11 April 2013

Kings Highway closures mooted

11 April 2013 | johnboy

The ABC reports that the NSW Government is planning to shut down the Kings Highway from tuesday to thursday for weeks in May to make Poo Corner safer after the April rockslide last year:

Work to help prevent landslides along the highway is expected to cause a major disruption to traffic.

The Government says it is flexible in when the work starts and will accept feedback on the dates.

But the closures are planned over five weeks from May, and will close the road around the Clyde Mountain from 7:30am on Tuesdays until 5:00pm on Thursdays.

The Government says it has considered other options but the location and work required make it impossible to continue letting traffic through.

We’re hearing whining from Eurobodalla but I think we’d all rather the work got done than not.

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Pork Hunt6:28 pm 15 Apr 13

damien haas said :

There’s a great dirt road between Bathurst and Goulburn. Try doing it on a wet day in a manual, rear wheel drive V8. It was an exciting few hours!

No dirt these days or perhaps you know something I don’t…?

damien haas6:12 pm 15 Apr 13

There’s a great dirt road between Bathurst and Goulburn. Try doing it on a wet day in a manual, rear wheel drive V8. It was an exciting few hours!

IrishPete5:54 pm 15 Apr 13

460cixy said :

So you can’t drive a 2wd car on gravel you can’t drive your 4wd on gravel with out it being in 4wd and you seem to have a problem with land rover defenders. Weekend worriers like you should stay at home

If you can direct me to lessons on driving on dirt roads, I’m happy to work on item 1. There are no dirt roads in Ireland but then again not many people taking driving lessons in Australia get experience on dirt roads either.
Item 2 – didn’t say can’t, said don’t. Why would I forgo extra grip? Most so-called AWD cars switch into 4wd when needed, so I’m just doing it manually cos the Troopy doesn’t do it automatically.
Item 3 – I have a problem with ANYONE pulling out in front of me, regardless of the make and model of vehicle they are driving. I expect a cyclist or motorbike wouldn’t have done it, hence the comment about the make and model – a aprticularly tough vehicle, so perhaps the driver felt bulletproof. I didn’t see the plates, but didn’t recognise the car as local, so I suspect they were ACT plates.
Item 4 – I’m driving on dirt roads in my neighbourhood, that I pay rates for. Perhaps it is the ACT-plated overconfident heroes who should stay home.

Here endeth the ranty lesson.

bigred2:50 pm 15 Apr 13

Masquara, you do not know what you are talking about re unsealed roads and modern cars. Firstly, to assume every road is well maintained from one end to the other is not correct. But moving on, suggest you have a good look at your manual re extra servicing required after use in dusty conditions. Also, think under body damage such as little stones hitting the exhaust (done that to a Golf) , put a piece of wood through a sidewall (Golf again) sump damage (done that to a Magna), radiator damage (Magna again), deterioration of CV joint boots (Corolla) and just the extra cleaning to get the fine talc dust away from the various joints in the car.

Also consider the low clearance of lots of the cars now, combined with how confused ABS and ESP get on unsealed surfaces.

Back when we drove Holdens etc, dirt roads where fun if you knew what you were doing. If you didn’t know, you soon learnt. I drove the back road through Oberon in a HK Premier a few times – now that was a car for unsealed roads!

NoImRight2:31 pm 15 Apr 13

460cixy said :

IrishPete said :

Masquara said :

Look what near-universal 4WD ownership has done to us! Any little car can happily drive up from Moruya via Araluen on the dirt road, including when it’s raining. No issues whatsoever provided you drive to the conditions.

Agreed, but the issue is when there’s one coming the other way too. I took my front-wheel drive 2wd car on dirt road in the same region yesterday and had two near misses with other vehicles: one tried to pull out in front of me from a side road, studiously staring in the other direction – being in a Landrover Defender he probably thought he was bullet proof. Another was a 4wd with wide trailer closely following another vehicle in its dust cloud, no headlights so basically invible, and well onto my side of the road.

In both incidents, the driver was treating the roads as if there is never any other traffic – true 99% of the time, but dangerous when you get it wrong. Being in a fwd 2wd it was difficult to keep control while taking evasive action.

When the Kings Highway was closed in January, for several hours initially people “self-detoured” onto these dirt roads, including coaches and trucks with trailers in BOTH directions. Gawd only knows how there were no head-on collisions, as there simply isn’t enough room in many places for these vehicles to pass each other.

When on dirt roads in my 4wd I engaged 4wd for extra grip. And I always drive with headlights on (on any road, at any time). Every little helps when road conditions can change so much and with no warning.

Majors Creek Mountain Road is another story altogether, but hopefully no-one will use it as their detour in May/June.

