Victory declared on the GDE front

1.35km? Are you sure Stanhope? I’d say it would be about 800m at best. Duplicating that small area is a good start, but what about the dual lanes from Barton Highway to Belconnen Way? That is a far bigger problem.

Baldwin Drive came up rather well after the recent hot mix “re-seal” …

Yes Ant, same sort of thing happened to me when I fell over on our street in Narrabundah – still got the scarred knee to show for it.

JC I beg to differ, and Roads ACT confirmed as much in a ministerial reply to me where they claimed that it was a good road surface.

The hotmix used in suburban streets and what is generally used on open roads can be quite different though. The open road variant involves putting down a waterproof bitumen skin first, then the asphalt over the top is quite porous. This allows rain to run through and off the surface, then drain away to the side underneath – really helps prevent aquaplaning.

That’s how Stanhope works isn’t it? Do things poorly, then attempt to look great because they are always ‘improving’ things.

Roads have never been worse. They just don’t do them properly from the start, which I suspect in the end costs more and causes more inconvenience – you have to basically put up with permanent potholes in between cheapo road maintenance which gives you a decent surface for maybe a few weeks.

I think it’s worth saving up and doing roads properly from the start, even if you have to wait a little longer.. but that’s just me

Gungahlin Al said :

And suburban streets such as those around Hackett and Watson that have been spraypaved should have hotmix.

Now I know what you’re talking about! Watson had those rough stones embedded in bitumen in the 60s… I grew up in watson and almost ground my big toe down to a stump one day, using my foot to stop/turn my bike. Gawd it hurt and made a mashed mess of my toe.

By the time this road is finally completed properly in 2012 it will have taken 7 years to build (twice). What a joke!!! Complete and utter infrastructure mismanagement and the ratepayers of Canberra foot the bill.

And, the peak hour bottleneck on the Caswell drive section has just been moved further south to where William Hovell intersects and forms one lane. If it had to be only single lane initially, you would think that at least the bridges would have been built to accomodate the extra lanes in the future. A blatent non caring waste of our money!!!!

Gungahlin Al said :

Bloody spray pave – now the mongrels have gone and laid it over a patch of the original Gungahlin Drive.

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Roads such as these should have full-depth self-draining asphalt. Nothing less. And suburban streets such as those around Hackett and Watson that have been spraypaved should have hotmix.

Those roads are not spray pave. They are roads that are normal hotmix that have been resealed. This has been the practice in the ACT for as lonh as I can recall. Bottom line is it is too expensive to reseal roads by stripping them back and putting down hotmix. In places such as Sydney where they do this it is because the road is buggered and needs it, in our case the roads have just become porus.

Spray pave on the other hand is what they used on sections of the GDE. Ie they built a road based, sprayed and put gravel on it. Sure the end result looks the same as a resealed road, but like I said they are two different things. Will agree though GDE and all new major roads should have been done properly with a hotmix surface.

housebound said :

” JS doesn’t need any help from Humphreys or Howard to look bad.”

I agree. I was being sarcastic in my comment. That post of Fozzy’s was one of the least convincing conspiracy theories I’ve heard.

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Cunning plan? I’m not so sure Humphreys is quite as malicious as that, or that Howard actually listened to Humphreys or anyone else when it came to funding/non-funding of ACT interests. Why would he – we’re not exactly a marginal electorate.

And anyway, JS doesn’t need any help from Humphreys or Howard to look bad.

fozzy said :

… Gary Humphries had John Howard cut the funds available… to make Stanhope look bad.

Ah, a cunning plan indeed. And your evidence for this is?

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From my understanding the GDE was originally intended to be 2 lanes but Gary Humphries had John Howard cut the funds available. For the very reason everyone here is complaining about – to make Stanhope look bad. It’s an example of the problems with our vertical fiscal imbalance – the Commonwealth collects the money (via taxes) and the States and Territories have to spend the money. If the Commonwealth doesn’t give them all the money required (something Howard was good at doing), then you get this sort of thing happening.

I’m sure too you could reverse the Labor and Liberal roles above – they both do it.

It seems to have worked fairly effectively as everyone here is complaining about the terrible job Stanhope did instead of laying the blame where it belongs – with spiteful Libs.

Stanhope expected that eventually there would be a favourable Federal Government who would help fund the second lane which was the reason the tree felling was done – it wasn’t the big cost, and it was always going to have to be done. Probably, when Labor finally were allowed to do the bulldozing, they figured they’d do as much as they could before further delays could be imposed by the courts – I’m not meaning to make any comment on whether the tree felling was correct, but simply that from Stanhope’s perspective, it was expedient to do.

Spray pave is better than the loose chips they used to finish road works with before self government. That stuff was a nightmare to meet on two wheels, without a warning sign in sight.

Bloody spray pave – now the mongrels have gone and laid it over a patch of the original Gungahlin Drive.

Right – I declare war on spray pave. Look out any Transport Minister who endorses spraypave as “a perfectly serviceable road surface” as Hargreaves informed us in early 2007.

It is not. It is a cheap and nasty temporary solution that has a noise impost on nearby residents, a cost import on car owners whose vehicles are peppered with stone chips, a skin impost on kids playing on the suburban streets done over with this stuff, and a cost impost on taxpayers when it inevitably starts falling apart within a year or so of laying.

Roads such as these should have full-depth self-draining asphalt. Nothing less. And suburban streets such as those around Hackett and Watson that have been spraypaved should have hotmix.

Mr Stanhope said no tree clearing would be required for Stage 2 works, because the full width of the duplicated road was cleared at the time the road was first constructed

Almost like they knew they would need to widen it as soon as they finished it.

I hope our pollies are just stupid and not corrupt but some times I think its both.

Why does this post have ‘victory’ in the title? Seems like we’re all losers. Gungahlin has had to wait another year for a vaguely decent road, Little Jonny Stanhope and old Johnny Hargeaves have had to admit they made a mistake, and we’re all paying through the nose for it.

I can’t see any victory, except perhaps that Labor wanted to cost us money, and even cynical old me doesn’t think they’re that malicious!

That efficient private sector again, efficiently building the roads… oh, you wanted one that will actually last? That’ll cost yer extra, mate.

Growling Ferret said :

… a potholed bit of junk that has already broken up and chipped my windscreen.

Gotta love spray pave.

The new piece of road is already a potholed bit of junk that has already broken up and chipped my windscreen. Thanks for being a tightass Sonic.