You control $13 million to spend upgrading any part of Canberra's transport network... how would you spend the money?

Grail said :

buzz819 said :

So… over an hour to travel 20 minutes? That’s ridiculous….

It’s an hour of catching up on Draw Something, Words with Friends, your regular RSS news feeds, or reading The Hunger Games. All of this without the risk of smashing into someone because you were trying to text while driving.

You really need to try it sometime, rather than being so entirely focussed on getting home in time to watch whatever crap is on TV tonight.

Being chauffeur driven is worth the extra 40 minutes travel time. In fact, you’ll come to value that extra time and start wondering how people who have to commute to work in single-occupant-family-cars manage to live their lives!

Grail, I like to spend that extra 40 minutes getting my children to their sporting activities on time so I can enjoy it with them. That beats sitting in a vehicle housing snobby office workers who won’t lower their standards to look you in the eye, spaced out teens bopping away to their i-tunes and the dozens who cough and sniffle their flu germs all over the place. MUCH more desirable than getting home early and have a chance for a quick cuppa before soccer training.

dvaey said :

yellowsnow said :

Yes, Sydney has its traffic problems but unlike here you get the feeling traffic lights are working with you not against you

Have you actually travelled on a busy city road controlled by traffic lights during peak time in Sydney? From a statement like that, Im guessing no.

Um – I’ve lived in Sydney most of my life so the answer is yes

Sandman said :

I reckon your guess would be spot on. How anyone could favour any aspect of a Sydney road over a Canberra road is beyond my comprehension. I once got stuck on Sydney’s flagship road, the m5, for over 2 hours at 2pm on a weekday. No rain, no fog, no accidents, no red lights.
It may seem like you get more green lights in Sydney, but that’s not too hard when they’re every 100 metres for a 10km stretch.

m5 = freeway = no traffic lights. I admit traffic on sydney freeways at peak hour is horrible, but traffic lights don’t cause these problems. My point was that in Sydney it feels like other cars are the enemy and you’re battling against them in peak hour, while traffic lights try to do their best to handle the chaos to everyone’s collective satisfaction. On Northbourne, Hindmarsh, Drakeford etc traffic lights seem to create the traffic delays and chaos – especially off peak when there is hardly any traffic by modern city standards.

Travel down the Hume Hwy/Liverpool Rd through SW Sydney or Princes Hwy and onto King St outside peak times – even then there are more cars about than canberra roads ever see, yet if you stay on the main roads things flow relatively smoothly. You get three or four green lights, then a red (which rarely stays red for long), then another four greens, and so on – you get the feeling someone with intelligence programmed the lights to be as efficient as possible under average traffic conditions (and it’s only during the morning peak that the system really breaks down).

Having said all that, one of the reasons I don’t live in Sydney anymore is the terrible traffic so feel free to disregard everything I said:) But just because Canberra has comparatively little traffic doesn’t mean it can’t be better managed.

tonys said :

$13000000 worth of speed cameras.

I’ve got a better idea: how about a new scheme in Law Enforcement we could call it, say, Bounty-Hunting.

The way it works is this: Anybody with a car registered in the ACT can volunteer to carry a system of government-approved/tested/validated recording devices – a combination of video and infrared measuring systems that are always on and constantly stream data back to ACT Policing Central.

Any traffic offence detected by your device that results in a successful traffic infringement notice being issued results in you being credited into your bank account a bounty of 30% of the value of the infringement issued.

Then, we can retire all the speed cameras and we can re-purpose ACT Policing to spend their time catching robbers instead.

$13000000 worth of speed cameras.

Hank said :

I think this wish list is a great idea; maybe the local gov should build a little blog so residences can submit their local traffic/road issues and solutions.

It’s called fix my street.

http://www.canberraconnect.act.gov.au/Services/f/fix-my-street

dvaey said :

yellowsnow said :

Yes, Sydney has its traffic problems but unlike here you get the feeling traffic lights are working with you not against you

Have you actually travelled on a busy city road controlled by traffic lights during peak time in Sydney? From a statement like that, Im guessing no.

