News & Discussion: Roads & Traffic

[alexczarn]

Blackwood Roundabout - the worse in the state, now that the Britannia has been solved.

The only solution is to make it bigger, but that's a bit hard. Considering the whole suburb has barely been upgraded since the 90's, road projects are of secondary importance.

I wouldn't exactly term the Britannia "solved"...

[rhino]

I wouldn't exactly term the Britannia "solved"...

Why not? Since the re-configuration I have seen no problems with it. Admittedly I'm not a daily user, but every time I've had to use it, traffic has flown smoothly and I've felt comfortable with it.

[Waewick]

I wouldn't exactly term the Britannia "solved"...

Why not? Since the re-configuration I have seen no problems with it. Admittedly I'm not a daily user, but every time I've had to use it, traffic has flown smoothly and I've felt comfortable with it.

it is a shocker.

my main gripe is mornings, where Kensington Road gets backed up because there is not enough traffic coming from the North on dequetteville terrace to allow for drivers to move, the traffic that does come from the North comes from the Fullarton Road extension and they generally go straight meaning there is little chance for drivers to go.

Then you have the general inability of people to navigate, which is less the roundabouts fault and more peoples in ablility to drive.

[bits]

it is a shocker.

I drive through it from all directions multiple times a week at random times, never had an issue with it.

[Waewick]

it is a shocker.

I drive through it from all directions multiple times a week at random times, never had an issue with it.

I use it every single day.

don't get me wrong, it is fine in context of being able to use it and navigate it (well for most people) but there is a specific problem at peak hour that is was deisgned to have equal flow, but that doesn't happen in reality leading to a bottle neck.

[OlympusAnt]

The Britannia upgrade separated the Dequetteville Terrace/Wakefield Rd section and made it easier for one to navigate this tricky section.

The use of traffic lights in peak could also be used, but that's a fair way off.

[rev]

Traffic light sequencing. There's some intersections where you can be sitting there for several minutes waiting for a green light. Meanwhile there's no traffic passing through.

Train crossings, Bowden/Beomoton in particular. Waiting for nearly 10 minutes today for three trains to pass.
I guess rail commuters are more important and their time of more value?
Two heading into the city one heading out at 5.30pm.
One heading out was 3 carriages and fairly packed other two were basically empty like so many buses.

Bus routes through suburban back streets. Why?
Bus stops on main roads with no area on the side for the bus to pull in to. Marion road is a perfect example in morning peak hour. It's a nightmare.

Idiots hogging the right lane.
Or idiots who jump into the right lane..presumably to over take a slow moving heavy vehicle or car, only to end up side by side with the slower vehicle matching their speed.

Pot hole riddled roads or roads with an uneven rough surface that are basically falling apart and are one decent down pour of rain away from being rides with pot holes.

And whose bright idea was it to put man hole covers on vehicles driving line on almost every single main road in Adelaide?
It's one thing if the roads are maintained and the manhole covers aren't sinking creating a fairly large pot hole but they aren't maintained and many roads have multiple ones.
South road Croydon for example just before Hawker st has about 3 or 4 manholes next to each other right on the driving line. They were fixed once and within months it was another massive pot hole with the manhole covers sinking.

With new driverless tech on the way, police should soon(when it's available) actually crack down on idiots who hog right lanes and can't so the speed limit, and as a punishment instead of a fine they should have automation devices fitted to their cars permanently.

[rubberman]

I can answer the one about manhole covers rev.

Originally, sewers were laid down the middle of the street. So, no problems.

However, when a road alignment changes, so that the sewer is no longer in the middle, it's considered too expensive to relocate the sewer.

It's almost impossible to retrofit manhole structures that can take the pounding given to them on busy roads like South and Marion. It's not impossible, but it's extremely expensive. The authorities avoid 'expensive'.

[monotonehell]

I guess rail commuters are more important and their time of more value?

Yes. Yes they are.

One heading out was 3 carriages and fairly packed other two were basically empty like so many buses.

They need to run vehicles back in to collect the passengers heading out. The opposite happens in the morning.

Bus routes through suburban back streets. Why?

Because that's where people live. Door to door services are much more attractive to potential passengers than park and ride.

[bits]

Idiots hogging the right lane.
Or idiots who jump into the right lane..presumably to over take a slow moving heavy vehicle or car, only to end up side by side with the slower vehicle matching their speed.

Keep left only applies above 80 doesn't it. In metro at 60 etc lanes are equal and exist to take capacity not as an overtaking lane.

[neoballmon]

Keep left only applies above 80 doesn't it. In metro at 60 etc lanes are equal and exist to take capacity not as an overtaking lane.

It does, but even on arterial roads at 80+ (Tapleys Hill by the airport, South Road parallel the expressway, Panalatinga, Lonsdale highway/Dyson Road, Port Wakefield Road and Main north Road, just to name my biggest grievences) people hog the right lane under the speed limit and make it impossible to pass.

Don't get me started on the Southern Expressway. Even out of peak times it can be a joke. I know noone reads the "keep left unless overtaking signs" but it doesnt help that with the duplication, they took them all down and didn't replace them after.

[Llessur2002]

Not really sure what this obsession with always getting to the speed limit is - like it's some sort of macho target and only if we reach it will our willies get bigger. I get stuck behind people on Tapleys Hill Road doing 70 or 75 - doesn't bother me. I just accept it, sit back at a safe distance and don't get worked up about it. Generally we'll all get stuck at exactly the same set of traffic lights a few kms down the road anyway so what's the point?

It's not the 1950's anymore where we call all whiz round in our mint green FJ Holdens on brand new empty roads. It's the 2010's. Millions more people own cars and as a result driving's become really slow and rubbish. It's only going to get more slow and rubbish as time goes by so why fight the inevitable? Let's just sit back and enjoy the ride (so to speak).

The sooner we collectively accept that driving's not a pleasurable pastime for aristocrats any more and it's just another crap and tedious part of our crap and tedious modern lives then perhaps people will stop driving like tits - sitting a metre behind the car in front frantically trying to get past them just to be able to sit a metre behind the car in front of that one.

[neoballmon]

I see it as if I'm not allowed to drive 10km/h over the speed limit, why should I be forced to sit 10km/h under the speed limit (given safe conditions of course) because someone doesn't follow the rules?

And back on Tapleys, northbound, when people slow down even more for the camera because they think it's gunna pick them up if they drive over 60 because a 60 sign is visible in the distance. Worst camera placement ever.

Ive lost count of the amount of times I've passed a slow driver, then gone through a set of lights that are just starting to turn orange as I'm going through, forcing the slower drivers to stop while I get to pass through. So I'm not always stuck at the same intersection as them anyway.

[Nathan]

I see it as if I'm not allowed to drive 10km/h over the speed limit, why should I be forced to sit 10km/h under the speed limit (given safe conditions of course) because someone doesn't follow the rules?

Because they are following the rules, and pretty much any 60km/h+ road has at least two ones so you can pass them anyway. Slowing down by 10km/h for a short stretch is going to only makes seconds difference to your travel time.

[drsmith]

My whinge today is about country roads.

Some of the sealed roads on Yorke Peninsula are very average indeed and when repairs are done on the worst sections, it's typically a cheap and not particularly long lasting job.