IP

So you can’t drive a 2wd car on gravel you can’t drive your 4wd on gravel with out it being in 4wd and you seem to have a problem with land rover defenders. Weekend worriers like you should stay at home

I dont know. He doesnt seem that worried.

thebrownstreak691:09 pm 15 Apr 13

Felix the Cat said :

Datsun 180B weight 1000kg
VB Commodore 1,158 kg (2,553 lb) – 1,348 kg (2,972 lb) (assuming these differences are the V8 vs 6cyl models)
HQ Holden 2,950 lbs (Kingswood Sedan)
2012 Holden Barina 5D HATCHBACK 1,256 kg
2012 VE Commodore Omega V6 Automatic: 1,690 kg
2012 FOCUS HATCHBACK 2.0 TDCi 163 Zetec S 5dr 1,421 kg

Exactly. A 30 year old commodore is lighter than a new corolla! I’d much rather drive the new corolla on a dirt road though – the handling and braking are both vastly superior.

Felix the Cat11:56 am 15 Apr 13

Datsun 180B weight 1000kg
VB Commodore 1,158 kg (2,553 lb) – 1,348 kg (2,972 lb) (assuming these differences are the V8 vs 6cyl models)
HQ Holden 2,950 lbs (Kingswood Sedan)
2012 Holden Barina 5D HATCHBACK 1,256 kg
2012 VE Commodore Omega V6 Automatic: 1,690 kg
2012 FOCUS HATCHBACK 2.0 TDCi 163 Zetec S 5dr 1,421 kg

460cixy11:55 am 15 Apr 13

IrishPete said :

Masquara said :

Look what near-universal 4WD ownership has done to us! Any little car can happily drive up from Moruya via Araluen on the dirt road, including when it’s raining. No issues whatsoever provided you drive to the conditions.

Agreed, but the issue is when there’s one coming the other way too. I took my front-wheel drive 2wd car on dirt road in the same region yesterday and had two near misses with other vehicles: one tried to pull out in front of me from a side road, studiously staring in the other direction – being in a Landrover Defender he probably thought he was bullet proof. Another was a 4wd with wide trailer closely following another vehicle in its dust cloud, no headlights so basically invible, and well onto my side of the road.

In both incidents, the driver was treating the roads as if there is never any other traffic – true 99% of the time, but dangerous when you get it wrong. Being in a fwd 2wd it was difficult to keep control while taking evasive action.

When the Kings Highway was closed in January, for several hours initially people “self-detoured” onto these dirt roads, including coaches and trucks with trailers in BOTH directions. Gawd only knows how there were no head-on collisions, as there simply isn’t enough room in many places for these vehicles to pass each other.

When on dirt roads in my 4wd I engaged 4wd for extra grip. And I always drive with headlights on (on any road, at any time). Every little helps when road conditions can change so much and with no warning.

Majors Creek Mountain Road is another story altogether, but hopefully no-one will use it as their detour in May/June.

IP

So you can’t drive a 2wd car on gravel you can’t drive your 4wd on gravel with out it being in 4wd and you seem to have a problem with land rover defenders. Weekend worriers like you should stay at home

thebrownstreak698:12 am 15 Apr 13

IrishPete said :

milkman said :

bigred said :

well I flatly refuse to take my modern 2wd cars away from sealed roads for a whole lot of upkeep issues. They just are not made for it at all.

Utter crap. Cars today are far better built than 30 years ago, and back then a number of major outback routes were still unsealed, and 4WDs were still rare.

Drive sensibly and it’s no different to driving on sealed roads.

It may be more to do with the types of cars bought these days, and therefore the range of skills tht drivers learn behind the wheel – relatively small light front wheel drive automatics nowadays compared with large heavy rear wheel drive automatics and manuals 30 years ago. I’m not sure that anti lock brakes and traction control are ideal for dirt roads either. In my experience, probably not much beats a Falcon or Commodore on a dirt road. But I can’t have every kind of car in my fleet, and given the choice between driving my fwd 2wd and my 4wd I’ll drive the latter.

IP

Just for fun, do some googling and find out how much the ‘big heavy’ cars of 30 years ago actually weighed, versus the ‘small and light’ cars of today.

IrishPete7:19 am 15 Apr 13

milkman said :

bigred said :

well I flatly refuse to take my modern 2wd cars away from sealed roads for a whole lot of upkeep issues. They just are not made for it at all.

Utter crap. Cars today are far better built than 30 years ago, and back then a number of major outback routes were still unsealed, and 4WDs were still rare.

Drive sensibly and it’s no different to driving on sealed roads.

It may be more to do with the types of cars bought these days, and therefore the range of skills tht drivers learn behind the wheel – relatively small light front wheel drive automatics nowadays compared with large heavy rear wheel drive automatics and manuals 30 years ago. I’m not sure that anti lock brakes and traction control are ideal for dirt roads either. In my experience, probably not much beats a Falcon or Commodore on a dirt road. But I can’t have every kind of car in my fleet, and given the choice between driving my fwd 2wd and my 4wd I’ll drive the latter.

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