I reckon your guess would be spot on. How anyone could favour any aspect of a Sydney road over a Canberra road is beyond my comprehension. I once got stuck on Sydney’s flagship road, the m5, for over 2 hours at 2pm on a weekday. No rain, no fog, no accidents, no red lights.
It may seem like you get more green lights in Sydney, but that’s not too hard when they’re every 100 metres for a 10km stretch.

yellowsnow said :

Yes, Sydney has its traffic problems but unlike here you get the feeling traffic lights are working with you not against you

Have you actually travelled on a busy city road controlled by traffic lights during peak time in Sydney? From a statement like that, Im guessing no.

wildturkeycanoe said :

yellowsnow said :

Otherwise I’d probably spend the money on an overhaul of traffic lights. I travel a lot in Syd and Melb and i’m convinced that compared to those cities our traffic lights are poorly synchronised, and in many cases create traffic bottlenecks instead of solving them (eg Northbourne, Hindmarsh). In canberra, travelling on major roads, even when they’re empty, you sometimes caatch every single red light, and at each red you wait forever for light to turn green – when there aren’t even any cars on the cross-streets!

Yes, Sydney has its traffic problems but unlike here you get the feeling traffic lights are working with you not against you

We could always outsource intelligent traffic light sequencing to NSW’s RTA if RoadsACT is not up to it

100% agree. On any given day, if you travel Drakeford Dr., Belconnen Way or Hindmarsh Dr. you will find that if you stick to 80km/h you will get red, after red, after red x 10. If however, you put the pedal down and do 10km/h over the speed limit you end up just in front of them and cruise right through. Is this just paranoia or am I on to a government conspiracy designed to make more revenue?
Likewise, why do you sit at a set of lights on a Sunday, at intersection X, waiting on a red light when there is nigh on NO traffic going any other way through the intersection for up to 2 minutes?
Much less than a million could fix this problem.

Add Majura Ave/Limestone Ave to that list. It`s a terrible stretch of road for red lights.

buzz819 said :

So… over an hour to travel 20 minutes? That’s ridiculous….

It’s an hour of catching up on Draw Something, Words with Friends, your regular RSS news feeds, or reading The Hunger Games. All of this without the risk of smashing into someone because you were trying to text while driving.

You really need to try it sometime, rather than being so entirely focussed on getting home in time to watch whatever crap is on TV tonight.

Being chauffeur driven is worth the extra 40 minutes travel time. In fact, you’ll come to value that extra time and start wondering how people who have to commute to work in single-occupant-family-cars manage to live their lives!

yellowsnow said :

Otherwise I’d probably spend the money on an overhaul of traffic lights. I travel a lot in Syd and Melb and i’m convinced that compared to those cities our traffic lights are poorly synchronised, and in many cases create traffic bottlenecks instead of solving them (eg Northbourne, Hindmarsh). In canberra, travelling on major roads, even when they’re empty, you sometimes caatch every single red light, and at each red you wait forever for light to turn green – when there aren’t even any cars on the cross-streets!

Yes, Sydney has its traffic problems but unlike here you get the feeling traffic lights are working with you not against you

We could always outsource intelligent traffic light sequencing to NSW’s RTA if RoadsACT is not up to it

100% agree. On any given day, if you travel Drakeford Dr., Belconnen Way or Hindmarsh Dr. you will find that if you stick to 80km/h you will get red, after red, after red x 10. If however, you put the pedal down and do 10km/h over the speed limit you end up just in front of them and cruise right through. Is this just paranoia or am I on to a government conspiracy designed to make more revenue?
Likewise, why do you sit at a set of lights on a Sunday, at intersection X, waiting on a red light when there is nigh on NO traffic going any other way through the intersection for up to 2 minutes?
Much less than a million could fix this problem.

