5 April 2013

Wentworth Avenue upgrade

| johnboy
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wentworth avenue

Mayor Rattenbury is letting it be known they’re digging up Wentworth Avenue.

Work will commence next week on a $1 million upgrade of Wentworth Avenue in Kingston, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Shane Rattenbury, announced today.

“The pavement upgrade to the city bound carriageway of Wentworth Avenue, from Burke Crescent to Dawes Street, will make the road safer for motorists, cyclists and other road users, and will improve the amenity of the area,” Mr Rattenbury said.

“Approximately 650 metres of the city bound carriageway will receive a new surface and new kerbs and guttering. A bitumen coated polyester grid will be used in the resurfacing to help prevent cracks and gaps appearing on the surface of the road, which is often the case with older roads built with a concrete base.

“Once work is complete, the 10,000 or so vehicles that use this carriageway each day and the cyclists that use the on-road cycle path will have a smoother journey.”

Work on each of the two city bound lanes of Wentworth Avenue will be completed separately. Traffic will be limited to one lane while work is in progress.

The right hand lane will be completed first and will be closed from Monday 8 April 2013 to Friday 10 May 2013.

During the works, Burke Crescent, Cunningham Street and Dawes Street will be closed to through traffic at the intersection with Wentworth Avenue. Vehicles will still be able to make a left hand turn onto Wentworth Avenue at these intersections during the stage one works on the right hand lane.


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Well it was full steam ahead today on Wentworth Ave for I observed a total of 3 claytons workers,ie.two leaning on shovels and the third who appeared to be operating a small dozer.Ah Canberra roadworks,consistent as always..

wildturkeycanoe said :

“Hear, hear”. The roadworks at Southern Cross Dr. and Starke St. near Kippax still haven’t been finished. How long has it been now? For crying out loud, it’s just a footpath that needs to be done for about 20 metres and the whole 5PM carpark on Starke St. can be eliminated. Not that the new traffic lights down the road helped at all, just made it worse….

I disagree. Traffic is flowing so much better through Florey and Southern Cross drive since they put in the lights.

The only thing they should have done differently IMO is closed off the access road to the houses on Southern Cross drive between Florey and Starke Streets (residents would still have access 200m up the road) and the Stakre street intersection should have also had lights, but linked to the Florey drive lights.

wildturkeycanoe8:59 pm 31 May 13

bundah said :

Drove past there today and counted nine yes nine workers actually working.As for resurfacing 650 metres unless they’re going to lay down asphalt beyond Dawes St then it’s actually more like 350 metres and all in just under three months.

The gummint needs to release a special series of number plates ‘Canberra home of the world’s slowest roadworks’.

“Hear, hear”. The roadworks at Southern Cross Dr. and Starke St. near Kippax still haven’t been finished. How long has it been now? For crying out loud, it’s just a footpath that needs to be done for about 20 metres and the whole 5PM carpark on Starke St. can be eliminated. Not that the new traffic lights down the road helped at all, just made it worse….

bundah said :

Drove past there today and counted nine yes nine workers actually working.As for resurfacing 650 metres unless they’re going to lay down asphalt beyond Dawes St then it’s actually more like 350 metres and all in just under three months.

The gummint needs to release a special series of number plates ‘Canberra home of the world’s slowest roadworks’.

I drive past every day and I have seen the concrete underneath with its expansion joints laid bare. Guaranteed, within 6 months the bitumen will be the same old ga-dunk, ga-dunk again… Light rail indeed.

Drove past there today and counted nine yes nine workers actually working.As for resurfacing 650 metres unless they’re going to lay down asphalt beyond Dawes St then it’s actually more like 350 metres and all in just under three months.

The gummint needs to release a special series of number plates ‘Canberra home of the world’s slowest roadworks’.

Who cares when the rough gravel they will likely put down will be just as bad as the previous “gdunk, gdunk, gdunk” surface on Wentworth ave.

People, please let your ACT member know that we demand better roads.

Perhaps they could build a “park and ride” carpark near Fyshwick DFO so the Queanbeyanites would take the 200 bus and free up Canberra Ave for good, honest, hard-working Canberra folk

You would think that with a budget of 1 million that they could invest in an accurate measuring device. Burke to Dawes would be lucky to cover half the 650 metres quoted in the media release, or did they multiply by 2 because there are two lanes.

shauno said :

Its amazing to see how fast this sort of stuff gets done in places like Singapore were talking weeks not months and there all over it 24 hours a day.

It’d be nice, but Singapore is full of millionaire businessmen, not public servants, to fund the public purse. Plus the impact on motorists in such a small space is way bigger despite the howls of said public servants 😉 They are bloody slow though, the GDE being the biggest joke.

Its amazing to see how fast this sort of stuff gets done in places like Singapore were talking weeks not months and there all over it 24 hours a day.

Why would they only do one direction? Both sides are as bad as the other.

Although they could just leave the train track roads and pretend that they have built the light rail.. Just with lots of carriages..

screaming banshee7:09 pm 05 Apr 13

Can’t they just give it a crappy chip seal like every other street in Canberra

Pork Hunt said :

bundah said :

The concrete base has been there for what seems like centuries and i reckon it has held up amazingly well apart from a few mini speed humps.Canberra Ave is going to get busier but more importantly PorkH will be cheerin’!

I will be cheering however, if the new bit ends at Dawes St I will still have to put the Defender in low range to get across the travesty at Telopea Park… 🙂

Yeah that stretch deteriorates in no time and they’re constantly patching it up every few years.My suggestion bugger low gear flatten it as you approach and ‘fly-over’ them!

bundah said :

The concrete base has been there for what seems like centuries and i reckon it has held up amazingly well apart from a few mini speed humps.Canberra Ave is going to get busier but more importantly PorkH will be cheerin’!

