28 May 2009

Red area on Belconnen Way/Barry Drive ?

| lobster
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This has probably already been discussed on here, but I can’t seem to find it…

But what does the red paved areas just before the traffic lights on Belconnen Way/Barry Drive represent?

You can’t see it in this map link because it was painted afterwards. I know the green bit is beware of cyclists…

Dunno what the red bit is though…


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Gungahlin Al4:37 pm 12 Jun 09

A gang was out there late this mroning doing more marking work on this, so look out for changed conditions on Monday.

Holierthanthou9:32 pm 28 May 09

Never mind the red paint, what’s with all the yellow stripes, red arrows and labels of “Belconnen Way”?

Yes it is a bus lane. In coming weeks the “bus lane” signs will be installed & the intersection lights will be altered to include a ‘B’ light.

Apparently red coloured lanes are known as bus lanes in other states, so Canberra is following suite. Hopefully the other bus lanes follow suite in the following months (/years).

One of the guys doing the bike lanes is colour blind.. and it was his turn to mix the paint!

I believe they’re also going to install a “B” Priority Light at that intersection also.

luther_bendross6:40 pm 28 May 09

It’s to make fun of colour blind people. There’s actually a lot of disparaging comments written in there with green and brown stones.

I ride a red motorbike. must be for me.

emergency vehicle lane? it is a red lane, after all

Perhaps it’s the promised ACT Dragway? Bit short.

It would make sense to turn the cycle lane into a bus lane all the way from that intersection to the ANU. Divert cycle traffic onto Dryandra street/Nicholson Cres with a clearly marked cycle route to the city. Or widen the city bound side of Barry drive to accommodate a bus and cycle lane for the entire length.

Of course, being a motorcycle rider allowed to use bus lanes but not cycle lanes, I may be slightly biased… 🙂

So what of all the other, much smaller, similarly red-painted sections of road about town? Are these small islands also meant for bus use? Why this confusing mish mash of yellow stripes and red fill to indicate where buses go? Has some overpaid government consultant decided that we as drivers respond better to colour and should therefore have whole sections of road painted rather than signed?

I likes it not.

i saw them painting it last week and surmise that it is for red vehicles only, which go faster.

glad someone asked the question i had in my head. really of course figured a bus lane of some description, but couldn’t immediately see much benefit in such a short stretch, unless they’re to rearrange the section of benjamin way from the extension into town. or really, what’s the point?

It’s to hide cyclists’ blood.

It is a bus land (heard it on the radio a few days back). Not sure why they haven’t signed it properly yet. Apparently the red is to make sure everyone knows something has changed (without telling them what that something is. It’s an odd idea to put a bus lane there as that set of lights rarely goes to red, so its unlikely buses would face a significant delay. They will also need to put a merge right sign up to move traffic out of that lane, which will make it difficult for those turning left on to Macarthur Ave.

Some weird stuff happening on the roads at the moment. I’m very annoyed that they have now removed one (out of three lanes) each way on Ginninderra Drv near Coulter Drv, to make way for bike lanes. Now I’ve nothing against bike lanes… but removing entire lanes is ridiculous, considering the amount of traffic there during peak times vs the handful of bikes. The two worse things is the wasted road that is now neither bike land or car lane on each side, as well as the issues with traffic suddenly having to merge. Despite ample room on the road.

But what does the red paved areas just before the traffic lights on Belconnen Way/Barry Drive represent?

Its a masterpiece of postmodernist artistic thought.
Its representative of everything that you think it represents at the time, and it probably cost upwards of $150,000, but it was taxpayer money, so it doesn’t matter.

The Next Stanhope-Sponsored Artistic Masterpiece will be an essay competition on the cultural significance of party pies.

AFP Superintendent Mark Colbran was on the Drive program of 666 last week discussing this issue.
He stated that the red marked lane will become a bus lane in the future. The line marking is complete, with the signs to be installed soon. The red marking is to highlight to road-users the change from normal lane to bus lane.
http://blogs.abc.net.au/canberra/2009/05/what-is-the-red.html?program=canberra_drive

Gungahlin Al2:55 pm 28 May 09

Wondered that myself this morning.

(Having left late after battling the crowds for the Aldi snow wear sale, I thought I’d experience what the GDE route to Civic *should* be like if it had been built properly.)

I thought bus lane, but pity anyone stuck in it trying to merge over before the lights, given it is only 50m or so long. Ain’t no buses going to get through there if it is full of stuck cars…

Aren’t bus lanes ,like in the area of Belconnen Way and Gungahlin Dr intersection, yellow?

Sanctioned ‘Road Rage” arena of resolution. Is my guess

It’s the new Communist lane.

You get double points for each and every pedestrian with a pram you hit.

It’ll be like when they resealed a heap of the roads – it’ll take them a few months to get around to painting any lines on it or putting up any signs.

But I’d reckon it’s bus-related.

Unless it’s the first stage in reducing Belconnen Way/Barry Drive to just two lanes and adding a huge bike lane. Although that’d be green, wouldn’t it? Maybe it’s the undercoat…

It looks like it should be a bus lane marking, but they forgot to write on it.

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