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?