Roads - articles and discussion

[ozbob]

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow

. @TonyAbbottMHR Tony, this is what roads only leads to in suburbia, what a sad indictment on your policy .. #auspol

[ozbob]

http://www.scottemerson.com.au/media/media-releases/572-changes-to-road-rules-for-motorcycle-riders.html

Changes to road rules for motorcycle riders

    Created: 31 October 2014

Motorcycle riders will benefit from a raft of sensible road rule changes to be introduced in Queensland early next year.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson said the changes included laws to allow lane filtering and permit motorcyclists to stretch a leg while riding.

"These changes follow feedback from the discussion paper we released in May and are another example of this government listening and delivering for Queenslanders," Mr Emerson said.

"This is all part of our strong plan to make this state the safest place to live, travel, work and raise a family.

"We have listened to Queenslanders' concerns, unlike Labor, which introduced rules that did not reflect the reality of how riders actually use the road."

Key changes to be introduced early next year include:

    Motorcycle riders will be able to move between stationary or slow-moving vehicles, known as lane filtering, as long as they are not travelling more than 30km/hour.
    Motorcycle riders will be able to legally stretch a leg to avoid fatigue, remove both feet from footrests to reverse into a parking space or turn their head to do a shoulder check.

    Helmet standards expanded to allow a      wider range available in Queensland.

Mr Emerson said the discussion paper had prompted more than 9000 responses.

"Most motorcycle riders strongly supported the proposed changes, with more than 90 per cent of respondents supportive of lane filtering," he said.

As well as feedback from the community, the Department of Transport and Main Roads conducted a detailed evaluation of the responses and considered road safety research and practices in other jurisdictions.

For more information on the changes please visit www.tmr.qld.gov.au

[ozbob]

http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2014/11/5/gateway-upgrade-north-preferred-tenderers-announced

Minister for Transport and Main Roads
The Honourable Scott Emerson

Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Gateway Upgrade North preferred tenderers announced

ANOTHER milestone has been reached on the Gateway Upgrade North project with tenderers shortlisted for the motorway upgrade.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss said three tenderers will now progress to the final stages for the $1billion-plus project.

"Following a strong industry response to the Registration of Interest phase, we are pleased to announce Leighton Contractors, Lend Lease and NorthLink Joint Venture have been shortlisted," Mr Truss said.

"What will now follow is a competitive and interactive evaluation process, which will lead to the selection of the successful tenderer by mid-2015.

"This tendering process has been designed to ensure the best value for money and the most innovative solutions for the upgrade, which will involve widening 11.3 kilometres of motorway from four to six lanes between Nudgee and Bracken Ridge.

"Works will also include upgrading the Nudgee Interchange and widening the Deagon Deviation to two lanes in each direction."

Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Scott Emerson said the project was moving forward with early works already underway as part of the LNP Government's strong plan to deliver better infrastructure.

"This project will improve the safety and travel times for motorists, but will also improve freight efficiency along the National Network," Mr Emerson said.

"The early works package, currently being undertaken by Fulton Hogan, is preparing the ground for the full upgrade.

"We are pleased with progress on the earthworks and drainage upgrades beside the existing Gateway Motorway, which are on schedule for completion mid-next year, weather permitting."

Transurban Queensland has been engaged to manage the delivery of the major works package for the project on behalf of the Queensland Government.

The Australian Government has committed $929.6 million to the Gateway Upgrade North project, in partnership with the Queensland Government which has committed $232.4 million.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> The M1 ground to a halt on Tuesday but everyday commuters have revealed it's not just accidents that cause problems on the congested motorway

[Jonno]

It is just sheer bloody mindedness that our Govt continue to build more and more road capacity despite all the evidence it is a waste of money.  But let's talk about raising the GST to solve our budget problems.  noooo lets stop spending billions creating a worse problem to spend even more billions fixing!!!

[#Metro]

There is actually some hope Jonno.

First, we know why public transport works, right down to the mechanism now: connections, frequency, coverage and patronage routes.

Second, the latest generation are dropping the car, there will be a lag but ultimately generational shift like that will eventually filter up into government.

Third, the price system. Infrastructure costs have become so expensive now that nobody can really build anything anymore. We are really at the limit on this one now. The costs are just so high that many projects are being priced out of existence. It is just a fantasy to think any level of Gov't can just cough up a cool $11BN for one project.    Many others have been spectacular financial flops and investors have been burned multiple times (Clem 7 and AirportLink, hahaha). This means ultimately the pollies will be forced to look at using the current system more intensively and fix up the bus network.