$13m isn’t a lot – extra lanes on Parkes Way a good investment give how many people use the road (with usage projected to increase markedly). Whether the project can be delivered on time and budget is another question.

Otherwise I’d probably spend the money on an overhaul of traffic lights. I travel a lot in Syd and Melb and i’m convinced that compared to those cities our traffic lights are poorly synchronised, and in many cases create traffic bottlenecks instead of solving them (eg Northbourne, Hindmarsh). In canberra, travelling on major roads, even when they’re empty, you sometimes caatch every single red light, and at each red you wait forever for light to turn green – when there aren’t even any cars on the cross-streets!

Yes, Sydney has its traffic problems but unlike here you get the feeling traffic lights are working with you not against you

We could always outsource intelligent traffic light sequencing to NSW’s RTA if RoadsACT is not up to it

Me, I’d buy a used front end loader, a used tray truck with a 5 tonne front end loader on it, and a cement mixer and then call in the Canberra Hysterical Railway Society and tell them they can have the equipment as long as they build a tram line from Belconnen to Woden via Civic and a line out to Kingston railway station. I’d ask whoever owns the disused rail lines to Captain’s Flat, Cooma and Crookwell if we could buy the track on gthe cheap. Then I’d be contacting Melbourne to ask how many of their stored historical W class trams they’d like me to take off their hands. Then I’d get rid of the redundant bus lines between Belco, Civic, Kingston and Woden, use those terminuses as hubs and run buses from there. Then I’d bother places like Bunnings, Magnet Mart and other hardware stores if they’d like to sponsor some new paint jobs on trams in return for free advertising. Finally I’d buy a load of bread, saussages,onions and sauce and announce a public working bee to get some trams painted and roads dug up.
Yep, DIY tramline for $13 million. May be doable.

At the risk of setting the bar low… I’d take a couple of million $ and upgrade/reseal Wentworth Ave.

Nightshade said :

Do you think people don’t catch the bus because of the cost, rather than the magical mystery tours?

The magical mystery tours are definitely a factor keeping some people off some bus routes, but if you made public transport free, not only would you make the entire service vastly more efficient you would save huge amounts by not having to pay for all that ticketing hardware and software.

The cost is definitely a factor – I have a very direct bus route, 10 mins to a city centre. From there, there are direct buses to the other city centres. I can count on getting two city centres away within 30 minutes.
However, it will cost me $5 return *with* the MyWay car – without it, it’s $8 (I think).
When parking costs are not much more than that, and I can drive the same distance in half the time, it makes the buses not a particularly attractive option.

Removing the cost factor would tilt the balance in favour of using buses for many people.

p1 said :

With my $13m I would run a full scale experiment to determine if cost is a factor in determining the public’s use of public transport in the ACT.

Specifically – I would make ACTION Bus travel free until the $13m worth of fares run out.

Do you think people don’t catch the bus because of the cost, rather than the magical mystery tours?

I checked out Google Transit to see what it suggested. Two options, actually by relatively direct routes: but they still take 1 hour 27 minutes and 1 hour 15 minutes. If I pick my time right, driving takes 25-30 minutes door to door. I can spend the extra hour at work and get paid for it. No one expects public transport to be as fast or convenient as driving, but with that time difference, I wouldn’t choose the bus even if I was paid to (unless it was an hour’s salary). Making it free would be no incentive at all.

So with this direct cycle route from Belconnen business district to Civic, who does that benefit other than the many thousands of public servants who live in Belconnen Westfield and work in the city? I would have thought that the part of the journey via Oconner ridge or Parkes way would be the easy part for cyclists. If they can’t get out of the suburbs easy then they still won’t cycle.

