:40am this morning there was one, yes I counted them all) ONE, guy working on this whole strip between Clunies Ross street and the turn in to ANU.

ONE!!! 🙁

was he putting out more cones and closing more of the road? Then you won’t see any activity for months, but the closed bits will stay closed. And around it goes.

9:40am this morning there was one, yes I counted them all) ONE, guy working on this whole strip between Clunies Ross street and the turn in to ANU.

ONE!!! 🙁

bundah said :

Raping the gubmint is something the contractors have been allowed to do for decades and therein lies the problem.If Canberrans only knew the smug attitude contractors had they’d be shocked.It’s a licence to print money.

A few months ago (yep, it’s been going a while there!) I was stopped at one of the sets of lights on Barry Dr where they are working.
There were 8 (yes, 8) workers standing around chatting, while one of them (who looked about 70) shovelled a small pile of gravel into the bucket of a bobcat – one shovel load every 30 secs or so.
I so wanted to take a pic, but thought they might run over and thump me if they busted me! Anyway, nice work if you can get it! 🙂

hotwaterservice11:23 am 07 Mar 13

c_c™ said :

Public works, first world problems, cue the whinging again.

Well, we don’t live in the third world, so, your point?

Yes … we live in a fourth world country. A third world country would know better! 😎

bundah said :

Seriously could the gubmint be any more inept?

No, they could not be less ept.

poor commuters…this apology doesn’t exactly get their time back does it? sounds terrible…

EvanJames said :

The way ACT government “manages” road works in the ACT is an utter debacle. They seem to manage to contract the most feral, unaccountable companies they can find, who spend the longest time on a project, and specialise in erecting signs, cones and closing bits of the road and then vanishing for weeks.

Then they have out-of-control contractors like this who can create chaos, and evidently have little or no comeback.

And when the roadworks are “finished”, they then have to come back and fix them when the road starts falling apart (egs Oaks Estate Rd intersection where a yawning gulf opens up periodically, and the new lane on Majura Road that also opened up a week after being opened).

Raping the gubmint is something the contractors have been allowed to do for decades and therein lies the problem.If Canberrans only knew the smug attitude contractors had they’d be shocked.It’s a licence to print money.

dtc said :

Its not even going to do anything other than install another set of traffic lights which will clog up the roads even more – anyone notice how Limestone Ave is chockers around Ainslie up to near the lights just before the War Memorial ie where there are lots of traffic lights; then after that there are no lights and the traffic flows smoothly. Adding lights, especially when they aren’t synched, creates traffic jams. Barry Drive will now have 5 sets of lights within about 1km, plus another 2 in Cooyong St. And Marcus Clarke St gets another set of lights, so it now has 4 sets within about 500m.

Glad I ride to work.

When the roads are overloaded, anything that makes the traffic stop will cause it to back up for kms, and the blockage will keep going until the traffic eases. viz the mess on Pialligo Ave back into Queanbeyan, caused by the lights at Fairbairn Park.

The way ACT government “manages” road works in the ACT is an utter debacle. They seem to manage to contract the most feral, unaccountable companies they can find, who spend the longest time on a project, and specialise in erecting signs, cones and closing bits of the road and then vanishing for weeks.

Then they have out-of-control contractors like this who can create chaos, and evidently have little or no comeback.

And when the roadworks are “finished”, they then have to come back and fix them when the road starts falling apart (egs Oaks Estate Rd intersection where a yawning gulf opens up periodically, and the new lane on Majura Road that also opened up a week after being opened).

KB1971 said :

Oh how I love commuting on my bike……..

Me too, but there is something not quite right when, in a city of 350k, I can ride a bicycle into work, change and shower, faster than I can drive (and I park 30m from my desk!). And, I don’t see the situation changing after they’ve completed the roadworks either.

JC said :

bundah said :

Seriously could the gubmint be any more inept?

Pray tell how is the government responsible for this? Hmm, they hire a contractor to do the work, the contractor seriously screws up, government kicks them in the bum. What more could they do?

Hmm let’s see how about vetting more carefully and setting out clear guidelines that under no circumstances would unapproved works during peak hour be tolerated and failure to conform would result in fines and no opportunity of being considered for future works.

bundah said :

Seriously could the gubmint be any more inept?

Pray tell how is the government responsible for this? Hmm, they hire a contractor to do the work, the contractor seriously screws up, government kicks them in the bum. What more could they do?

Oh how I love commuting on my bike……..

pink little birdie12:07 am 07 Mar 13

it’s been backed up to eastern valley way all this week so far.I smile as I ride over the overpass each morning and see it backed up.

c_c™ said :

thatsnotme said :

c_c™ said :

Public works, first world problems, cue the whinging again.

Oh please, if there were one phrase that I could expunge from the vocabulary, it’d be ‘first world problems’. I’m not about to apologise for being pissed off when first world companies, with first world employees, being paid first world rates, using first world equipment, deliver third world results.

You driven on a Californian road lately? Or perhaps closer to home, the M5 in Sydney?

Get some perspective.

What’s your point? Because other roadworks have been mismanaged, we shouldn’t expect any better?

Yes, I’ve driven the M5 recently. It doesn’t compare to the Barry Drive works in any way. No, I’ve not driven in California – why you’d even mention it is a mystery to me.