What is not sustainable shall not be sustained.

[ozbob]

https://www.facebook.com/notes/brisbane-city-council/mortimer-road-to-be-decommissioned-for-b-double-use/851671098207688

Mortimer Road to be decommissioned for B-double use
January 4, 2015 at 6:32pm

Brisbane City Council wishes to advise that Mortimer Road between Beaudesert Road and Beatty Road in Acacia Ridge will be decommissioned for B-double use on Friday 9 January.

B-doubles will not be legally allowed to use this section of road from that date.

The decommissioning of the B-double route is part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce the number of trucks using Mortimer Road and Watson Road in Acacia Ridge.

For more information on heavy or large vehicle movements contact Council on 3403 8888 or visit www.brisbane.qld.gov.au

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Clem7 tunnel fails to attract traffic despite rebranding campaign

[darthcaligula666]

if they want to spend money on roads, why not upgrade the bloody bruce highway? that thing has to be one of the worst roads in the country, not just the state.

ipswich road through moorooka is pretty bad at the moment too...

[pandmaster]

if they want to spend money on roads, why not upgrade the bloody bruce highway? that thing has to be one of the worst roads in the country, not just the state.

With CAMCOS and fare reform surely traffic to/from the Sunshine Coast could be taken off the Bruce. From my experience on it the traffic only becomes really congested between Gympie Arterial Road and Anzac Avenue (which should improve with MBRL). The issues with the two lane section between Caboolture and the Sunshine Motorway I think are due to people speeding and going too slow. Traffic moves a lot smoother when everyone goes the same speed. Better enforcement of speed limits I think would improve things. There are some traffic jams when people go away/come back from a weekend but not worth spending billions on.

IMHO money should be spent on upgrading to six lanes from Caloundra Road to the Sunshine Motorway as the road surface there is rubbish and a number of vehicles use it for intra-regional travel. Funds are better spent elsewhere than upgrading to Caboolture. Outside of SEQ I do not have enough knowledge of what the Bruce is like.

[Stillwater]

Federal Infrastructure Minister, Warren Truss, and the LNP candidate for Gympie, Tony Perrett, today will announce federal-state funding for the next stage of the Bruce Highway upgrade south of Gympie.  The funding is not dependent on asset sales.  The road will be straightened and built to a new alignment.  The latest section confirmed for funding is 'Section C' -- Section B is open and Section A (Cooroy to Federal) is under construction.  Section D is a highway bypass of Gympie and remains in the planning stages.  Once Section C is built (by about 2019), the Bruce Highway will be four lanes between Brisbane and Gympie.

Warren Truss statement:

The four-laning of the Bruce Highway to Gympie will be fast tracked under a plan that I announced this morning at Kybong, with LNP candidate for Gympie, Tony Perrett and the Queensland Transport and Main Roads Minister, Scott Emerson.

Liberal Nationals State and Federal Governments will bring forward the four lane 8.4km Cooroy to Curra Section C project by at least 12 months, with tenders to be called later this year.

A number of local residents, including LNP Gympie candidate Tony Perrett, has raised safety concerns about this stretch of Highway. Over the last decade, 82 crashes have occurred along this section, involving seven fatalities, underlining the importance of the project.

When complete, the Bruce Highway will be duplicated all the way from Brisbane right through to a new interchange at Woondum Road. Additional intersection works at Venardos Avenue and the Six Mile Creek rest area will also be carried out.

Today's announcement follows our decision before Christmas to fast-track safety upgrades to the Keefton Road intersection and improve the access arrangements for the Golden Nugget service station, which will begin shortly.

The Federal Coalition and Queensland LNP Governments are working together on an historic 10-year, $8.5 billion action plan to fix the Bruce Highway. These projects will increase the productive capacity of the economy and create jobs, and make the Highway safer, faster and less prone to flooding.

The $624.3 million Section C Bruce Highway upgrade between Cooroy and Curra is jointly funded, with the Australian Government contributing $499.4 million and the Queensland Government contributing $124.9 million.

[hU0N]

Couriermail --> Clem7 tunnel fails to attract traffic despite rebranding campaign

This headline is a bit misleading.  In 2011, Clem7 tolls were $3, and traffic volumes were almost 26,400 vehicles per day.  In 2015, Clem7 tolls are $4.78 and traffic volumes are almost 26,400 per day.  Sure, this is miles short of the original estimates, which were.. hopeful. But it also shows that the road has reliably recovered the traffic volumes it lost when the tolls were increased, and is exhibiting trend growth (month to month variability aside).  Slowly the traffic is expanding to take advantage of the available space, as you'd expect.