Grail said :

Jasmine, the easiest way to see whether a bus would serve your needs (IBS aside, my sympathy to you on your predicament) is to check out Google Transit. As an example, here’s a trip plan to get from Want Place, Latham to Furzer Street, Woden (I figure there won’t be many people like me living in Isabella Plains and working in Dickson): https://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&f=d&dirflg=r&hl=en&saddr=Want+Place,+Latham,+Canberra&daddr=Furzer+Street,+Phillip,+Canberra&ttype=arr&date=5/16/12&time=8:45am

So… over an hour to travel 20 minutes? That’s ridiculous….

wildturkeycanoe said :

The cycle path you linked to cost 1.5 million Euros for a 2km stretch [Total of 4km]. Our $13 million wouldn’t get us half way between Belco and Civic, even if we had an old unused road for a starting point. Also, you didn’t mention that all this was possible because of construction of a freeway, making the old road redundant. Also, Canberra isn’t a dead flat plateau, we have a mountain standing in the way. Dream on.

Yes, we already spend far, far more per cyclist in Canberra on cycle paths than they do in Holland, Denmark, or anywhere else for that matter, and still nobody’s interested.

4km of dead-flat path might attract plenty of cyclists, but 10km of viciously steep path will never do so – there aren’t that many people who are willing to arrive at work stinking of sweat and chance a heart attack on the way home.

Cycling within town centres should be the strategy – cycling between them is not an option open to any but cycling fundamentalists, and the costs of the paths required to make that tiny group happy is not a cost the ACT ratepayer should be burdened with.

DrKoresh said :

molongloid said :

If it does I’d like to know the route.

Uh… It runs parallel to Belconnen way/Barry drive. You really can’t miss it. 😐

That was my hope. But it seems that it still squiggles through the AIS and O’Connor, per:

FioBla said :

The cycle routes are marked cyan in this map:
http://www.opencyclemap.org/?zoom=15&lat=-35.26633&lon=149.09868&layers=B00

Thanks Grail. That link is pretty cool, makes the planning much easier. On most days I could possibly do short trips, but it is a bit out of my comfort zone. 🙂

Jasmine, the easiest way to see whether a bus would serve your needs (IBS aside, my sympathy to you on your predicament) is to check out Google Transit. As an example, here’s a trip plan to get from Want Place, Latham to Furzer Street, Woden (I figure there won’t be many people like me living in Isabella Plains and working in Dickson): https://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&f=d&dirflg=r&hl=en&saddr=Want+Place,+Latham,+Canberra&daddr=Furzer+Street,+Phillip,+Canberra&ttype=arr&date=5/16/12&time=8:45am

I wouldn’t use buses anyway because I have IBS but it would be interesting to see if cost is a factor (disregarding for a moment other issues like picking up and dropping off kids, seeing clients during work hours, disabilities etc).

When I did use buses one thing was the system whereby you have to change for what are fairly short bus journeys but that may have changed since back then.

If I had $13,000,000 to spend I would spend it on adding a 3rd lane to Parkes Way. I would also find a bit more $$$ to tunnel under Coranderrk and Anzac Pde intersections.

The cycle path you linked to cost 1.5 million Euros for a 2km stretch [Total of 4km]. Our $13 million wouldn’t get us half way between Belco and Civic, even if we had an old unused road for a starting point. Also, you didn’t mention that all this was possible because of construction of a freeway, making the old road redundant. Also, Canberra isn’t a dead flat plateau, we have a mountain standing in the way. Dream on.

c_c said :

$13m for a cycle lane that’s segregated – and cyclists wonder why they’re hated so.

I’m not a cyclist, though I do intend to become one once I move closer to my job.

I’ve done a lot of research into alternative transport and can see the value in making cycling attractive enough that a large chunk of the population hops out of their cars by choice.

Imagine a city where 20% of commuting was done by bicycling. Not because driving has been made deliberately difficult and expensive… but because the perception of cycling had been changed to being safe, pleasant (away from fast moving motor traffic), quick, easy and cheap.

Those who were still bound to their car for whatever reason, would be able to enjoy the roads with almost 20% less traffic.

c_c said :

I’d spend it on Woden interchange, make is a place that keeps the rif raf, graffiti and vomit out and more commuters in.

