8 December 2011

State Circle one of the worst intersections in the world?

| johnboy
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state circle

Thanks to Erg0 who’s pointed out that back in 2007 Auto Express magazine listed Canberra’s own State Circle as one of the worst intersections in the world.

Admittedly coming in 11th of 11.

But is it really that bad? I can’t say I’ve ever had any trouble with it.

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shadow boxer11:41 am 09 Dec 11

State circle is fantastic traffic distributor, been screwed up a bit with cycle lanes and the clogging of N’thbourne but works well.

I always laugh at tourists who complain about roundabouts, seriously it’s not that hard.

My assumption was that the writer had a mate who once came here to cover a royal visit for the Daily Mirror and got lost going to Parliament House.

I reckon he was heading North to civic on State Circle, and made the mistake of going clockwise and then finding there was no exit (on ramp) to Commonwealth Ave. This is kind of a design flaw IMHO, although most people get on State Circle going in the right direction (anti-clockwise), or are getting onto Commonwelath Ave from Adelaide Ave.

Further to my own comment, and number 2 in bitzermaloney’s list, I would add that the on-ramp from Parkes Way on to Kings Ave southbound is just as bad.

bitzermaloney said :

The on-ramp from Kings Ave onto Parkes Way heading West. Why on earth wasn’t this extended another 100 – 200m to allow a proper merge?

Testify!!

What on earth is going on with that on-ramp?! It’s ridiculously short, and it just comes to a dead end rather than actually narrowing and merging with Parkes Way. It hardly qualifies as an on-ramp at all – it’s more like a slip lane at a set of traffic lights.

Thoroughly Smashed8:35 am 09 Dec 11

bitzermaloney said :

The revised Glenloch Interchange, with particular reference to the ridiculous turn-off to Parkes Way when heading north

Can you explain what’s ridiculous about a semi-direct ramp?

smont said :

There is actually a bad merge coming into State Circle that I would definitely rate as one of the worst in Canberra. Coming along Canberra Ave (from Manuka) into State Circle, two lanes merge into one about 150m prior to reaching State Circle – and then all of a sudden you find yourself merging again into 80kph traffic on State Circle itself! I’d love to know which work experience kid with TAMS managed to sneak that one through without anybody putting it through common sense filter before implementing it!

I think you can blame that last merge on the “need” to provide a bike lane there. It used to not merge at all (and flow a lot better).

I note that they mentioned Canberra’s stupidly confusing signs.

There is actually a bad merge coming into State Circle that I would definitely rate as one of the worst in Canberra. Coming along Canberra Ave (from Manuka) into State Circle, two lanes merge into one about 150m prior to reaching State Circle – and then all of a sudden you find yourself merging again into 80kph traffic on State Circle itself! I’d love to know which work experience kid with TAMS managed to sneak that one through without anybody putting it through common sense filter before implementing it!

BenMac said :

Um, has this person ever driven State Circle? Getting to the centre frustrating? I’d hate to see how they fare in a major city.

No no, you’re missing the whole point. The natural state of the pom is whinging. Even if everything is basically perfect, the pom must find (or even invent) fault and complain about it. This is nowhere better exemplified by their complaint that the roadsigns in Japan have the hide to be in Japanese. Or the complaint that, after living in a place for 25 years, he still could not figure out one particular local junction. I don’t care how complex it is, if you can’t figure it out after a quarter of a century, it’s most likely not the fault of the junction.

BenMac said :

From the link provided, the reviewer says,

It’s a massive roundabout that encircles the Parliament building – but it’s not very straightforward to drive round. Trying to get to the centre is frustrating; take the wrong road and you’re spat out the other side. Confusing signs make it even more difficult.

Um, has this person ever driven State Circle? Getting to the centre frustrating? I’d hate to see how they fare in a major city.

My point exactly. They’ve never been there. They’ve never seen or driven it. They have no idea what they’re writing about. I drove over that particular stretch of road yesterday at peak hour, and it was a dream.

From the link provided, the reviewer says,

It’s a massive roundabout that encircles the Parliament building – but it’s not very straightforward to drive round. Trying to get to the centre is frustrating; take the wrong road and you’re spat out the other side. Confusing signs make it even more difficult.

