Cornwall/Duke St modifications

[Set in train]

http://translink.com.au/about-translink/what-we-do/infrastructure-projects/duke-street-traffic-flow-improvement

Removing a transit lane to supposedly allow buses to reach the busway on ramp at Juliette St faster.

[Golliwog]

I've always found those T2/3 lanes onto the onramps of the freeway odd. They're meant to give the benefit to the higher occupancy vehicles, but because of the way the lanes are painted, the vehicles in the transit lane are meant to give way to the normal vehicle lane when they merge.

I don't know the area well here, but what route do the buses take through here?

[somebody]

As far as I can see, no buses use Duke St whatsoever.  Very odd that such a project has TL involvement.  Perhaps there is traffic banking up along Juliette St reducing access to the SEB.  They could institute a bus lane in the right lane of Juliette St though.

Seems like a bit of a retrograde step with removing the Transit Lane.

It seems that one extra lane is to be added which is to become a right turn lane out of Duke St into Cornwall.

because of the way the lanes are painted, the vehicles in the transit lane are meant to give way to the normal vehicle lane when they merge.

I see what you mean.  Could be fixed with some paint.

[curator49]

Shouldn't this thread be posted in the Open Forum under Bus and Ferry?

[Golliwog]

As far as I can see, no buses use Duke St whatsoever.  Very odd that such a project has TL involvement.  Perhaps there is traffic banking up along Juliette St reducing access to the SEB.  They could institute a bus lane in the right lane of Juliette St though.

Seems like a bit of a retrograde step with removing the Transit Lane.

It seems that one extra lane is to be added which is to become a right turn lane out of Duke St into Cornwall.

because of the way the lanes are painted, the vehicles in the transit lane are meant to give way to the normal vehicle lane when they merge.

I see what you mean.  Could be fixed with some paint.

Well, from the looks of it, with the 2 turn lanes from Juliette St to Duke St, the left lane is marked as a T3, so traffic would probably bank up in the right lane for general users which could easily block buses accessing the busway there. The 1st newsletter does mention that they are still finalizing the bus priority measures, so we'll wait and see what the come up with for that.

As for removing a transit lane being a retrograde step, it's possible, but from what I've heard TMR has looked into it and found that in practice, transit lanes don't improve the flow of people, as not enough people make the switch to carpooling,etc. I think they decided that if the goal was to speed up buses, just put in a bus lane, trying to encourage HOV isn't worth it. Plus trying to enforce a minimum occupancy rule is nearly impossible.

[somebody]

Interesting point.  If you made the right lane a bus lane until the bus ramp, of course people could easily just change lanes after the bus lane - or have the lane itself swap over as no buses run along here and turn up Duke St.  120+180 BUZes use this ramp and it could and should be more intensely used.

[Otto]

It's about time this was done..
That T3 lane was originally a bus lane onto the freeway and worked well in it's time ( pre busway ) and was simply remarked  a T lane when the busway opened.
Another general lane is needed on Duke St to free up the access onto the M3 in the am peak.
At the moment, Duke st is often clogged in the am peak thus causing traffic congestion on Juliette st that in turn blocks access to the busway from buses traveling along Juliette st.

[dwb]

It's about time this was done..
That T3 lane was originally a bus lane onto the freeway and worked well in it's time ( pre busway ) and was simply remarked  a T lane when the busway opened.
Another general lane is needed on Duke St to free up the access onto the M3 in the am peak.
At the moment, Duke st is often clogged in the am peak thus causing traffic congestion on Juliette st that in turn blocks access to the busway from buses traveling along Juliette st.

Interesting.

Seems to me there would be a zillion places around town like this where small changes could benefit both road and bus users.