Monaro mess proves traffic lights are lazy fix to road planning problem

ROUNDABOUTS ARE INFINITY MORE EFFECTIVE!!! And the round about/ traffic lights hybrid is also a great solution for larger intersections.

Yes especially coming off the Barton highway on to Northbourne Avenue. This morning the lights near the golf course were green, tram went through then lights turned orange, then back to green!! Never seen that before. Great way to confuse drivers. Its all about giving the big red elephant priority. 😑

Go look at the Albury Wodonga bypass, beautiful surface, flyovers with long merging lanes AND 110 kph all the way!
This should be the Monaro hwy Majura Park way into Gungarlin.

I don’t reckon there’s any point changing anything, until Canberra people stop being so entitled and lazy and actually follow the Road rules.

Smart traffic lights with cameras that can actually think and keep the traffic flow timed. You want lower fuel emissions or even better battery power usage stop stopping people in motion

My cheap car can see other cars on the road, keep me inside my lane and much more. Why don’t we have smart traffic lights yet where they don’t simply rely on timers but where they can change based on if no more cars are coming… I mean, surely that would save hundred of thousands of hours for commuters every day right across the country..

This is yet another example of what happens when you prefer to turn the joint into a real life Tri-ang train set instead of fixing shortages in Hospitals, Policing, Schools – oh and the planned road infrastructure that isn’t planned one iota.

When driving in the city, it’s especially frustrating when this is accurate

““The first response seems to be to put a set of traffic lights in when more thought to design, traffic flows and sight lines may be a better way.”
It bemuses me when an intersection with hundreds of metres of visibility still has a red turn arrow to make it illegal to make a perfectly safe turn unless expressly permitted to.

Analysis of traffic flow (and subsequent action) should be prioritized. Traffic lights are okay, but on a trip through any area you should not be stopped more than is necessary – at any given time of day (given traffic density affects traffic flow as well). This can only be done by ensuring traffic systems talk to each other and are coordinated so that unnecessary stops on major roads are minimized. Let’s take John Gordon Drive as an example. A major north-south and east-west pathway, but you can get caught at every set of traffic lights. Should never happen. Traveling along that road should result in no more than one stop. If the government is truly green focused, this will reduce the burning of fossil fuels with the infrastructure and car fleet that we have (savings on road upgrades etc). There are heaps of other examples around Canberra. Doing so will also better support larger populations(which are expected in a major way in the next 20-30 years) with reduced expenditure on infrastructure. The haphazard way that traffic control is rolled out in this town contributes so much to greenhouse gases from Canberra’s vehicles (not to mention driver frustration). This is smart money from an economic, growth and green perspective but the local council seems to be only focused on only part of the problem at a time.

The ACT tin-pot town council does not want you driving cars.

Like the traffic lights at the intersection of Belconnen Way and Springvale Drive designed to solve a problem of people using Springvale Dr as a rat run to Coulter Dr and avoiding the Belconnen Way/Coulter Dr intersection in morning peak hour. Sledge hammer to crack nut. Just like our 40 kph a day school zones.

I worked in road safety for many years and agree that traffic lights are not always the most optimal solution for a road safety issue. I live in Theodore and have been lobbying for years for a solution to the many, many serious injury crashes at the intersection of Tharwa Drive and Lawrence Wackett Circuit. It is a very dangerous intersection. Yes, it will still have a risk of drivers running red lights, and in particular those drivers coming down the hill on Tharwa Drive towards Theodore. I assume that signs will be put up notifying drivers to slow down and that new traffic lights are in operation (and will follow this up with the @Jo Clay MLA if this does not happen). Residents are very grateful to Mark Parton MLA for his lobbying on this issue. To the broader issue, roundabouts, while not perfect for traffic flow, are generally safer than traffic lights. However traffic lights are safer than nothing at all, which is what we have now. Nor is there room at this intersection for new slip lanes or an actual roundabout. I suspect that may be the case with a few of the intersections James Coleman mentioned. Road safety initiatives always have to be driven (sorry about that) by a risk / benefit ratio.

I wouldn’t worry, Canberrans don’t stop for red lights anyway.

Monaro Highway should have been a park way.

Back in the day, you’d go from Tuggers to Fyshwick and only see one traffic light at the Fyshwick end. Good times. Horse Park Drive also keeps getting loaded up with lights. Could have easily been roundabouts like Erindale Drive, Poor planning.

I’m familiar with the “stroad” concept, and the Manaro Highway isn’t it. Northbourne Ave would probably be the best example of a Canberran stroad. Anybody who gets upset that their commute might take an extra 5 minutes longer isn’t going to be happy about future plans for Canberra–fewer vehicles, slower speeds, more public transport, more active transport, etc.

Right on! And whoever designed the mess around Bunnings and the markets at Belconnen should be fired.

Perhaps the ACT government should look at how much each set of traffic lights contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

They purport to be “green” yet seem obsessed with causing Canberra’s vehicle fleet to do more and more stop start driving.

Hindmarsh Drive and Brierly St intersection is a good case in point. It is an awful intersection and not at all suited to Canberra’s drivers. Best thing to do with it would be to prevent right turns onto Hindmarsh Drive and put a U turn lane a couple of hundred metres east of the intersection.

Nope traffic lights barely 50 metres after the previous set and a reduced speed limit are the answer apparently.

Dont get me started on the abomination they are about to do to London Circuit and Comonwealth Avenue.

