There is quite a bit of planning that goes in to lighting a road tunnel, you see the aim is to ensure that drivers approaching the tunnel have sufficient visibility so as to avoid potential obstacles both on the entrance and exit of the tunnel.
During the daytime this requires quite a bit of energy to provide sufficient light so that drivers with their sunlight adjusted eyes can see into the tunnel further than the braking distance for the speed they are travelling at. In the middle to save energy there are less lights but still sufficient to see, and towards the end they get brighter again so you aren’t suddenly hit with blinding sunlight as you emerge from the darkened tunnel.
This is not rocket science.
It seems unlikely to me that with so many act public servants in this town that no-one anywhere related to ‘roads and not being blinded while driving through tunnels’ hasn’t driven through this tunnel is the evenings in the last month and thought geez that’s a bit bright I better get the boys to have a look at it . Alas every time I drive through at about 8pm I don my sunglasses so as not to excite my rods and cones, and wonder if I am the only person in this town who gives a s*** about things working right any more.
Have I let someone know you ask….no, my intent is to crash into the tunnel wall and sue the act govt for not notifying me of its presence. Seriously though the last time I used that useless fix my street rubbish I ended up walking down the road with trimmers and a mower and fixing it myself.
I seriously doubt that the act govt actually employs anyone with the skills and position description to fix it, it’ll get contracted out like the mowing of grass, collection of rubbish, and fixin of roads that a municipal govt should have the ability to do internally.
(/rant)
TL;DR: tunnel bright, govt crap
Loading ...
What’s Your opinion?
Parkes Way tunnel lighting
“…the last time I used that useless fix my street rubbish I ended up walking down the road with trimmers and a mower and fixing it myself.”
I really think you should make contact with TAMS. Not sure your trimmers and mower will be much use to you this time.
Right, sodium, duh. Sulphur is yellow… damn you brain!
Dilandach said :
I saw one ajar the other day, should we be worried?
davo101 said :
Look it up people: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_lamp
davo101 said :
…and now you know why they keep those doors on the sides closed.
niftydog said :
I think you mean sodium. Unless the Parkes Way tunnel is actually one of the nine circles of hell.
Now that I think about it, I think the M5 tunnel underneath the airport runway has more intense lights.
When I drive through there, it feels like driving through an oven (not the heat but the sensation)
MelonHead said :
Gets my vote.
I also had a deeply underwhelming experience of ACTGovCo’s fix-my-street bollocks … a clear safety issue wherein traffic was forced across the centre line around a blind bend. Johnny No Stars came out and told me it was OK coz it’s not a double-yellow line so crossing it is perfectly legal. Safety? Que?
Hence, I would be reluctant to try again … am confident that ACTGovCo’s response will be to do nothing wherever possible.
“wonder if I am the only person in this town who gives a s*** about things working right any more.” … well, you’re in good company, but it’s a dwindling minority.
Funny you should talk about bright lights. Recently in my street the bulbs in the street lamps were changed from what I would describe the standard orange to something that resembles the light when there is a full moon. I find myself frequently looking out of the window on my way to bed to check that there is not a full moon. I’m wondering why they changed them all of a sudden – they seemed to be working fine.
I remember reading about this tunnel and its lighting. It was designed with all the features mentioned. The lighting was to change during the day, and at night time, based on surrounding ambient light. The evidence of this is the different fittings at each end of the tunnel, should you chose to glance upwards as you make your way. These different fittings were meant to emulate the surrounding light and transition the traveler from light to tunnel, and back.
My bet is that the control system for this is now broken/out of date, (It is quite an old tunnel) and that no one in authority has the kahunas to fix it. The cheap option, and less liable prone solution, seems to be to turn on as many lights as possible and hope that the problem goes away.
Another fluster cluck from those we expect more of.
The lighting there seems to fluctuate. Wait a couple of weeks and your First World Problem might be even smaller than it currently is 🙂
It’s interesting you say that. Last week as I was leaving the ANU campus I happened to glance across at the tunnel entry as I was heading in the other direction, and thought to myself “holy crap, that tunnel looks *really* bright”.
I’m glad I’m not the only one! This has bugged me for a long time as it’s been screwed up for ages.
For a while there they had it backwards – the sulphur lights on during the day and the white lights on at night. Then lot of bulbs burned out and it was very dim, they even seemed to deliberately turn off strips of lights.
At some stage a few months back a whole lot of bulbs were replaced. Now it’s retina-burningly bright at night and probably still dark as a coal mine during the day.
Numerous street lights around Glenloch are out too.
They seem to turn the lights on randomly.
I wouldn’t consider it so bright that in desperation to get away from the blinding light scorching my face, instantly causing third degree burns and filling the car with a burning flesh smell that I’d consider hooking the steering wheel left into the wall while screaming at the freddy krueger-esque face appearing in the mirror just before I hit the wall in an attempt at sweet release.
I’d say its tolerable.
I haven’t found it to be a problem. I’m not sure how it can be too bright considering how many of the lights have blown.
I dont find it too bright, but that’s a personal feeling, I can see how it might be a problem for some.
I remember about 20 years ago when it used be as bright as it is, then slowly over time it got duller and duller. When growing up we used to call it the ‘Orange Tunnel’ but up until about 6 months ago there weren’t any orange coloured lights. I guess they’re going back to how it was.