It does need a bit of a face lift.

Is the issue lack of a cycle path or lack of a cycle path that goes the way you want it to go.

A quick look at
http://apps.actpla.act.gov.au/plandev/tp-intro/projects/walk_cycle/cyclemap/canberra_path_map3.swf
Shows plenty of routes from Belconnen to Civic.

Ditto on the free busses for a month, with a small amount reserved for reworking signage on the busses stating that busses will be free for the month of X. Bus signage would be best, IMHO since only the people who are on the same route as the bus are going to end up making use of that bus.

We’d also need to borrow busses (and drivers) from interstate to accommodate the expected surge in demand. I’d put a conservative estimate of about double the current loading. Atlanta trialled a free busses system, but they didn’t put any extra busses on. Since the first couple of days showed that it wasn’t worth trying to catch the bus, people stopped trying, and the pro-car lobby proclaimed the free bus experiment a failure.

$13M really isn’t that much money when it comes to infrastructure.

davo101 said :

Me? I’d commence building a direct and fully segregated cycle route between Belconnen and Civic.

Err doesn’t this exist already? I’ve ridden on a cycle path from the Belconnen bus interchange to the corner of Barry Drive and Marcus Clarke on a number of occasions and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t just imagining it.

Not on the scale that I’ve seen. There are sections of shared paths yes, but they’re not as direct as roads. My idea was to connect and upgrade existing shared paths, as well as build new shared paths in order to provide a route that would be just as direct as riding along Barry Dr / Belconnen Way, albiet with full segregation.

Though the intention of my post was not to discuss that idea, but rather have RA readers get their own ideas out in the open. What would you spend the money on?

Though my

DrKoresh said :

I’d like it if people could be more specific than ‘riff-raff’. I get the vibe you just mean teenagers and people wearing hoodies rather than actual trouble-makers, which leaves you sounding like an elitist toss-pot. If I were waiting for a bus in Woden and saw someone like you looking down your nose at me as though I were a piece of dog turd, I’d probably vomit on your shoes, punch you in the head and then draw penises all-over your unconscious body just so that you didn’t leave disappointed.

Well when I say rif raf, I’m deliberately being abstract so it doesn’t stereotype. People should just be able to interpolate what it means, which is those who have no genuine need to be at the interchange or those engaged in criminal or anti-social activity. The groups of teens for example who after college sit on the steps going up to the town court having a smoke, who aren’t going to catch a bus but find it a convenient place to sit and spit on the pavement.

DrKoresh said :

c_c said :

$13m for a cycle lane that’s segregated – and cyclists wonder why they’re hated so.

I’d spend it on Woden interchange, make is a place that keeps the rif raf, graffiti and vomit out and more commuters in.

I’d like it if people could be more specific than ‘riff-raff’. I get the vibe you just mean teenagers and people wearing hoodies rather than actual trouble-makers, which leaves you sounding like an elitist toss-pot. If I were waiting for a bus in Woden and saw someone like you looking down your nose at me as though I were a piece of dog turd, I’d probably vomit on your shoes, punch you in the head and then draw penises all-over your unconscious body just so that you didn’t leave disappointed.

I’d do that to him regardless of whether he thought I was riff raff or not.

c_c said :

$13m for a cycle lane that’s segregated – and cyclists wonder why they’re hated so.

I’d spend it on Woden interchange, make is a place that keeps the rif raf, graffiti and vomit out and more commuters in.

I’d like it if people could be more specific than ‘riff-raff’. I get the vibe you just mean teenagers and people wearing hoodies rather than actual trouble-makers, which leaves you sounding like an elitist toss-pot. If I were waiting for a bus in Woden and saw someone like you looking down your nose at me as though I were a piece of dog turd, I’d probably vomit on your shoes, punch you in the head and then draw penises all-over your unconscious body just so that you didn’t leave disappointed.

molongloid said :

davo101 said :

Me? I’d commence building a direct and fully segregated cycle route between Belconnen and Civic.

