Traffic light phasing.....is it that dificult?

The phasing of traffic lights anywhere in Canberra is beyond the skills and capability of Roads ACT. There are that many examples of this you may as well place all sets of lights in the same basket. Great peak hour examples are yamba dr past the hospital in peak hours, stop at every set of lights, northbourne ave closer you get to the city particularly in the morning. Also the number of lights where you’re turning right where there is a huge gap in traffic where the lights actually will wait for the on coming traffic to come before going red for them belconnen way onto Gungahlin drive is a good example. I’m sure they will continue with the “oh but it’s all too hard” story until they’re blue in the face instead of investing in some proper technology and people to do it.

Reminded me of this: Link

I am surprised nobody has mentioned the ‘Magic 7’. the run of soul-crushing red lights that start at the intersection of Erindale dve/Drakeford Dve and end at Sulwood/Drakeford..Cop all 7 in a row and you have added 15-20 minutes of frustrating hell to your journey.

Traffic light phasing…..is it that dificult?

Paging Dr Dunning and Dr Kruger…

but these changes would certainly speed up the flow of higher volumes of traffic.

What makes you think this is desirable? What effects will it have at the next intersection, and the one after that, and others that might lie on intersecting roads?

It’s a network. You can’t just stuff around with one bit without risking buggering up the rest of it.

cranky said :

Traffic turning right from Yamba Drive heading north into Hindmarsh heading east are always stopped immediately at the Palmer Street lights.

Not if you plant it, I’ve found. Dawdle around the corner and up to them, and yes quite often you’ll get stopped. Put your foot down (it is 80 after all) and get moving and you often miss them and are free to head up the hill while everyone pulls up behind you.

That said, I travel there every day (not in peak time mind you) and I do probably get the Palmer Street lights one day out of five.

I think some have gone off a bit half cocked regarding my original post.

Beazley/Athllon -Exiting Mawson, these lights allow traffic to go straight ahead or turn right. Oncoming traffic from Torrens has a red, until given their turn to either travel straight ahead into Mawson, or turn right towards Tuggers. I am suggesting that the Mawson Drive lights be coordinated with this second change, allowing ex Beazley traffic a straight run, and will have turned green for the oncoming northbound Athllon traffic once released from Beazley St lights. This does not inconvenience anyone, as traffic turning north onto Athllon from Torrens is permitted to turn left at any time.

Similarly the Yamba/Hindmarsh lights. If the lights were delayed so that the often quite heavy traffic turning onto Hindmarsh from Yamba were able to clear the Palmer St, the only traffic affected on Hindmarsh are the far lower volume traffic heading south on Yamba and turning east onto Hindmarsh.

I am not trying to ensure I have a dream run, but these changes would certainly speed up the flow of higher volumes of traffic.

For a serious traffic light blackspot, try leaving the Monaro Highway at Fyshwick (heading north), to turn right into Newcastle Street. Every effort has been made to impede this traffic flow. Primary reason is permanent very long greens for traffic heading south on Newcastle and turning north onto the Monaro. These lights need a serious re-phasing. Traffic heading east along Newcastle from Dairy flat get priority meaning Monaro/Newcastle traffic moves from one red to another turning red as they approach.

remember when considering phasing of lights that, while you’re cursing the changes in the direction you’re travelling, traffic is flowing the other way and is likely also affected by phases of lights elsewhere in the flow of that mass of cars, buses, bikes, trucks, etc…

what would be useful are more practical ‘turn left when you want’ signs at red lights and taking those away from intersections where you can’t bloody see the traffic coming and need a light to tell you it’s safe [unless you take to streetscapes with a chainsaw…]

The mugga lane one is interesting. I took that way once and found nearly all the traffic went to Fyshwick like me, they just decided to try and dodge the potential backlog of traffic.

That said I note in my suburb we get an extra large volume of traffic driving through the suburbs and school zones just because the roundabout on isabella/drakeford/tharwa drive intersection is clogged. That intersection needs lights ASAP.

Airport to Majura Road is painful. If there’s trucks in the queue to turn right from Pialligo, you might have to wait 2 goes of the lights. And you’ll seldom make the right turn into Majura, which seems to come on at about the same time as the right turn from Pialligo. It takes about 10 minutes to get from the airport road to Majura Road, all of 100 metres.

zorro29 said :

(worst example is the intersection near the hospital – giving the right turning traffic 2 goes causes kms of traffic back past Bunnings in the mornings when there is seldom ever a line of traffic waiting to turn right).

would love it if the traffic flowed well!

I think traffic turning right getting a second go is more to do with the traffic turning left onto Belconnen Way from Haydon Drive. They have a green light for the entire time, and there is normally traffic flowing through there for the entire green light. Yes, it holds up Belconnen Way traffic, but it’s not like a little side street joining Belconnen Way – if Haydon Drive traffic had a shorter green light, it’d just clog up that road.