Roads - articles and discussion

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Bruce Highway 'crisis management group' formed

[ozbob]

Interesting article from Melbourne.

Optus Zoo --> No rest from traffic on weekends

Same thing is happening in SEQ ...

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail click here!

Four-car crash blocks Riverside Expressway

Four-car crash blocks Riverside Expressway

    by: Brittany Vonow
    From: The Courier-Mail
    May 03, 2012 9:16PM

TRAFFIC has finally cleared after over two hours of gridlock on the Riverside Expressway and Coronation Drive in Brisbane's inner city.

A nose-to-tail pile-up involving four vehicles in the southbound lanes just past the Captain Cook Bridge about 6.30pm brought traffic to a standstill.

The freeway was finally cleared about 9pm.

[Jonno]

From the Couriermail click here!

Four-car crash blocks Riverside Expressway

Four-car crash blocks Riverside Expressway

    by: Brittany Vonow
    From: The Courier-Mail
    May 03, 2012 9:16PM

TRAFFIC has finally cleared after over two hours of gridlock on the Riverside Expressway and Coronation Drive in Brisbane's inner city.

A nose-to-tail pile-up involving four vehicles in the southbound lanes just past the Captain Cook Bridge about 6.30pm brought traffic to a standstill.

The freeway was finally cleared about 9pm.

Oh the inefficiency of the system. 1 accident and 3 hours of pain.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Airport Link to open for traffic by August 20

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Motorway to kickstart stalled city: Pisasale

Check out the blog --> here!

[ozbob]

Discusssion on amplification of line Darra West to Redbank/Ipswich split here --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=8331.0

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Five stages down, one to go: $2.8b road upgrade completion in sight

[ozbob]

Worst road junction in the UK --> http://www.news.com.au/travel/galleries/gallery-e6frflw0-1226344859701?page=12

Will this be a mirror image of  Indooroopilly roundabout in 10 years?

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Police to clamp down on truckers following 69 breaches in Gateway blitz

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail 19th May 2012 page 69

Rivercity sues on traffic forecast

[SurfRail]

^ I'm not expecting much different for Airport Link, airport at the end or no.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Extra lane will reduce Gateway Motorway travel times, says Albanese

[somebody]

^ Page not found

I grabbed it here: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/extra-lane-to-cut-gateway-motorway-traffic/story-e6freoof-1226364824784

Well, it would be a bit pointless to have a 12 lane bridge without having any traffic on it!

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Extra lane will reduce Gateway Motorway travel times, says Albanese

Works fine.   Not sure if the extra lane will do much, probably exacerbate congestion all round.

[Mr X]

That's gotta be a courier mail first. They deleted the article because all the comments on it were too negative 

[O_128]

Sheesh the never-ending gateway construction.

[colinw]

Wow! 

Can you imagine the chaos on the roads feeding it if the Clem 7 was achieving the projected traffic levels.  The M3, Ipswich Road and the Herston area would be in full-time meltdown!

I'm not convinced that the on-ramps to the Clem 7 are even physically capable of carrying the projected traffic levels.

Somebody stuffed up the study, big time!

Airport Link is going to be just as bad.  I think Legacy Way may fare slightly better as it is a logical extension of the Western Fwy, and will be a genuine improvement over Milton Road (which may as well get its tram line back!).

[Mr X]

It's stupid. During the toll free period we had congestion in the tunnel on a very regular basis and that was at only 1/2 it's projected usage; the feasibility report for this tunnel is absolute bunk.

[O_128]

The legacy way actually makes sense, seeing as the western freeway ends at a god damned roundabout

[Golliwog]

Wow! 

Can you imagine the chaos on the roads feeding it if the Clem 7 was achieving the projected traffic levels.  The M3, Ipswich Road and the Herston area would be in full-time meltdown!

I'm not convinced that the on-ramps to the Clem 7 are even physically capable of carrying the projected traffic levels.

Somebody stuffed up the study, big time!

Airport Link is going to be just as bad.  I think Legacy Way may fare slightly better as it is a logical extension of the Western Fwy, and will be a genuine improvement over Milton Road (which may as well get its tram line back!).

From what I've been told (which I understand was already second hand info) was the the model (for Clem 7) was accurate for the inputs they were given. Not sure who had responsibility for getting those inputs to the model, or if there was scope to change them.