Err doesn’t this exist already? I’ve ridden on a cycle path from the Belconnen bus interchange to the corner of Barry Drive and Marcus Clarke on a number of occasions and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t just imagining it.

If it does I’d like to know the route.

Maybe one poster is referring to the on-road bike lane. The other talking about focussing on segregated facilities – which doesn’t mean an onroad lane. Or something.

$13m for a cycle lane that’s segregated – and cyclists wonder why they’re hated so.

I’d spend it on Woden interchange, make is a place that keeps the rif raf, graffiti and vomit out and more commuters in.

Aren’t the routes to Belconnen pretty steep uphill? I’ve ridden up Caswell Drive, the route parallel to Bindubi Street, and the Bruce Ridge route. I think getting 20% of car drivers going that way is very optimistic.

The cycle routes are marked cyan in this map:
http://www.opencyclemap.org/?zoom=15&lat=-35.26633&lon=149.09868&layers=B00

molongloid said :

If it does I’d like to know the route.

Uh… It runs parallel to Belconnen way/Barry drive. You really can’t miss it. 😐

I’d just spend it on $13 million worth of new buses/bus drivers. Sure, the intertown services like the 300 are pretty good, but the shithouse services to suburbs really lets down the whole system. Some suburbs don’t have any bus services on the weekend or during off peak hours.

molongloid said :

davo101 said :

Me? I’d commence building a direct and fully segregated cycle route between Belconnen and Civic.

Err doesn’t this exist already? I’ve ridden on a cycle path from the Belconnen bus interchange to the corner of Barry Drive and Marcus Clarke on a number of occasions and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t just imagining it.

If it does I’d like to know the route.

Maybe pay google to map out and integrate all bike paths in their maps applications?

predator_pb said :

Funny how the Dutch ride their bikes without helmets and don’t have the police chasing after them, lecturing them and handing out fines.

Are you trying to suggest that ACT Police chase after people on bikes and hand out fines for not wearing helmets? Infact, are you trying to suggest that ACT Police (or anyone for that matter) are actively targetting cyclists performing any dangerous/illegal activities at all? Seriously, what are they gonna do, cancel their bike licence and registration? If a cyclist has no ID, or is a child, will they still enforce it? Maybe they can suspend their right to ride on the road, good luck ever enforcing that.

p1 said :

With my $13m I would run a full scale experiment to determine if cost is a factor in determining the public’s use of public transport in the ACT.

Specifically – I would make ACTION Bus travel free until the $13m worth of fares run out.

ACTION generally brings in around 24mil in fares per year (plus 70mil from TAMS). That $13m would cover about 6 months worth of fares. However, with increased public transport usage, the cost for operating the service would be higher than the current ~95mil.

In my mind it would be worth th cash to see it it actually encouraged a significant number of people to take the bus. If bus usage remained the same then we have a definite answer that cost isn’t the issue. If uptake increases, then we know that it is (and traffic will be reduced ’cause everyone is one the bus).

I don’t know how long it takes for ACTION to collect $13m in fares normally, but I assume it is a while, hopefully during that time more then a few people would get to like the busses.

davo101 said :

Me? I’d commence building a direct and fully segregated cycle route between Belconnen and Civic.

Err doesn’t this exist already? I’ve ridden on a cycle path from the Belconnen bus interchange to the corner of Barry Drive and Marcus Clarke on a number of occasions and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t just imagining it.

If it does I’d like to know the route.

p1 said :

With my $13m I would run a full scale experiment to determine if cost is a factor in determining the public’s use of public transport in the ACT.

Specifically – I would make ACTION Bus travel free until the $13m worth of fares run out.

In my mind it would be worth th cash to see it it actually encouraged a significant number of people to take the bus. If bus usage remained the same then we have a definite answer that cost isn’t the issue. If uptake increases, then we know that it is (and traffic will be reduced ’cause everyone is one the bus).

