Was it just me? Or was the traffic around Civic particularly awful this morning

thatsnotme said :

Why is it, that if a private party wants to build anything in Canberra, they’ve got to make detailed plans available for anyone and everyone to pore over, but when it’s the Government, it’s ok to just put up some vague thoughts as to what they’re trying to achieve with no detail whatsoever?

FFS, ‘completion in 2012’ – yep, let’s give ourselves a years leeway on this one!

Is it so hard to at least post a plan of what the intersection is going to look like once it’s complete? I’m assuming (hoping!) they have one, so why the secrecy? I already know where the kitchens, toilets and drive through are going to be in the new Maccas at Kippax, because they had to release those plans as part of their DA. Whereas the Government gets to release…well, pretty much nothing.

It’s not the whole ACT government … it’s Roads ACT / TAMS who are particularly bad at this game. Their incompetence at basic project management and delivery, not to mention stakeholder consultation, traffic planning and projections, road resurfacing, being trusted with taxpayer money more generally, is astounding. If they were in the private sector they would have undergone a management overhaul (i.e. whole management/executive team would have been told to get packing) long ago.

G-Fresh said :

Barry Drive/Clunies Ross Intersection Upgrade
Brief Project Background

Due to the development in Canberra’s North and the increased capacity of the Gungahlin Drive, traffic is expected to increase on existing traffic corridors and in Canberras metropolitan areas.

Currently, The Barry Drive and Clunies Ross Intersection in the inner North of Canberra, carries large volumes of traffic which results in bottleneck congestion on a daily basis, especially during the AM peak period.

The Barry Drive/Clunies Ross Intersection upgrade has been planned as a starting point for Stage 1 development of the Belconnen to City Transit Way and the City West Bus Service extension. Other works included in Stage 1 of the development are Bus priority measures on Barry Drive, a bus station on Marcus Clarke and Rudd streets and a transit way facility between Alinga Street and Barry Drive.

The Intersection upgrade of Barry Drive and Clunies Ross Street will improve the intersection performance by reducing travel times, improve the traffic flow and reduce the current bottleneck congestion.

An amount of $4.9 m has been estimated for the whole project and works are expected to commence in late 2011 with completion in 2012.

Rant incoming…

Why is it, that if a private party wants to build anything in Canberra, they’ve got to make detailed plans available for anyone and everyone to pore over, but when it’s the Government, it’s ok to just put up some vague thoughts as to what they’re trying to achieve with no detail whatsoever?

FFS, ‘completion in 2012’ – yep, let’s give ourselves a years leeway on this one!

Is it so hard to at least post a plan of what the intersection is going to look like once it’s complete? I’m assuming (hoping!) they have one, so why the secrecy? I already know where the kitchens, toilets and drive through are going to be in the new Maccas at Kippax, because they had to release those plans as part of their DA. Whereas the Government gets to release…well, pretty much nothing.

[Actually, Monsieur Cholet had a quick squiz and said the contractor for this work is now saying September.

The site was closed for a few weeks related to the tragic death of a worker on the site.

I know this was posted yesterday – but Northbourne heading toward the ciry this morning was (more of) a nightmare this morning! The entire left lane was filled with buses – not just the usual one or two per block, there was at least 6 per block – meaning that everyone had to move in to the middle or right lane… problematic if you had to exit left at any time! Traffic was a complete standstill to slow crawl all the way from Daramalan until past Haig Park! Just frustrating… took 25 minutes to get from the first Dickson traffic light to Wakefield Avenue at around 8.55!

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

Sheesh, it’s not a race!

Sadly mistaken, my friend.

EvanJames said :

And still, the tailgaters tailgate. Why they do this in a loooong sloooooow line of traffic I’ll never know.

I know, it’s crazy.

What also surprises me is people deliberately closing gaps so others can’t change lanes. I’ve been beeped a couple of times in the last month because I made some room to let someone in who wanted to change lanes. Sheesh, it’s not a race!

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

Canberra Ave in from Queanbo was a carpark, thanks mainly to the fender bender offenders who didn’t move their cars off the road, but rather left them there blocking an entire lane.

The pair on Pialligo Ave (at stockyards, top of the overtaking lane hill) were both parked on the roadside, but bits and pieces of both cars were all over the road, so people were slowing right down to pick their way around the debris.

The funniest thing was, as we crawled along in the standard way for that time of the morning, the 104.7 DJs were advising people not to take Cbr Ave, but head to Pialligo Ave instead, and were highly pleased with themselves. Little did they know.

And still, the tailgaters tailgate. Why they do this in a loooong sloooooow line of traffic I’ll never know.

yep it was horrendous…blaming the roadworks near the ANU which had Belconnen Way and surrounding suburban streets backed up all morning!!

Canberra Ave in from Queanbo was a carpark, thanks mainly to the fender bender offenders who didn’t move their cars off the road, but rather left them there blocking an entire lane.

mezza76 said :

Madam Cholet said :

I thought it was going to be good today, leaving my child care drop off at Isabella I sailed through to Erindale and then found the traffic around teh hospital much worse than usual. Just stayed taht wya all the way in from Woden.

Talking of delays though, does anyone have any hope that the Monaro Highway/Canberra Ave overpass road works will be finsihed in August as per the advertised schedule? They still seem to have a long way to go to get it finished, and yesterday arvo when I drove up there with the intent of getting onto Canberra Ave, I was held up by concrete barriers being moved – all looked very ominous for the weeks travel.