[somebody]

Airport Link is going to be just as bad.  I think Legacy Way may fare slightly better as it is a logical extension of the Western Fwy, and will be a genuine improvement over Milton Road (which may as well get its tram line back!).

Milton Rd isn't that bad outside of peak time.  There aren't really that many lights on it.  Even at peak it's really just the Cribb St outbound intersection which kills it, at least in my observations.

[ozbob]

For interest ...

Brisbanetimes --> The 250km traffic jam

... Railway strike paralyses Brazil's biggest city. If you think your drive to work is bad, consider this.

A train strike in Sao Paulo forced 20 million commuters into cars on Wednesday, creating a traffic jam that authorities estimate covered 250km of roads and highways at its peak ...

[colinw]

The Courier-Mail -> Readers given first look at Brisbane Airport Link tunnel, but builders remain quiet about the tolls

Airport Link Image Gallery -> click here.

[ozbob]

Couriermail Quest --> Drivers told to keep cool as tempers fray on Pine Rivers roads

and it will only get worse ...  and more roads is not going to help much, is it?

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> No bridge planned for western suburbs: BCC

There are no long-term plans for a new bridge in Brisbane's inner west, despite worsening traffic problems, Brisbane City Council says.

The RACQ has urged the state government and the council to address worsening traffic problems at Indooroopilly's Walter Taylor Bridge.

Brisbane City Council has said repeatedly the new Legacy Way tunnel, connecting Toowong and Bowen Hills, will reduce traffic problems at Indooroopilly ....

More -->  http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/no-bridge-planned-for-western-suburbs-bcc-20120527-1zcth.html

[somebody]

Better than building a bigger bridge to increase traffic congestion.

[Jonas Jade]

I don't know why they're suggesting a "green bridge" for there, there's already the pedestrian/cycling bridge on the east of the rail bridges and four rail tracks providing plenty of opportunity to bypass the congestion there, and a fairly good rail service - every 15 mins.

The options are there.

[somebody]

I don't know why they're suggesting a "green bridge" for there, there's already the pedestrian/cycling bridge on the east of the rail bridges and four rail tracks providing plenty of opportunity to bypass the congestion there, and a fairly good rail service - every 15 mins.

The options are there.

But once you get over the bridge, how do you reach UQ?  via Toowong is somewhat indirect, the 432 is infrequent and the other buses are slow.

I'd say that the lion's share of people using this bridge in peak are UQ bound/originating.  Traffic congestion westbound on Lambert Rd in the PM peak attests to that.

[ozbob]

Some sensible blog commentary going on at BT --> here!

[ozbob]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/StateLibQld_1_150883_Indooroopilly_ferry_crossing_the_Brisbane_River%2C_1935.jpg

Indooroopilly ferry crossing the Brisbane River, 1935. The Walter Taylor Bridge is being constructed in the background.

[ozbob]

Traffic across Walter Taylor bridge has nothing much to do with Legacy Way at all.  Traffic is local and comes along Oxley Road and from Indooroopilly and Toowong.  The so called upgrade of Oxley Road coupled with the Ipswich car park upgrades will ensure that massive congestion and gridlock becomes a feature around the clock.  It will be even more fun than it is now watching the horseless carriages all in line next to the railway line as we whizz past on the 3'6".

If anything, again demonstrates well why transport planning needs to be removed from BCC, I don't think they could organise a birthday party at the golden arches ... let alone  coordinated integrated transport for Brisbane.

[Golliwog]

But once you get over the bridge, how do you reach UQ?  via Toowong is somewhat indirect, the 432 is infrequent and the other buses are slow.

By the timetable, the 432 and 427 (the express version of 428) take the same time to get from Indooroopilly to UQ, 13 minutes. The 428 is only an extra 3 minutes. The frequency however isn't that great.

As for via Toowong being indirect, the train from Indro to Toowong is timetabled at 5 minutes, and the 412 from Toowong to UQ is timetabled at 7 minutes (the 402 is 8 minutes), so it's about the same. Time for interchanging between the train and bus would be roughly the same in both locations.

I'd say that the lion's share of people using this bridge in peak are UQ bound/originating.  Traffic congestion westbound on Lambert Rd in the PM peak attests to that.

I haven't been through there in a while in the PM peak, but I've always found the the 3 sets of lights at the end (Lambert-Clarence, Clarence-Westminster and Westminster-Coonan) do nothing to help traffic congestion. If they were co-ordinated better they could do more to help relieve some of the problems there.