Um, has this person ever driven State Circle? Getting to the centre frustrating? I’d hate to see how they fare in a major city.

trevar said :

Johnboy, how do you know he meant State Circle? Just going by the picture, that includes Parliament Drive, Capital Circle and State Circle (State Circle isn’t even there in its entirety). The rest of the description indicates that London Circuit is a mistake, and we can eliminate Parliament Drive since he wanted to get to the centre and Parliament Drive is as close as you can get; but that still leaves both Capital Circle and State Circle as his intended thoroughfare. And neither of them are intersections!

At any rate, the only thing that’s certain is that this James bloke is a nit and he can’t read a map!

Saying State Circle is one of the worst intersections in the world is like saying the Hume Highway is one of the worst harbours in the world; it might be true, but that’s only because it’s not a harbour! I could just as easily say my driveway is one of the worst highways in the world, and be just as accurate!

I think you can safely say that he IS talking about State Circle, as I just drove London Circuit, and found that it was not surrounding Parliament house, more just court houses, a Police station and a theatre. If you read the artice, I believe it spells it out quite nicely that it is state circle.

Jethro said :

Starke Street and Southern Cross Drive.

By far the worst intersection I know of in Canberra.

+1- certainly the worst I have seen for a long time, anywhere..closely followed by its brother in pain, the intersection of Florey drive and Southern Cross Drive.

This is content-free bogus nonsense perpetrated by boofheads who obviously have no clue what they’re writing about.

Starke Street and Southern Cross Drive.

By far the worst intersection I know of in Canberra.

I think the problem that this reviewer has with this road is the belief that it is, in fact, an intersection or roundabout, when we all know it isn’t – it’s a road that happens to go in a circle. Roundabouts don’t tend to allow one to go in either direction around them. And if he is actually referring to Capital Circle, it’s more of a bypass than anything else. Either way, not an intersection in any sense, certainly not when compared with the other interchanges on the list.

Oh, was wrong: David Ross is a nit. James Disdale is just a lazy editor.

Johnboy, how do you know he meant State Circle? Just going by the picture, that includes Parliament Drive, Capital Circle and State Circle (State Circle isn’t even there in its entirety). The rest of the description indicates that London Circuit is a mistake, and we can eliminate Parliament Drive since he wanted to get to the centre and Parliament Drive is as close as you can get; but that still leaves both Capital Circle and State Circle as his intended thoroughfare. And neither of them are intersections!

At any rate, the only thing that’s certain is that this James bloke is a nit and he can’t read a map!

Saying State Circle is one of the worst intersections in the world is like saying the Hume Highway is one of the worst harbours in the world; it might be true, but that’s only because it’s not a harbour! I could just as easily say my driveway is one of the worst highways in the world, and be just as accurate!

bitzermaloney4:38 pm 08 Dec 11

Without a shaddow of doubt:

1. The revised Glenloch Interchange, with particular reference to the ridiculous turn-off to Parkes Way when heading north; closely followed by:

2. The on-ramp from Kings Ave onto Parkes Way heading West. Why on earth wasn’t this extended another 100 – 200m to allow a proper merge?

Both make State Circle look like a German autobahn.

Holden Caulfield4:00 pm 08 Dec 11

Geelong Street/Canberra Ave in Fyshwick is worse.

Thoroughly Smashed3:56 pm 08 Dec 11

State Circle’s an intersection?

And then, there’s this gem about a Japanese road (number 9):

If the junction wasn’t confusing enough, you also have to contend with Japanese signs.

Really? It’s a terrible intersection because the signs are in the language that 99.9% of people in the country speak? Really? There’s so much wrong with that idea that I don’t even know where to begin. I just…I don’t even…

I say we all just walk away from the AutoExpress site and pretend it never existed. It will be better for everyone.

Rather confusingly, the article refers to it as “London Circuit” (which, as any local or person with even the most basic of map-reading skills knows, is a wholly unrelated road on the other side of the lake). Is it possible they in fact have not the faintest idea which “intersection” they’re even talking about? And even if they /are/ talking about State circle, if that’s really the 11th worst intersection in the world, the world’s roads are in /way/ better shape than I thought.

Actually, I should correct myself: it’s number 10, for some reason “Google Earth” is number 1.

I’ve always found the whole layout a little unintuitive, but I agree that there must be worse places in the world – in Australia, even.

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