Roads - articles and discussion

[Jonno]

Brisbanetimes --> Edward Street to be cut to three lanes in Brisbane City Council budget

Should be 2 lanes, separated bike lane and Two-way. 

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> ICB to be widened to eight lanes in $80 million project

This >>

... Along with the widening, Cr Quirk said Brisbane City Council would investigate whether a new ramp could be connected to Bowen Bridge Road, allowing motorists and bus commuters to have a direct link to the new Legacy Way tunnel ...

[Jonno]

Brisbanetimes --> ICB to be widened to eight lanes in $80 million project

This >>

... Along with the widening, Cr Quirk said Brisbane City Council would investigate whether a new ramp could be connected to Bowen Bridge Road, allowing motorists and bus commuters to have a direct link to the new Legacy Way tunnel ...

This is just so out of touch with modern aka 21 century transport planning it is not funny!!it also contravenes the council own transport strategy as well as the SEQ transport plan.  My rates are creating more congestion.

[Jonno]

80 million coukd build a lot of separated bike lanes and actually reduce congestion!!

[hU0N]

When I read the headline, I thought I would be opposed to the widening but ok with the ramp. Turns out the complete opposite.

The widening seems to be confined to the stretch between the legacy way merge and the Bowen Bridge Road offramp / M7 merge. The primary aim seems to be reducing the number of forced merges in this stretch, mostly (it seems from the article) by moving the lane markings. If that's the case, then I think it's eminently sensible.

The proposed ramp, on the other hand, seems likely to add new merges to this stretch, so boo. But also, it seems likely that what we are taking about here is a ramp from the outbound side of Bowen Bridge Road directly to the ICB (in addition to the existing ramp a few hundred metres further up, past the hospital). I'm not opposed to motorway spending by necessity, even hyper expensive stuff like tunnels, but I do think it should be governed by a rationale that it best serve trips that would be expensive to provide for with PT, and should, as far as is practical and economical, avoid being useful for trips that can be cheaply provided with PT. On that basis, this ramp seems to be about providing a shorter connection from the motorway network for trips that start or end in the valley. Which undermines the way the Brisbane motorway network mostly avoids connecting journeys into the city/valley area. Which to me seems quite counter productive.

[pandmaster]

Since the ICB has gone from being a relatively isolated road to the spine of the motorway network on the Northside (APL, Clem7 and LW in the last few years) I am surprised that it was not widened as part of one of those three projects. I suspect that a proposal from one of the tunnel operators to do that in exchange for a toll was knocked back at some point. In the scheme of things, the $80 is not too big of a deal and I agree that it does serve a safety purpose in regards to merging. KSD upgrade is the real crime BCC are committing, closely followed by Wynnum/Lytton Road upgrades. They completely fly in the face of the traditional role of councils: concerned with minor roads and leaving arteries to the State and Feds. Despite the frequent ineptitude of George Street, City Hall are the main culprits transport-wise in Brisbane. Palaszczuk needs to reign Quirk and co. in.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Five traffic-choked roads score Commonwealth Games windfall

[SurfRail]

Buses?

We don't need no steenkin' buses.

[Jonno]

Queensland really is stuck in 1970.  "Traffic engineer says if we just widen this one road we will solve our conngestion problem.....he's an expert so what could go wrong!!!"

[ozbob]

Couriermail Quest --> M1 congestion at Gateway merge congestion fix is finally on its way

[pandmaster]

Couriermail Quest --> M1 congestion at Gateway merge congestion fix is finally on its way

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Compensation demanded for Brisbane Airport Link tunnel defects

[ozbob]

Couriermail Quest --> Moggill Rd review by Department of Transport and Main Roads to ease congestion

[Jonno]

😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Legacy Way to open within 48 hours: Lord Mayor Graham Quirk

[ozbob]

Twitter

Team Quirk ‏@Team_Quirk 20m

BREAKING NEWS: #Brisbane #LegacyWay has just received the green light to open to traffic tonight! #qldpol

[colinw]

Yay, my cup runneth over.  ICB traffic jam, anyone?

[Jonno]

Twitter

Team Quirk ‏@Team_Quirk 20m

BREAKING NEWS: #Brisbane #LegacyWay has just received the green light to open to traffic tonight! #qldpol

Let the Induced Demand begin...in fact it is likely to have already begun 18 months ago in anticipation of the delivery

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Legacy Way builders charged $2.05 million for late delivery

[BrizCommuter]

Quoted from Brisbanetimes http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/legacy-way-tunnel-opens-20150625-ghy0b8.html
But the city, Cr Quirk said, is done with tunnelling.  At least in the immediate future.
"It is not going to be in my political lifetime, I don't believe," he said.

Lets hope Cr Quirk is voted out so that a certain rail tunnel can proceed then?

[colinw]

I don't think Quirk was even thinking of rail at all when he said that.  It simply doesnt factor in BCC's reasoning about transport.

[SurfRail]

The silver lining here at least is there won't be any more new uber-expensive inner city roads built anywhere in SEQ for decades now, if ever.

[colinw]

Except for KSD.

[SurfRail]

^ Even KSD and Wynnum Rd are "only" going to be a few hundreds of millions, rather than several billions.

[James]

I look at it from a more optimistic perspective.

NO CITY2SUBURBS BUS TUNNEL WASTE!!!

Graham Quirk is probably thinking of staying as LM (in his mind) until something like 2024, so that means that thing should be thoroughly off the cards until ~2030 or so. By then CRR will (hopefully) be operational, or close to it.

[newbris]

^ Even KSD and Wynnum Rd are "only" going to be a few hundreds of millions, rather than several billions.

Many few $800 million.

[dancingmongoose]

Western Freeway is still 60kph. Grrr.