[somebody]

Regardless of what the timetable says, I would say that the 427 is slower than the 432.  Could be a perception thing, but I doubt it.  The difference might be less from UQ (by 30-60s) as you don't need to use York St.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Airport Link builders Thiess John Holland refuses to repair streets with $10m damage from vehicles working on project

... "One truck travelling down a local road can cause the same amount of damage as thousands of cars and there's been plenty of truck movements from the Airport Link project." ...

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

A bridge too far? Lack of crossings riles planners

A bridge too far? Lack of crossings riles planners
May 29, 2012 - 3:00AM

Brisbane desperately needed more river crossings to cope with growth, but construction had been hampered by short-term political thinking, transport planning experts have decried.

The city now has 16 cross river bridges, mostly in the inner-city.

There are 18 bridges across the Brisbane River if you count two low bridges near Ipswich; the Mt Crosby Weir (1892) and Colleges Crossing at Kholo, first built in 1894 and wrecked in last year's floods.

Brisbane City Council appears to have stalled in its long-term river crossing planning, telling brisbanetimes.com.au this week it has no plans for a future bridge in Brisbane's western suburbs.

Finance is one issue at play, with the council bearing $1 billion of the $1.5 billion cost for the Legacy Way tunnel over the next five years.

And Queensland Transport is finishing projects associated with Airport Link, and several Bruce Highway projects.

Professor Phil Charles, the chairman of the Centre for Transport Studies at the University of Queensland, said he was worried three-year electoral cycles were getting in the way of any strategic planning for future bridges in Brisbane.

"The reason it hasn't been done is political," he said.

"There have been political imperatives over the years that you cannot talk about river crossings.

"And then you can't talk about putting in lines where you have to take out houses because that is politically untenable."

Professor Charles said the more recent transport initiative – Brisbane's new tunnels – removed that problem, but soaked up money.

"The problem with tunnels is that they are five to 10 times as expensive as surface works," he said.

"They cost a lot to build and so you don't get as much infrastructure for the money."

Professor Charles said Cross River Rail was a good example.

"If you could build that on the surface, you could probably do it at a one quarter of the cost," he said.

The point was, Professor Charles said, was Brisbane simply could not do that.

He said the problem for Brisbane planners was that no land corridors had been reserved.

"The major challenge politically is any of these surface routes are going to take out lines of houses because there is no forward planning and reservation."

James Tuma, the Brisbane-based national urban designer for strategic urban planning body Urbis, said Brisbane River crossings could be better utilised.

"Brisbane is essentially a series of archipelagoes, or peninsulas, because the river is so serpentine, what you find is that you have almost these cul-de-sacs of development," he said.

"When you think of New Farm it is almost one road in and one road out. It is the same for Hawthorne (and) Bulimba.

"And I think there is enormous potential to use the river and for bridges to unlock all of those places and connectivity for everybody."

Mr Tuma, who was not a transport engineer, said he thought of river crossings as strategic links and Brisbane needed a lot more bridges.

Location-wise, Mr Tuma said several bridge crossings – road or pedestrian – had been mooted recently:

    West End to St Lucia;
    West End to Toowong;
    Alice Street (CBD) to Kangaroo Point;
    Kangaroo Point to New Farm;
    New Farm or Newstead to Bulimba;
    Bulimba's Apollo Road to Racecourse Road at Hamilton.

Mr Tuma said he also saw merit in connecting the Hamilton Northshore area across to Bulimba.

"I don't how the people of Bulimba would feel about it, but particularly since you have the Hamilton Northshore development there," he said.

"And to the south of there is a lot of industry which I don't know how long it would be there.

"Because one of the issues with that Hamilton Northshore (Urban Land Development Authority) site is connectivity and that may assist."

Mr Tuma said the best transport planning linked activity centres.

"The thing that interest me in particular is looking at all of the activity centres around the city itself, ranging from the airport and the port, which I guess the Gateway Motorway services, then places like Racecourse Road, Oxford Street at Bulimba and New Farm generally.

"And West End and South Brisbane are going to be huge drivers generally, in a development sense."

The crucial question, Mr Tuma said, was to define what sort of bridge link suited which communities.

"Some of the most valued parts of Brisbane are those that have generated a sense of character because of that isolation and New Farm is an example of that, as is West End to a degree," he said.