Everything in Canberra is a lazy fix. Why would the lights be any different. Better hope the lights don’t have mental health issues or chronic health issues coz they’d be screwed. ACT is renowned for bandaid fixes!!

The traffic lights here are stupid. The timers are all off and some don’t even stay green for long. They need fixing.

Spot on. I’ve been saying for ages now that the ACT Government has become addicted to traffic lights in the past decade and a half. The Barton Highway is a perfect example of their dogs breakfast approach to traffic management.

Guess that’s what you get when some bright spark engineer with a PHD, by the way can’t spell ‘common sense’ with these letters, puts traffic lights in the middle of a roundabout🤔🤔

Having now lived in Canberra for 18 years after 20 years in Sydney it is still a pleasure to drive on Canberras road. Most Canberrans dont know how good they have it. Trying commuting for over an hour each way. Stop whingeing and enjoy our beautiful city.

Yes! Every time I return to Canberra there are more sets of lights everywhere as a “fix” for poor driving behaviour. It’s infuriating! The lack of synchronisation is even lazier, as the roads that are meant to be the main way ie Drakeford, Hindmarsh, Barry, end up incredibly slow. For a gov who wants to be environmentally friendly, surely having good traffic flow would be a cheap way to improve emissions out (slightly), if not to just make for happier constituents.

we have them because we cannot afford overpasses and underpasses

Traffic lights are a cheap and inadequate solution to inadequate planning.
But, inadequate planning seems to be an ongoing problem in the ACT.

In the USA they have “frontage roads” where you enter and exit by a ramp – no traffic lights, enough room to merge – and that serves the immediate area, dividing the traffic flow into sustained flow on the highway and slower traffic on the frontage. Generally the frontage road doesn’t need traffic lights at all.

Then again, it’s not like the current government wants people to drive their own cars. Given a choice between making things more difficult for drivers and more efficient, they will choose the former every time.

About the only exception has been the Majura Parkway, built with federal money.

Lights are the final action in traffic flow. They shouldn’t just be jammed in areas.

40km zones not in school zones should be illegal, they cause more issues. Panic braking, having to frequently check your speed instead of the road isn’t safe. Stop making the vast majority responsible for that one idiot!

Put less traffic lights up if need be, but put more red light cameras out everywhere so people actually stop on the red light. 🤣

The same problem on John Gorton Drive. It’s supposed to be a rapid transit road. The speed limit is only 70kph and numerous unsynchronised traffic lights that impede any kind of traffic flow.

So true. Traffic lights are a lazy admission of failure of road design. Pialligo Ave where the roads from Fyshwick come in, so many traffic lights, stop-start-stop.

They built yarra glen/adelaide avenue before the town needed them, and they still flow well, NO traffic lights. but one day, the untalented ACT Roads will start putting them on.

Very true. Roundabouts usually do not need lights just common sense driving. (oops!) Synchronization helps with lights. Less is more sometimes. Lights at almost every intersection (e.g. Gungahlin) is too much! Sometimes adding a roundabout to share traffic priority would be enough.

The Hindmarsh trick, from what I’ve been told, is you can get from one end to the other…. If you do 95kph the whole time (and get a ticket at Yamba for the effort).

Yes, 100% agree, the lights should be all linked or timed or whatever it takes to ensure that all of them go green at the same time, gosh anything to sort it.

After leaving Canberra almost six years ago, when we return for a visit we notice immidiately the stop start traffic caused by the lights.
I would hate to think how long my old 27km commute from Casey to Fyshwick would be now it used to take approx 20 – 25 mins depending on time of day.
Now 44km from work, 28 mins and one set of traffic lights….so good.😎

They have gone from the pressure pads on the road to timing for the lights which is ridiculous you can sit for ages with no traffic and still doesn’t change also lights during the nite and early mornings and I mean early you get stuck on lights if the pressure pads were used this wouldn’t happen another example of Barr government stuffing things up

Yes, and there timed stuiply, green into a red..

I have lived in Canberra for 2 decades and have always believed the ACT Government infrastructure planners were more than incompetent and also bound by the reddest of red tape. Putting traffic lights everywhere does not solve problems, just like speed humps in a quiet suburban street only creats more traffic noise..

An overpass would of fixed this problem.

Ha ha ha roundabouts. Useless if the majority of traffic is heading in the same direction – as many who live in south Tuggers know. Solution 🤔 – Part Time Traffic lights 🚦 🤷🏼‍♀️

What ?? ACT gov chose the lazy cheap option ?? No !!!!!! Say it ain’t so ?

I commute along Hindmarsh every day and I go through 19 sets of traffic lights in 15 kilometres. It’s already ridiculous and now they want to add MORE 😡

It would also help if nearby sets of traffic lights had coordinated timing. Just one example of many: the three sets of lights where Hindmarsh and Badimara and the Parkway intersect do not coordinate with each other at all, almost guaranteeing interrupted traffic flow.

Horse park is a main arterial road and the federal highway underpass if planned correctly shouldn’t need a set of traffic lights. Or an 80kmh zone for said traffic lights, it is almost as if they designed it that way just for speed camera revenue ?

It is a massive traffic bottleneck that the recent duplication hasn’t resolved.

I completely agree with James Coleman and this is something I noticed a long long time back. Introducing traffic lights is like a band-aid to the traffic problem. Instead, long term thinking is needed, such as introducing flyovers etc. Cost will be a factor, but it’s a long term solution unlike messing up a freeway with traffic lights.

I don’t know why a large round about was never placed there. Looks a ready made location.