[Jonno]

Quoted from Brisbanetimes http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/legacy-way-tunnel-opens-20150625-ghy0b8.html
But the city, Cr Quirk said, is done with tunnelling.  At least in the immediate future.
"It is not going to be in my political lifetime, I don't believe," he said.

Lets hope Cr Quirk is voted out so that a certain rail tunnel can proceed then?

Even if we are done, the design philosophy is traffic movement first with pedestrians a distance last and cyclists only just above a token effort!  It permeates every aspect of our city!!

[red dragin]

Western Freeway is still 60kph. Grrr.

One of the articles said its only for a few days until people learn the new layouts.

[petey3801]

Western Freeway is still 60kph. Grrr.

One of the articles said its only for a few days until people learn the new layouts.

Cause the roads haven't been running on the new layout for the past couple months or anything... Oh, wait...

(PS: Not having a go at you at all RD, having a go at the Nanny state that we unfortunately live in )

[red dragin]

Did you means Cars not roads?

Drove it today myself. Ridiculous doing 60 on a three lane motorway from Moggill Rd to the tunnel. Apparantly changing  tonight after they realised how stupid a decision it was.

Tunnel's nice - 3 speed camera sites eastbound.

[petey3801]

Yeah, bit of both... Cars running on the new road layout But yes, completely agree. No need at all to be doing 60 between Moggill Rd and Mt Coot-tha roundabout! Painfully slow, on a road that is better than many >100km/h roads overseas!

[dancingmongoose]

Yeah, bit of both... Cars running on the new road layout But yes, completely agree. No need at all to be doing 60 between Moggill Rd and Mt Coot-tha roundabout! Painfully slow, on a road that is better than many >100km/h roads overseas!

Better than the 110km/h Bruce Highway for sure

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> 'Boost the Bruce' campaign to open up main Sunshine Coast route

[Jonno]

Seriously going leave this State of not the country!!! We are stuck so hard and fast in the 1970'sthat I doubt we will every leave without an economic crisis!

[ozbob]

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

Toowoomba Second Range Crossing preferred tenderer announced

Nexus was today announced as the preferred tenderer to deliver the $1.6 billion Toowoomba Second Range Crossing project.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Trusssaid this was an important milestone for the project.

"This marks a key step in the project's procurement before we move to award the contract to Nexus to build the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing," Mr Truss said.

"The selection of Nexus is a result of the Australian and Queensland governments' drive to attract world class expertise and innovation to deliver infrastructure with significant benefits to the regional, state and national economies."

Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt said the announcement was another significant step towards the project becoming a reality and the creation of hundreds of jobs.

"This project is expected to support more than 1,800 full-time equivalent jobs during the three-and-a-half year construction phase. The lifestyle and economic benefits this project will deliver to the Darling Downs region and Queensland are significant and will be welcomed by all Queenslanders," Mr Pitt said.

Queensland Minister for Main Roads, Road Safety and Ports Mark Bailey said the selection of Nexus as the preferred tenderer was the result of an extensive and rigorous evaluation of the three shortlisted proposals.

"These were highly competitive and innovative proposals to deliver value for money outcomes through design enhancements for the construction and operation and maintenance of the road," Mr Bailey said.

Key features of Nexus' proposed design solution include:

    Four lanes (two lanes each way) from Warrego Highway East Interchange at Helidon to Warrego Highway West;
    Grade separated interchanges at Warrego Highway West, Toowoomba-Cecil Plains Road and Gore Highway;
    A grade separated connection to Mort Street;
    A 30-metre cutting at the top of the Range as an alternative to the tunnel solution as detailed in the reference design.
    An 800m viaduct built over the existing Queensland Rail line; and
    Continuity of the New England Highway through a new bridge over the cutting.

Federal Member for Groom Ian Macfarlane said the project was a great example of the Australian and Queensland governments working with the private sector to deliver a world-class asset.

"The preferred open-cut solution will accommodate over-dimension trucks and all classes of dangerous goods vehicles, which will remove a significant number of heavy vehicles from the streets of Toowoomba," Mr Macfarlane said.

The Toowoomba Second Range Crossing will be a toll road with tolling arrangements to be finalised closer to the road's official opening, which is expected in late 2018.

The Nexus consortium will now work closely with the Queensland Government to finalise contractual documentation. Construction is expected to begin in late 2015.

The Australian Government has committed up to $1.285 billion to fund the project and the Queensland Government has committed $321 million.

For more information visit www.qld.gov.au/tsrc

[colinw]

Looks like they have eliminated the tunnel from the design, presumably reducing cost but increasing the gradients somewhat.

Sadly, this project will be an iconic representation of the severe skewing of transport priorities in this country, as the 800 metre four lane road viaduct soars high over the 1860s rail alignment that is struggling to carry increasing tonnages of coal.

[dancingmongoose]

Looks like they have eliminated the tunnel from the design, presumably reducing cost but increasing the gradients somewhat.

Sadly, this project will be an iconic representation of the severe skewing of transport priorities in this country, as the 800 metre four lane road viaduct soars high over the 1860s rail alignment that is struggling to carry increasing tonnages of coal.

I shared similar thoughts when I was recently in Rockhampton, they're raising the Bruce highway on a viaduct and it's this great concrete monstrosity alongside a single track.

[techblitz]

^ probably to do with flood mitigation...

[verbatim9]

Looks like they have eliminated the tunnel from the design, presumably reducing cost but increasing the gradients somewhat.

Sadly, this project will be an iconic representation of the severe skewing of transport priorities in this country, as the 800 metre four lane road viaduct soars high over the 1860s rail alignment that is struggling to carry increasing tonnages of coal.

The tunnel had been eliminated due to safety concerns of potential explosions in the tunnel as most freight on that route carries hazardous materials