[#Metro]

Roads, Roads, Roads, Roads

You're going to LOVE this Jonno!!

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/kingsford-smith-drive-upgrade-design-to-be-revealed-20150202-134iji.html

KSD Upgrade looks like a goer - not bad, looks like the full surface, no tunnel option is decided on. We got the upgrade to the Doomben Rail line in terms of service frequency.

Wouldn't be bad to have a peak hour bus lane though along KSD.

[Jonno]

What a waste.  Will simply shovel the bottleneck around corner into Newstead! Not 21st century thinking!!!!

[pandmaster]

This is so dumb. The Doomben line serves much of the areas that use KSD. I have driven along there in peak many times and it has been fine too. I am a fan of having big councils in Queensland but unfortunately this is a side effect. Many councils in Sydney and Melbourne could not afford something like this. As rail is a state responsibility much of the BCC transport budget will go into roads.

[dancingmongoose]

Queensland Police Service
14 mins
Don't be concerned if you hear that traffic is heading in One Direction to the Suncorp Stadium tonight.
Be more concerned if you've agreed to go along...
‪#‎BestDadEver‬ ‪#‎OneDirection‬ ‪#‎bnetraffic‬

Thank goodness for PT, I can only imagine how bad it's going to be tonight.

[red dragin]

Second only to the QPS Media unit getting stuck with Nickelback in the Secret Santa posts 

[ozbob]

QPS media sent out a tweet yesterday when the boom gates were operating again at Caboolture  " the boom gates are booming again at Caboolture " ...

I resisted the temptation of tweeting them with ' until some booming idiot booms into the booms again .. ' 

[bcasey]

Queensland Police Service
14 mins
Don't be concerned if you hear that traffic is heading in One Direction to the Suncorp Stadium tonight.
Be more concerned if you've agreed to go along...
‪#‎BestDadEver‬ ‪#‎OneDirection‬ ‪#‎bnetraffic‬

Thank goodness for PT, I can only imagine how bad it's going to be tonight.

I work a few hundred metres from the stadium, and can currently hear them doing their practise and sound check. I'm used to this though, the building I worked in at QUT was right next to the Riverstage, and we quite often got an afternoon sound check from the bands that played there.

I'm definitely glad I use PT around this area

[ozbob]

9 News (KSD)--> Brisbane residents ready to protest road widening project

[dancingmongoose]

It's not about the road, it's about the lies

(Sorry couldn't resisit )

[newbris]

9 News (KSD)--> Brisbane residents ready to protest road widening project

Wow, even the RACQ is against it.

[pandmaster]

9 News (KSD)--> Brisbane residents ready to protest road widening project

Quirk is committed to keeping infrastructure up with population growth. Perhaps all the apartments at Hamilton should not have been approved without decent PT. That is the only population growth out that way as well, the rest of the KSD corridor is stable.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Tenders called to widen Kingsford Smith Drive - Brisbane's $650m next big thing

[newbris]

9 News (KSD)--> Brisbane residents ready to protest road widening project

Quirk is committed to keeping infrastructure up with population growth. ...

Is he though ? A lot of money is being spent on this road which instead could provide some very significant infrastructure projects that deal with city growth...

[Jonno]

http://t.co/E44SFKgmek

[ozbob]

A lot of commentary around on worsening road congestion around SEQ ... lots of frustrated calls to radio stations etc.

Well, what a surprise hey?

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Long distance lane would ease M1 traffic, modelling shows

[Jonno]

Brisbanetimes --> Long distance lane would ease M1 traffic, modelling shows

Until 1 single vehicle driven by a barely trained operator breaks down or crashes.  Modeling methodology is clearly flawed.  Why are my taxes funding such silly research?

[colinw]

Brisbanetimes --> Long distance lane would ease M1 traffic, modelling shows

Oh good grief.  The dedicated lanes already exist - they are called the railway and the busway.

There is no way we should build even a single metre of road infrastructure that encourages long distance commuting in single occupant vehicles. Well, not unless it is built by the private sector, tolled on the basis of full cost recovery, and then taxed to cross-subsidize public transport.

[James]

Until 1 single vehicle driven by a barely trained operator breaks down or crashes.  Modeling methodology is clearly flawed.  Why are my taxes funding such silly research?