August 2012 according to TAMS

It feels like its been going since 2012 BC.

http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0004/231574/Major_Projects_2011-12-A1_Map_-_march_2012.jpg

Actually, Monsieur Cholet had a quick squiz and said the contractor for this work is now saying September. Good to know I’ll be spending a bit more of my life looking at the surroundings of the Monaro Highway in slow motion. And what is the deal when significant road works such as this one make you potentially late for work? is it beholden to you to get up earlier, rush kids out of the door quicker? Or is it a legitimate reason to be late for 18 months?

Madam Cholet said :

I thought it was going to be good today, leaving my child care drop off at Isabella I sailed through to Erindale and then found the traffic around teh hospital much worse than usual. Just stayed taht wya all the way in from Woden.

Talking of delays though, does anyone have any hope that the Monaro Highway/Canberra Ave overpass road works will be finsihed in August as per the advertised schedule? They still seem to have a long way to go to get it finished, and yesterday arvo when I drove up there with the intent of getting onto Canberra Ave, I was held up by concrete barriers being moved – all looked very ominous for the weeks travel.

August 2012 according to TAMS

It feels like its been going since 2012 BC.

http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0004/231574/Major_Projects_2011-12-A1_Map_-_march_2012.jpg

http://www.tams.act.gov.au/move/roads/construction_projects/barry_drive_cluniess_ross_intersection_upgrade

Barry Drive/Clunies Ross Intersection Upgrade
Brief Project Background

Due to the development in Canberra’s North and the increased capacity of the Gungahlin Drive, traffic is expected to increase on existing traffic corridors and in Canberras metropolitan areas.

Currently, The Barry Drive and Clunies Ross Intersection in the inner North of Canberra, carries large volumes of traffic which results in bottleneck congestion on a daily basis, especially during the AM peak period.

The Barry Drive/Clunies Ross Intersection upgrade has been planned as a starting point for Stage 1 development of the Belconnen to City Transit Way and the City West Bus Service extension. Other works included in Stage 1 of the development are Bus priority measures on Barry Drive, a bus station on Marcus Clarke and Rudd streets and a transit way facility between Alinga Street and Barry Drive.

The Intersection upgrade of Barry Drive and Clunies Ross Street will improve the intersection performance by reducing travel times, improve the traffic flow and reduce the current bottleneck congestion.

An amount of $4.9 m has been estimated for the whole project and works are expected to commence in late 2011 with completion in 2012.

Traffic was terrible on Barry Drive this morning. Thought it was just my bad luck as I was running late.

It was stop / start for a good 30-45 mins..

But what irked me the most – I heard 4 “time saver” traffic updates and ALL of them referred to places to avoid AFTER 9am

I thought it was going to be good today, leaving my child care drop off at Isabella I sailed through to Erindale and then found the traffic around teh hospital much worse than usual. Just stayed taht wya all the way in from Woden.

Talking of delays though, does anyone have any hope that the Monaro Highway/Canberra Ave overpass road works will be finsihed in August as per the advertised schedule? They still seem to have a long way to go to get it finished, and yesterday arvo when I drove up there with the intent of getting onto Canberra Ave, I was held up by concrete barriers being moved – all looked very ominous for the weeks travel.

Holden Caulfield said :

tommo said :

I saw those concrete barriers on Barry Drive being positioned on the weekend and thought weekday traffic would be a bit interesting!

That intersection coming out of Boldrewood Street seems to confuse drivers at the best of times…..it’s a filter lane for you to turn left onto Barry Drive, increase speed then filter in…however the amount of car drivers who ignore the filter lane and stop dead waiting for a break in the traffic coming from Belco (aiming to cross two lanes at once) is crazy.
This morning was doubly difficult because the concrete barriers have closed the filter lane which does make it harder for the busses to turn left without swinging out too far across Barry Drive, hence they’re holding up the traffic from behind while they wait.

tommo said :

All the streets in Turner that many motorists use to zip into the city were also choked up. It does indeed seem that the roadworks at the intersection between Barry drive and McCaughey st/North Rd are the cause.
I guess the traffic could be like this for quite a few weeks. Anyone knows what it is they intend to do with this intersection?

I saw those concrete barriers on Barry Drive being positioned on the weekend and thought weekday traffic would be a bit interesting!

A permanent bus lane perhaps?

When the roads are maxxed out, it can take the tinyest thing to lock them up. Evening rush hour/s around Majura Road/Fairbairn Ave are interesting to watch, how just a small difference suddenly has traffic locked, rather than rolling.

The block-up between Qbn and the lights at Fairbairn Park was still in operation this morning near 9am, which is unusual for a Monday. Turns out a P-plater had hit a tradie (in a suit ute) who was probably at the tailend of the receding block-up. Having stationary traffic on a road marked 100 km/hr is not a good combo.

Yep, was the worst I’ve seen it on Belco way in a while. As RandomPoster said, it crawled all the way from the GDE turn. Curious what the cause was, as colleagues coming in from inner north etc also had a slow commute?

All the streets in Turner that many motorists use to zip into the city were also choked up. It does indeed seem that the roadworks at the intersection between Barry drive and McCaughey st/North Rd are the cause.
I guess the traffic could be like this for quite a few weeks. Anyone knows what it is they intend to do with this intersection?

The traffic was bad (stop start) on Belconnen way from just past the GDE all the way until North Road at the ANU. The only cause that I could see was the left lane closed from Clunies Ross st to a bit after North Road.