14 January 2013

Majura Parkway kicks off

| johnboy
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Roads ACT is letting people know they’re getting set to start building the Majura Parkway:

“Preliminary work, such as establishing access for construction vehicles to the future road alignment, is now underway in preparation for major work to begin in February 2013,” Mr Gill said.

“To facilitate this work, traffic signs, controllers and partial lane closures will be implemented this week.

“Traffic controllers will be in place from Wednesday 16 January 2013, directing traffic at the southern end of the alignment on Morshead Drive, Fairbairn Avenue and Monaro Highway, and from Monday 21 January 2013, at the Federal Highway. Traffic control is also expected to be in place at Majura Road in the vicinity of Tambreet Street from the end of January 2013. These arrangements will be in place until the end of February 2013.

“Traffic control signs, including electronic signboards, will be erected at Monaro Highway, Pialligo Avenue, Morshead Drive, Fairbairn Avenue and the Federal Highway advising of changes to speed limits during the project.

“Partial lane closures will also be in place periodically until the end of March at Morshead Drive, Pialligo Avenue and along Majura Road to help manage traffic flow.”

Mr Gill said the preliminary works and associated traffic control measures are not expected to cause traffic delays.

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OpenYourMind said :

arescarti42 said :

EvanJames said :

I cannot think of a competently run or performed road project in Canberra in recent years.

I’m pretty sure the flyover and associated roads at the airport were built on time and within budget, although I’m pretty sure the airport managed that one.

I don’t profess to know anything about the process of managing, engineering and building roads.
But I wonder if the the belief that Canberra Airport Roads (CAG) builds better roads on time is true, then why is it true? What does CAG do differently:
Is it that they are better at managing civil projects or do they use better management firms?
Is it that they enforce contract defaults better than a Govt organisation?
Do they simply throw more money at a problem they know they need to fix?

If the CAG is so good at managing the building of roads, why can’t the ACT Govt outsource the whole process to CAG?

My suspicion is that CAG is simply able to throw more money at a particular problem and barge their way past political obstacles that our (and most Western) government face.

Try entering Canberra Airport from the East, or leaving towards the East, and then tell me this is a well-designed road system. Both junctions are appalling and were clearly designed to be cheap.

IP

OpenYourMind9:31 am 20 Jan 13

arescarti42 said :

EvanJames said :

I cannot think of a competently run or performed road project in Canberra in recent years.

I’m pretty sure the flyover and associated roads at the airport were built on time and within budget, although I’m pretty sure the airport managed that one.

I don’t profess to know anything about the process of managing, engineering and building roads.
But I wonder if the the belief that Canberra Airport Roads (CAG) builds better roads on time is true, then why is it true? What does CAG do differently:
Is it that they are better at managing civil projects or do they use better management firms?
Is it that they enforce contract defaults better than a Govt organisation?
Do they simply throw more money at a problem they know they need to fix?

If the CAG is so good at managing the building of roads, why can’t the ACT Govt outsource the whole process to CAG?

My suspicion is that CAG is simply able to throw more money at a particular problem and barge their way past political obstacles that our (and most Western) government face.

EvanJames said :

I do not believe there’ll be ‘no traffic disruption”.

agree I noticed yesterday that there are warning signs saying major works for the Majura Parkway may result in delays!

the 60kmh speed limit from the Federal Highway to around the Springfield property means that I will be avoiding Majura Road if I need to travel to Sydney

EvanJames said :

I cannot think of a competently run or performed road project in Canberra in recent years.

I’m pretty sure the flyover and associated roads at the airport were built on time and within budget, although I’m pretty sure the airport managed that one.

EvanJames said :

How much chaos do you reckon our inept government and the outfits they contract can create here? Place your bets now. I fear that no matter how crazy the scenarios we imagine, the ACT Government’s ineptitude will exceed them.

For all the issues the ACT Govt has, I’m not sure that actually constructing the roads is their responsibility. The problem is probably the typical govt process of contracting the cheapest bidder, on the assumption that everyone who bids is just as competent as everyone else, so why not pick the cheapest.

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

“The Majura Parkway is an exciting new road development…”

What is it with these advertising droids – “exciting” is the word of the decade. A new sugar water flavour is “exciting”; a new shade of lipstick is “exciting”; the 437th women’s clothing shop in the mall is “exciting”; now a road is “exciting”.

OK – question – has anyone actually been excited by any of that stuff?

Don’t these idiots own a dictionary?

I cannot think of a competently run or performed road project in Canberra in recent years. was watching the stupidity on Majura Road late in 2012… they spent ages making a new lane into Majura Road to try and cut down on the epic block ups being caused by Gunghalinistas trying to get on the road from about 3pm onwards.

Ages to make the road slightly wider, without being too fancy. As usual, it would sit there untouched for days before something happened again. But eventually the new lane to the roundabout opened. Ta da. And a week or so later, it was being repaired as giant cracks between the new and old bits yawned.

Pathetic. A similar but smaller version of this has been happening with a new patch of road at the Oaks Estate intersection, a yawning chasm opens up periodically. And we’re paying for this.

Majura and Pialligo are major points of access to Canberra from NSW east (Quangers, coast road and Bung/Braidwood/captains flat/uncle tom cobbleigh and all), and from NSW north (sydney, goulburn) and Gunghalin. Possibly some from the Barton Highway as well.

How much chaos do you reckon our inept government and the outfits they contract can create here? Place your bets now. I fear that no matter how crazy the scenarios we imagine, the ACT Government’s ineptitude will exceed them.