I don’t know how long it takes for ACTION to collect $13m in fares normally, but I assume it is a while, hopefully during that time more then a few people would get to like the busses.

+1

But some $$ on advertising it.

I’d buy a M1 Abrams tank, with a suggestions box hanging off the side.

Hank said :

I think this wish list is a great idea; maybe the local gov should build a little blog so residences can submit their local traffic/road issues and solutions.

NSW RTA (or whatever theyre calling themselves now) are starting to use this idea. Basically the system is setup to show a google map that you can drop markers onto to identify various issues (safety issues, near misses, general comments, etc).

Check out http://www.collaborativemap.org/home/

With my $13m I would run a full scale experiment to determine if cost is a factor in determining the public’s use of public transport in the ACT.

Specifically – I would make ACTION Bus travel free until the $13m worth of fares run out.

In my mind it would be worth th cash to see it it actually encouraged a significant number of people to take the bus. If bus usage remained the same then we have a definite answer that cost isn’t the issue. If uptake increases, then we know that it is (and traffic will be reduced ’cause everyone is one the bus).

I don’t know how long it takes for ACTION to collect $13m in fares normally, but I assume it is a while, hopefully during that time more then a few people would get to like the busses.

Funny how the Dutch ride their bikes without helmets and don’t have the police chasing after them, lecturing them and handing out fines. Dutch politicians must have better things to do than making criminals out of bike riders…

I think this wish list is a great idea; maybe the local gov should build a little blog so residences can submit their local traffic/road issues and solutions.

Jim Jones said :

I’m with you on the bike paths. The reason many people don’t cycle is because the cycle routes are incomplete and there are dangerous stretches everywhere.

Build it and they will come.

I call bull s*** on that one.

It may work on the flat grounded, no helmet wearing places like the Netherlands, where more than a generation have been riding. It won’t work here.

For a city where people think 10mins of heavy traffic is a “jam”, spending 45mins to 1hr riding will seem like forever.

I ride over Bruce Ridge every day and I’m not sure that would be my first priority for Dutch style bicycle infrastructure. Casual cyclists would be deterred by the steep grade IMO. I have seen more than one person defeated by the hill and walking their bike.

I’d improve the cycle infrastructure through the inner north, make a route through Civic and through the Parli Triangle.

I’d commission a detailed study to identify and quantify the worst ‘bottlenecks’, and then use the remainder of the money to implement strategies to reduce the effects of these bottlenecks.

I would build an overpass (bridge) at the Hindmarsh Drive/Yamba Drive intersection where the traffic lights are at the hospital. On Hindmarsh Dr one can wait for 3-5 changes of lights before moving through. It is a real bottleneck and will only get worse with increased population and pressure on hospital. Or maybe just build a new hospital in Tuggeranong.

I’d go around and rip out intersections with traffic lights, replacing them with a roundabout. I can think of heaps of intersections that need it.

Also i’d spend the rest fixing some of the roads we have already… rip up all of the stupid speed bumps too, replacing them with chicanes if “road calming” measures are actually needed

If you add extra lanes to roads, more cars will use them, and congestion will worsen anyway.

I’m with you on the bike paths. The reason many people don’t cycle is because the cycle routes are incomplete and there are dangerous stretches everywhere.

Build it and they will come.

Me? I’d commence building a direct and fully segregated cycle route between Belconnen and Civic.

Err doesn’t this exist already? I’ve ridden on a cycle path from the Belconnen bus interchange to the corner of Barry Drive and Marcus Clarke on a number of occasions and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t just imagining it.

I can see why they want to add another lane, I mean if there were 35,000 riders using the bike path every day I could see the benefit of increasing the cycle route, fact is, there isn’t.

It is not just about the people who are going to the city either, people use that to get to the Parliamentary triangle, Fyshwick, Campbell, Brindabella park etc. So fixing a bike path would not be the answer to the problem.