I have driven along Parkes Way a lot though, and aside from the bridges, which have been delayed due to a company collapse, work is progressing well.

The pace of road works in this city is a joke. If you’ve got another perspective on it, then share it. Hiding behind cheap and meaningless phrases, or comparing to states on the other side of the world, means nothing.

There’s my perspective.

thatsnotme said :

c_c™ said :

Public works, first world problems, cue the whinging again.

Oh please, if there were one phrase that I could expunge from the vocabulary, it’d be ‘first world problems’. I’m not about to apologise for being pissed off when first world companies, with first world employees, being paid first world rates, using first world equipment, deliver third world results.

Well said.

thatsnotme said :

c_c™ said :

Public works, first world problems, cue the whinging again.

Oh please, if there were one phrase that I could expunge from the vocabulary, it’d be ‘first world problems’. I’m not about to apologise for being pissed off when first world companies, with first world employees, being paid first world rates, using first world equipment, deliver third world results.

You driven on a Californian road lately? Or perhaps closer to home, the M5 in Sydney?

Get some perspective.

bundah said :

Seriously could the gubmint be any more inept?

I’m 100% confident that it is within their capabilities to be much more inept.

Hey Tony, while you’re talking to your contractors, could you find out when they were thinking of cleaning up the mess they’ve left behind on all those sections of roads that were resealed several weeks ago. Loose stones all over the place, no line markings done, some reduced speed limit signs still in place others laying on the ground.

Seriously mate, are you not embarrassed by the very public display of incompetence being demonstrated here.

No, don’t just sit there and think I’m being cynical. This is pathetic. Get it fixed!!!!

Whitepointer9:58 pm 06 Mar 13

So who is the contractor?

c_c™ said :

Public works, first world problems, cue the whinging again.

Oh please, if there were one phrase that I could expunge from the vocabulary, it’d be ‘first world problems’. I’m not about to apologise for being pissed off when first world companies, with first world employees, being paid first world rates, using first world equipment, deliver third world results.

Tetranitrate said :

Barry drive has had roadworks going on 3 years now. They were putting in the bus-lane further up throughout most of 2010, and there’s been other stuff going on more or less continously since.
Just how long does it take?

Agreed and doesn’t seem to have improved anything.

grump said :

Pork Hunt said :

bundah said :

Seriously could the gubmint be any more inept?

Give them a chance mate, the Majura Parkway works have only just started…

+1

anyone else of the view all these road works are seriously under resourced? 2 men and an arthritic dog with one steam shovel and a small bucket on most sites it seems, way less than required to get the job done in a reasonable time frame.

Absolutely right. The road construction sites are always hives of inactivity. You could fire a machine gun across most of the sites, as I often wish to do, without endangering anybody except the backed up queues of motorists.

I drove down the GDE this morning later than usual after returning late last night from an interstate business trip, and saw the slip lane onto Barry Drive had cars backed up to the Stadium, as others have noted. My heart sank. I thought it wasn’t going to be good, and I was correct. The effects seemed to flow everywhere, not helped by what looked like a 4 car crash at the start of the Tuggeranong Parkway.

Where do I submit my invoice to the government for lost working time?

Pork Hunt said :

bundah said :

Seriously could the gubmint be any more inept?

Give them a chance mate, the Majura Parkway works have only just started…

+1

anyone else of the view all these road works are seriously under resourced? 2 men and an arthritic dog with one steam shovel and a small bucket on most sites it seems, way less than required to get the job done in a reasonable time frame.

Pork Hunt said :

bundah said :

Seriously could the gubmint be any more inept?

Give them a chance mate, the Majura Parkway works have only just started…

Oh ye of little faith pork they’ll finish it early and under budget 🙂

c_c™ said :

Public works, first world problems, cue the whinging again.

A bit like first world luxury cars that are good for 250? Cue the whinging…

Tony Gill probably on a 457

bundah said :

Seriously could the gubmint be any more inept?

Give them a chance mate, the Majura Parkway works have only just started…

bundah said :

Seriously could the gubmint be any more inept?

No.

Public works, first world problems, cue the whinging again.

Seriously could the gubmint be any more inept?

Tetranitrate6:01 pm 06 Mar 13

Barry drive has had roadworks going on 3 years now. They were putting in the bus-lane further up throughout most of 2010, and there’s been other stuff going on more or less continously since.
Just how long does it take?

Its a good thing that busway was built.

I dont drive past this area but it looks like a complete nightmare. Surely its going to be finished soon, its just a bus lane for gods sake.

Its not even going to do anything other than install another set of traffic lights which will clog up the roads even more – anyone notice how Limestone Ave is chockers around Ainslie up to near the lights just before the War Memorial ie where there are lots of traffic lights; then after that there are no lights and the traffic flows smoothly. Adding lights, especially when they aren’t synched, creates traffic jams. Barry Drive will now have 5 sets of lights within about 1km, plus another 2 in Cooyong St. And Marcus Clarke St gets another set of lights, so it now has 4 sets within about 500m.

Glad I ride to work.

for those who didnt experience the traffic, they closed up one of the 2 lanes on barry drive and the traffic got backed up all the way on the GDE (all the way to canberra stadium)

and also backed up belconnen way i assume pretty far there too

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