"So you need to be very careful where you put those connections and also be very careful about what type of connections they are.

"For example a pedestrian/cycle bridge is going to be lower impact than a major traffic bridge, or a green bridge which carries buses and taxis, which has a different impact.

"I don't think you want to be funnelling major arterial routes down through the middle of local shopping villages."

"At a strategic level, I think the principle is a good one, but the devil is in the detail, albeit where they land."

Mr Tuma said bridge proposals had "come and gone" over the past three decades in Brisbane River's inner stretch between the Walter Taylor Bridge (Indooroopilly) and the Gateway Bridge (Murarrie).

He said it was now time to look at future bridge links in this next stretch of the Brisbane River.

"What I think you need is a very clear view about strategically where those connections could occur so you can have a wider debate about that level of investment and the sequencing of that," Mr Tuma said.

In the past three years, Brisbane has added three bridges, two at South Brisbane and one at Murarrie.

In 2009, the Kurilpa Bridge across the South Brisbane stretch of the river provided a striking pedestrian and cycling bridge that has won an international design award.

In 2010, about 500 metres upstream, the Go Between Bridge linked traffic from Milton to South Brisbane, albeit with a $2.42 toll.

Also in 2010; the state government completed the Gateway Bridge duplication between Eagle Farm and Murarrie.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/a-bridge-too-far-lack-of-crossings-riles-planners-20120528-1zf3e.html

[ozbob]

Blog comment:

We are headlong into a major transport failure as evidenced by chronic road congestion and poor frequency of public transport services particularly rail, middle to outer suburbia.  More roads won't fix it.  A committment to a proper integrated frequent public transport supported by frequent local feeder buses will. Some green bridges, for bus and active transport will also help.

Transport planning needs to be removed from BCC.  They are one of the root causes of the failure.  They tout their wonderful buses but remove bus priority.  They tout Legacy Way, but fail to enable for the '2000 daily express buses' suggested by former Lord Mayor Newman, utter rubbish.  Legacy Way needs a connection at Kelvin Grove to the INB for bus, but mediocre planning and politics has failed to see it realised.

Time to take over Premier Newman!

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

29th May 2012

Comment on the transport failure

Greetings,

Interesting news at Brisbanetimes.

A bridge too far? Lack of crossings riles planners

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/a-bridge-too-far-lack-of-crossings-riles-planners-20120528-1zf3e.html#ixzz1wBZsrLD3

How much more evidence is needed?

We are headlong into a major transport failure as evidenced by chronic road congestion and poor frequency of public transport services particularly rail, middle to outer suburbia.  More roads won't fix it.  A committment to proper integrated frequent public transport supported by frequent local feeder buses will. Some green bridges, for bus and active transport will also help.

Transport planning needs to be removed from BCC.  They are one of the root causes of the failure.  They tout their wonderful buses but remove bus priority.  They tout Legacy Way, but fail to enable for the '2000 daily express buses' suggested by former Lord Mayor Newman, utter rubbish.  Legacy Way needs a connection at Kelvin Grove to the INB for bus, but mediocre planning and politics has failed to see it realised.

Time to take over Premier Newman!

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

[curator49]

I agree wholeheatredly Bob. Build a bridge then they will need to build a new approach road and/or upgrade others at a huge cost. What is the result? More and more congestion just a bit further out as more drivers in single occupancy cars will be encouraged onto our roads which will eventually lead to congestion over the new bridge as traffic banks up. I think it has often been said on this forum - "Build new roads and they will come" cars, traffic, pollution you name it.
What about - "Build/improve the rail network and they will come". It is not just CRR that is desperately needed but improvements to other lines as well. The Springfield Line to be extended to the Ripley Valley and back to the Main Line wets of Ipswich; the third line Darra to Redbank (at least and preferably Ipswich); a new line Salisbury to Flagstone and on to Beaudesert, the third line on the North Coast Line and other improvements in that area to name just a few. Some projects have a higher priority than others and there are some I have not listed. The whole of South-East Queensland needs an improved public transport system to make it easier to get around for a fair fare. We worship the holy motor vehicle. It will take many years and a serious cultural atitude change to break that mind-set.

[ozbob]

From The Satellite 30th May 2012 pages 4 and 5

Long journey still lies ahead before motorists see end of road upgrades