I will be cheering however, if the new bit ends at Dawes St I will still have to put the Defender in low range to get across the travesty at Telopea Park… 🙂

gungsuperstar said :

Loxmyf said :

Surely it would make more sense to NOT repeat the mistakes of the GDE. It’s a divided road, so if they diverted all traffic down one side, making it a 2 lane road, they could work on the entire road in one direction and then swap sides and complete the entire other direction.

Either way there’ll be interruption to the intersections along the way. Wouldn’t it be less of a hassle to just divert all side road traffic around other roads for the entire project instead of pot luck as you drive along the road whether you can turn up the street you want today or not?

Loxmyf said :

Surely it would make more sense to NOT repeat the mistakes of the GDE. It’s a divided road, so if they diverted all traffic down one side, making it a 2 lane road, they could work on the entire road in one direction and then swap sides and complete the entire other direction.

Either way there’ll be interruption to the intersections along the way. Wouldn’t it be less of a hassle to just divert all side road traffic around other roads for the entire project instead of pot luck as you drive along the road whether you can turn up the street you want today or not?

You’re barking up the wrong tree in this town mate… interruptions to traffic are nowhere near as important as commencing – though not completing – work according to some arbitrary timeframe.

In no other city in this country would you have 5 (Parkes, Majura, Barry, Cotter, Wentworth) of the towns major thoroughfares being screwed up with roadworks at once.

It may be an inconvenience, but at least it is getting done.

The concrete base has been there for what seems like centuries and i reckon it has held up amazingly well apart from a few mini speed humps.Canberra Ave is going to get busier but more importantly PorkH will be cheerin’!

c_c™ said :

Well over due, but I do wish they’d just close the whole road down for a week and do it in one go.

Nope. There’ll be a big flurry of laying out cones and string and signs, they’ll quickly dig up the road and then…. disappear for weeks on end. Bet money on it.

Well over due, but I do wish they’d just close the whole road down for a week and do it in one go.

I like how years of no periodic maintenance means will now enjoy an ‘upgrade’.

gungsuperstar1:04 pm 05 Apr 13

Loxmyf said :

Surely it would make more sense to NOT repeat the mistakes of the GDE. It’s a divided road, so if they diverted all traffic down one side, making it a 2 lane road, they could work on the entire road in one direction and then swap sides and complete the entire other direction.

Either way there’ll be interruption to the intersections along the way. Wouldn’t it be less of a hassle to just divert all side road traffic around other roads for the entire project instead of pot luck as you drive along the road whether you can turn up the street you want today or not?

Loxmyf said :

Surely it would make more sense to NOT repeat the mistakes of the GDE. It’s a divided road, so if they diverted all traffic down one side, making it a 2 lane road, they could work on the entire road in one direction and then swap sides and complete the entire other direction.

Either way there’ll be interruption to the intersections along the way. Wouldn’t it be less of a hassle to just divert all side road traffic around other roads for the entire project instead of pot luck as you drive along the road whether you can turn up the street you want today or not?

You’re barking up the wrong tree in this town mate… interruptions to traffic are nowhere near as important as commencing – though not completing – work according to some arbitrary timeframe.

In no other city in this country would you have 5 (Parkes, Majura, Barry, Cotter, Wentworth) of the towns major thoroughfares being screwed up with roadworks at once.

Surely it would make more sense to NOT repeat the mistakes of the GDE. It’s a divided road, so if they diverted all traffic down one side, making it a 2 lane road, they could work on the entire road in one direction and then swap sides and complete the entire other direction.

Either way there’ll be interruption to the intersections along the way. Wouldn’t it be less of a hassle to just divert all side road traffic around other roads for the entire project instead of pot luck as you drive along the road whether you can turn up the street you want today or not?

Mattenagger said :

Solidarity said :

Goodbye, train track road 🙁

*Like*

I was wondering if others referred to it as that aswell. I kind of liked driving past the train station sounding like a train.

Yes Im one of those who enjoyed feeling like I was on a train too.

Solidarity said :

Goodbye, train track road 🙁

*Like*

I was wondering if others referred to it as that aswell. I kind of liked driving past the train station sounding like a train.

Goodbye, train track road 🙁

neanderthalsis said :

Could they concentrate their resources on finishing the work on the Parkway, Majura and Barry Drive before starting yet another round of work ?

It would be nice if only one road was bing worked on at any particular time but:

Majura avenue is three months into a three year project.

Parkes Way would have been finished months ago except for what I read was contractor insolvency and phoenix company shenanigans.

Barry Way, surely that is all over bar the shouting?

neanderthalsis said :

Could they concentrate their resources on finishing the work on the Parkway, Majura and Barry Drive before starting yet another round of work ?

You forgot Cotter road and a few others too probably. This was my first though too but poor buggers can’t win can they. We complain when they don’t fix up roads and we complain when they do..

neanderthalsis said :

Could they concentrate their resources on finishing the work on the Parkway, Majura and Barry Drive before starting yet another round of work ?

You forgot Cotter road and a few others too probably. This was my first thought too but poor buggers can’t win can they. We complain when road works aren’t done and we complain when they are.

Holden Caulfield11:17 am 05 Apr 13

Not before time. Even though it will be a PITA while the work is being completed. Hopefully they’ll do the other side too.

neanderthalsis11:12 am 05 Apr 13

Could they concentrate their resources on finishing the work on the Parkway, Majura and Barry Drive before starting yet another round of work ?

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