Baggy said :

enrique said :

Fingers crossed, they actually might be able to do this one with minimal disruption since it is predominantly a greenfield build…i.e. it is essentally a set of new roads being built, not modifications of old ones…

Don’t keep your fingers crossed too long, you’ll cut off the circulation to your fingertips.

This is going to be another clusterfcuk, anyone with an iota of common sense knows this. You may have a perfectly valid and logical point about there being minimal disruption due to an entirely new road, but come on, you’ve seen how the muppets in charge of road-building here work.

My tip is for an AMC-styled “completion” about 6 weeks before the 2016 election, with ongoing work out to 2019.

=)

Funny because it’s true.

enrique said :

Fingers crossed, they actually might be able to do this one with minimal disruption since it is predominantly a greenfield build…i.e. it is essentally a set of new roads being built, not modifications of old ones…

Don’t keep your fingers crossed too long, you’ll cut off the circulation to your fingertips.

This is going to be another clusterfcuk, anyone with an iota of common sense knows this. You may have a perfectly valid and logical point about there being minimal disruption due to an entirely new road, but come on, you’ve seen how the muppets in charge of road-building here work.

My tip is for an AMC-styled “completion” about 6 weeks before the 2016 election, with ongoing work out to 2019.

dtc said :

I have lived in Canberra for a long time and I cant remember this many simultaneous roadworks. Perhaps its because they all seem to be around Civic where I go and not in places I never frequent. Still, it seems to be at an all time high. As I sit and watch the traffic bank up along Parkes way and its only the 2nd working week of Jan.

I reckon there is one roadwork team in the whole of the ACT and they rotate around the city. Day 1 Parkes Way, Day 2 ANZAC parade, Day 3 Majura Parkway, etc etc, until eventually 2 or 3 weeks later they begin the cycle again.

This way the government can employ minimal people and it can split the money over several budgets.

thebrownstreak69 said :

arescarti42 said :

thebrownstreak69 said :

When’s it due to be finished?

Mid 2016.

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

🙂

Bwahahah! They don’t a expect us to believe this do they?

I believe it’s fairly well established that past behaviour and performance is a good predictor of future behaviour and performance.

On that basis, this project may turn out well, but I doubt it. I predict that it will be a colossal goatf*ck, and it will finish around 2 years late, sometime in 2018 and it will be vastly over budget.

I would be glad to be proved wrong, if only because I work in Fyshwick, and anything that bones the traffic flows in and out will cause me no end of heartache every morning and evening. 🙁

A long overdue project, good to see it kick off. I understand a pretty key tract of land just had its 99 year lease expire which must have been what’s holing up the project.

I’m a little concerned that I can’t see an exit from the northbound lane to go left at Fairbairn avenue though. That would be a royal pain to have only The Morsehead option past Russell to get from Fyshwick to the inner north. I’m hoping someone’s just “forgot” that bit on the video flyovers.

dtc said :

I have lived in Canberra for a long time and I cant remember this many simultaneous roadworks. Perhaps its because they all seem to be around Civic where I go and not in places I never frequent. Still, it seems to be at an all time high. As I sit and watch the traffic bank up along Parkes way and its only the 2nd working week of Jan.

There seems to be a large group of workers and managers in Canberra who are very good at starting roadworks…but I don’t think we have the ‘finishing’ team.

I have lived in Canberra for a long time and I cant remember this many simultaneous roadworks. Perhaps its because they all seem to be around Civic where I go and not in places I never frequent. Still, it seems to be at an all time high. As I sit and watch the traffic bank up along Parkes way and its only the 2nd working week of Jan.

Dreading the building of the overpasses though. Pialligo/Fairbairn are major ingress points into Canberra. I wonder if they can better the Fairbairn Park lights which can back up into Quangers, and get the backup right back to Bungendore?

Does anyone know if GDE had Federal funding in addition to ACT funding or not?

The Majura Parkway is a Federally Funded project that was costed from day one as a dual carriageway so I doubt we’ll see the schedule and design issues that we saw on the GDE (i.e. no single lane dual lane malarkey this time).

Fingers crossed, they actually might be able to do this one with minimal disruption since it is predominantly a greenfield build…i.e. it is essentally a set of new roads being built, not modifications of old ones… there is a new road starting at the river, then a bridge going over the top of Morshead Dr/Pialligo Ave, then a bridge going over the top of Fairbairn Ave then a new dual road going all the way up to Federal Hwy. About the only things they’ll need to interface with existing roads are on-off ramps… the intersection/old bridge at Pialligo Ave will be the main change…

http://www.minister.infrastructure.gov.au/aa/releases/2012/May/aa101_2012.aspx

I do not believe there’ll be ‘no traffic disruption”. They can’t even get the traffic lights right for traffic going from the airport/Quangers onto Majura Rd. It’s impossible to get through both sets in one go. As the Majura Rd ones come into view, you can see a green arrow, and no one there to use it. It goes orange when you’re about 50 metres away. Then the through traffic on Fairbairn gets a nice long go, especially when there’s no through traffic. Vehicles on or waiting to be on Majura get to sit and watch the empty road, and the green traffic lights.

it’s a shame all the good farm land that’s going to be dug up/piled up for this road. A shame they couldn’t just duplicate the current Majura Road. I hope this is not due to Snow wanting more land for his runway!

thebrownstreak691:48 pm 14 Jan 13

arescarti42 said :

thebrownstreak69 said :

When’s it due to be finished?

Mid 2016.

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

🙂

thebrownstreak69 said :

When’s it due to be finished?

Mid 2016.

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

thebrownstreak691:14 pm 14 Jan 13

When’s it due to be finished?

This road is going to be longer and more expensive than the GDE (by the government’s figures).

Anyone willing to place bets on how long it’ll take and how much it’ll really cost?

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