Why Flemington Road needs a transit lane

Flemington Road was originally a dirt track from Northbourne Ave to the racecourse (pre Thoroughbred Park). It was then sealed as a single lane country road and came to a dead end. When Gungahlin was developed it was extended through to the town centre. It was never intended to be a major arterial road. Why it wasn’t upgraded and turned into a divided road with two lanes in each direction is a total mystery.

Leon Arundell said :

Transport Grinch Meegan Fitzharris will condemn Canberra’s bus commuters, and all Gungahlin’s commuters, to two more years of unnecessary travel delays. On 21 December the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate acknowledged “that during the period of [light rail] construction there will be delays in transit between Gungahlin and Civic,” and confirmed that Grinch Fitzharris has again refused to consider using inexpensive transit lanes to reduce traffic delays.

Well, ACT voters put Labor/Greens back in, despite these plans. Especially so for voters/ratepayers in Gungahlin – a bastion of ACT Labor support. So, the good people of Gungahlin will have to suck it up I suppose.

Besides it will be little different to what will happen when the Tram crosses the Lake on its way to Woden. As I understand it, one lane of Commonwealth Ave bridge each way will be Tram dedicated. And no study (as there was for Tram stage 1) to gauge the impact on traffic and congestion either…..

You voted for it Canberra !

Leon Arundell said :

Transport Grinch Meegan Fitzharris will condemn Canberra’s bus commuters, and all Gungahlin’s commuters, to two more years of unnecessary travel delays. Converting part of the Flemington Road bus lane to a transit lane would increase traffic flow through the intersection of Flemington Road and Northbourne Avenue. That would cut several minutes from peak travel times for private vehicles. Converting strategic sections of the left lane of Northbourne Avenue to T3 lanes would cut several minutes from bus travel times, without affecting other traffic. On 21 December the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate acknowledged “that during the period of [light rail] construction there will be delays in transit between Gungahlin and Civic,” and confirmed that Grinch Fitzharris has again refused to consider using inexpensive transit lanes to reduce traffic delays.

It doesn’t matter how “inexpensive” the transit lanes are, the fact is the government it broke and adding deficits of $100m a year to the disaster so expect nothing.

Transport Grinch Meegan Fitzharris will condemn Canberra’s bus commuters, and all Gungahlin’s commuters, to two more years of unnecessary travel delays. Converting part of the Flemington Road bus lane to a transit lane would increase traffic flow through the intersection of Flemington Road and Northbourne Avenue. That would cut several minutes from peak travel times for private vehicles. Converting strategic sections of the left lane of Northbourne Avenue to T3 lanes would cut several minutes from bus travel times, without affecting other traffic. On 21 December the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate acknowledged “that during the period of [light rail] construction there will be delays in transit between Gungahlin and Civic,” and confirmed that Grinch Fitzharris has again refused to consider using inexpensive transit lanes to reduce traffic delays.

The real question is “Why does Flemington Road have congestion in the first place?”
It is because in the morning everybody from Gungahlin is trying to get to Civic and the parliamentary triangle. Instead of looking for more ways to move all these people to and fro, why doesn’t the government look for ways to avoid them having to move at all?
If government departments were spread out across Canberra and people could work in their own suburban business hub instead of conglomerating in the City, there would be less need for traffic improvements. But in its wisdom the politicians and business leaders bring all their infrastructure to one central? location, knowing full well that people are living where it is affordable, or where they believe is a better place to raise their families. Not all public servants who spend 40+ hours a week staring out their windows at bleak, grey building exteriors want to return home to an apartment that has the exact same view. They want to live in quiet suburban streets with playgrounds and parks in walking distance, with the surrounding mountain ranges for a wallpaper. Unfortunately though, to afford this lifestyle they must spend hours every day stuck with all the rest of the workforce battling each other for pole position at the lights.
I believed in the past there were plans to create satellite branches of government in these town centers, but that has all gone the way of the dodo through the centralization of services. Now, instead of going to your local shops to deal with government departments, you have to join the rest of Canberra and go across town to their “one-stop-shop” for a multitude of social services. They have created their own monster and their solution is to spend more money exasperating the issue by developing even more high rise business along these congestion areas.
Why does a government employee need to travel 20km to sit in an office and work on a computer that is connected via the net to the rest of the world? They can do that from an office in Belconnen, Gungahlin or Tuggeranong, even from home if the infrastructure is there. Is it purely for social interaction that they need to be on the 3rd floor of the “such and such” building? How easy is it to log on from home and do your 8 hours connected to the server with the convenience of dropping the kids off during a smoko break?
Technology was supposed to make life easier, but it seems to have compounded the problems of commuting instead.