Nudurr Drive extension

I want to reply with no duh after every post that mentions Nudurr Drive, but it’s not as obvious as a written gag.

p1 said :

In Gungahlin it is a feeder road. No point having an express way then have no way to get on or off it. The same is true at the other end too. Tuggeranong Parkway clearly becomes a feeder road near Kambah.

Very true. So maybe if they made this intersection, then abolished the first set of lights at Mitchell?

Only problem is you don’t know what they are planning in the future. Maybe that first set will become a major road into Crace and is therefor needed.

One thing I liked about Gungahlin when they first started to build it was they built the major road intersections in advance taking into account new suburbs. Indeed the first two suburbs have roundabouts built with duplication in mind, though here we are amost 20 years later and said roundabout approach roads are still single lane. But what happens now is some clown will build a main road with no thought to future intersections (just what they need today), then as each piddly estate is built they will install a intersections and it ends up a mess. Guess a mess pretty well sums up the road network in Gungahlin. I hope in Molonglo they don’t make the same mistakes.

To address the OP’s question-

people forget that roundabouts on arterial roads are highly dangerous and time consuming for pedestrians and cyclists to negotiate- regardless of whether they are on-road or on paths, the issue is the same- no way to get across the arms of the roundabout in peak hour because there is never a safe gap in the traffic. Children in particular, who can safely use pedestrian crossings at traffic lights even on major roads, cannot get across these busy roundabouts. Good cycle routes are destroyed by putting roundabouts on them. Claims that roundabouts are a safe option only applies to motorists- most of that safety benefit comes from transferring the risk onto more vulnerable road users. This forces people to drive themselves and their children instead of walking and cycling.

So the answer is no, roundabouts on major roads are NOT environmentally friendly- they force more car use in place of sustainable transport alternatives.

In Gungahlin it is a feeder road. No point having an express way then have no way to get on or off it. The same is true at the other end too. Tuggeranong Parkway clearly becomes a feeder road near Kambah.

Very true. So maybe if they made this intersection, then abolished the first set of lights at Mitchell?

p1 said :

Seems a little stupid, considering that the GDE was supposed to be the great missing link in a quick trip from tuggs to gun-ga-lin, to then put more traffic lights on such a arterial road. If a feeder road is important enough to connect the Canberra equivalent of a cross town motorway, then they should pony up the cash and build a bridge over it. Or connect it with slip ways, without actually crossing and slowing traffic.

In Gungahlin it is a feeder road. No point having an express way then have no way to get on or off it. The same is true at the other end too. Tuggeranong Parkway clearly becomes a feeder road near Kambah.

But you do have a point with the number of connections though. Road planning in the past 15 years or so has been crap. When once there was a grand plan, now each development seems to do it’s own thing. So on new roads out Gungahlin way in particular you have a lot of side streets feeding developments, whereas before we used to have a main suburban road which then feed the developments.

R. Slicker said :

Nudurr Drive? How about Nudie Drive? That sounds a lot more interesting . . .

I thought it was nuh, durr.

You want to put the people who designed the new Glenloch interchange in charge of designing another interchange?

Someone designed that? I though it just kinda happened?

Nudurr Drive? How about Nudie Drive? That sounds a lot more interesting . . .

“New section of Nudurr Drive”? I wasn’t aware that there was an old section of Nudurr Drive.

Seems a little stupid, considering that the GDE was supposed to be the great missing link in a quick trip from tuggs to gun-ga-lin, to then put more traffic lights on such a arterial road. If a feeder road is important enough to connect the Canberra equivalent of a cross town motorway, then they should pony up the cash and build a bridge over it. Or connect it with slip ways, without actually crossing and slowing traffic.