It actually works well as an idea 'in theory'. It keeps these faster-moving motorists separate from the slower-moving traffic, which is flowing in and out of general traffic - particularly given a lot of traffic is going direct CBD/South Bank -> Helensvale (or further).

In practice, you will get some idiot doing 10kph under the speed limit in the lane, which will manage to p%ss off anybody in the lane and deter usage and/or cause motorists to manoeuvre dangerously to get out of the lane at non-signed changeovers. The reason why all this changing lanes is occurring in the first place is because of people driving slowly, not because motorists are indecisive. Enforcing keep left unless overtaking is probably the best thing which can be done.

Really, if you want to improve traffic flow on the Pacific Motorway, the only thing you need to do is widen that damn Gateway/Pacific Mwy interchange.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> One in five Brisbane residents would use Legacy Way: survey

[Jonno]

Until 1 single vehicle driven by a barely trained operator breaks down or crashes.  Modeling methodology is clearly flawed.  Why are my taxes funding such silly research?

Really, if you want to improve traffic flow on the Pacific Motorway, the only thing you need to do is widen that damn Gateway/Pacific Mwy interchange.

As long as you ignore The Law of Congestion all will be dandy.  Pity that drivers can't.

[ozbob]

Media Release
Minister for Main Roads, Road Safety and Ports and Minister for Energy and Water Supply
The Honourable Mark Bailey

Mackay Ring Road moving to next stage

PROGRESS continues on the Mackay Ring Road Stage 1, with AECOM announced as the preferred contractor to carry out the detailed design of the $565 million project.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss said these works were part of the $8.5 billion investment in partnership with the Queensland Government to fix the Bruce Highway.

"Mackay is one of Queensland's fastest growing regions and this project will improve the local road network and ease congestion and safety issues," Mr Truss said.

"When completed, the Mackay Ring Road will reduce the amount of heavy vehicles carrying hazardous loads through built-up areas and improve efficiency and safety on the highway."

Queensland Minister for Main Roads and Road Safety, Mark Bailey, said that after three years of planning, the project would now move onto the detailed design phase, which is expected to take two years to finalise. Construction for Stage 1 is expected to begin in 2017 and take about two and a half years to complete, weather permitting.

"Local residents, businesses and visitors to Mackay will be the beneficiaries of a better, more efficient road network. Importantly, this project will generate more than 600 direct jobs for workers at a time when jobs and job security are more important than ever," Mr Bailey said.

Federal Member for Dawson George Christensen said the Mackay Ring Road was one of Mackay's largest infrastructure projects.

"The design for Stage 1 includes an 11.3 kilometre two lane rural highway bypass that will avoid 10 signalised intersections from Stockroute Road to Bald Hill Road," Mr Christensen said.

"Fourteen new bridges will be constructed, including local road overpasses and major waterway crossings of the Pioneer River and the Fursden Creek floodplain."

For more information on the project including the latest plans visit www.tmr.qld.gov.au

[ozbob]

Twitter

Sarah Greenhalgh ‏@GreenhalghSarah 4 minutes ago

It's almost there...but not quite. #Legacy Way opening now delayed until mid-year @7NewsBrisbane #7NewsQ

[dancingmongoose]

Twitter

Sarah Greenhalgh ‏@GreenhalghSarah 4 minutes ago

It's almost there...but not quite. #Legacy Way opening now delayed until mid-year @7NewsBrisbane #7NewsQ

This is no way surprises me

[colinw]

Ah well, that at least puts off the discovery that we now need to upgrade the ICB by a few months ...

Although as far as Brisbane's road tunnels go, I think this is one of the better ones.  Pity its so useless for buses 'though.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Legacy Way will be value for money: Mayor

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Legacy Way will be value for money: Mayor

[colinw]

<sigh>

While Legacy Way is expected to have less patronage than the Clem7 tunnel, Cr Quirk said the project was a "100-year piece of infrastructure".

No, Cr Quirk, it is not a "100 year piece of infrastructure".  Thanks to induced demand it is likely to not even be a 10 year piece of infrastructure before we're spending up big on the next set of road upgrades.

For a good example of genuinely 100 year infrastructure, look no further than the original double track railway tunnels from Roma St through Central to the valley.  Opened in August 1889, those tunnels served for 107 years, until the inner city quadruplication supplemented them in 1996.  In later years, particularly after the 1979 electrification, they carried far more people per day than the Legacy Way ever will.

THAT is what 100 year infrastructure looks like.  We appear not to have the wit to build such things in Brisbane any more.