[COM] South Road Superway | $842m | 3km

[jimmy_2486]

Yeah I agree.... big money is needed for that road, we cant just spend a little here and there.

[Cruise]

I Love how everyone on this forums thinks money is infinite in supply.

[AtD]

The bus lane idea is shockers, how can you justify accomodating room for placing a bus lane in the middle of south road when there simply isn't enough room? What about complications, like the underpass and overpass?

Easy as, there's heaps of room if you take out the turning lanes and remove right turns. The footpath is quite wide in some areas too. For much of the length, there's just car park on at least one side.

I'm (un)lucky enough to commute against peak. From Anzac Hwy to Sturt Rd, it's always continuous bumper to bumper stationary traffic in the morning.

There is no viable solution for South Road at the moment. Get over it, for now. Re-visit the issue when the goverment has a spare $2billion to upgrade the road to freeway standard

If you think a freeway will solve the problem then you need to look at the rest of the world. It'll free up traffic for all of 12 months before it's congested again. On Sydney Harbour Bridge, one bus lane moves more people then all the traffic lanes combined.

If you've ever been on West Lakes Bvd when a footy match is on, that's what South Road is like twice daily. The only difference is the buses, which hold the equivalent of about 60 cars at peak hour, aren't stuck in traffic but are free to zoom past.

The only overpass that the bus lane would have to go over is Cross Road. One possible solution would be a Flagstaff Hill Rd style tidal flow, with:
^ ^ B v in am peak
^ ^ v v in off-peak
^ B v v in pm peak

The Anzac Hwy underpass won't be an issue as buses would be turning anyway.

But if you want to have your :wank: you can sit in traffic and dream of the day where we strike oil in the St Vincent Gulf, because that's what it'll take to acquire the 100 or so businesses to build a South Road Freeway, just so it can be congested in 12 months time again. In the mean time, we can look at an affordable, realistic solution to the real problem - too much traffic clogging the city. And the only real solution to that is to get people out of cars and into public transport.

And lets not even mention the smog.

[stelaras]

ATD

i agree with most of you comments!

Realistically though most cities in the world have a PT patronage of about 20-30%. This kind of patronage will not alleviate traffic congestion.

I ride down the Eastern Freeway every morning in melbourne. Where either side of the 4 lanes there is a "transit lane" for cars with 2 or more people and Bus lanes. As the bus travels down its very own lane and into a Bus only lane on Punt Road, I can't help but laugh at the approximately 1km bank up of traffic at the freeway's end....

I guess the only way to get bums on PT is to raise the cost of U/C parking in the city as well as reduce the amount of 4 and 8hr on street parking zones. Melbourne CBD has just gone through such a process. WIthin the city there is virtually no on street parking for more than 1hr Mon-Sun until 11pm! and U/C parking is frightfully expensive!

[jimmy_2486]

Yes but where are we going to put this bus lane?? Land will have to be brought, and that will require a fair bit of funds. So it looks like this bus lane idea still falls under my predictions that big money needs to be spent on this road.

Id say just let the government save its pennies and buy out the whole row of properties (one side only) to basically duplicate the area of the road and build underpasses etc. I believe a good idea would be to make a eastern distributor style expressway like what they have in sydney, where the outermost lane travel 60km/h and has access to side streets and intersections, and the other inner lanes travel at 70-80 km/h through underpasses etc with bus lanes.

I mean i cant see a fix for this road that will just cost us a few hundred mill, this underpass is costing us 140 mill alone.
Billions need to be spent on this road, not millions.

Other cities are spending billions on their roads, we need to as well as we are starting to fall behind.

[AtD]

As I said, removing right turn lanes and narrowing footpaths would make for most of the room. Some parts of South Rd have room for parked cars on one side that can be removed. The only areas that'll need land acquisition would be near large intersections, and even then it could be done without demolishing any structures other than car parks and such. I've looked at this on Google Earth as well as on my commute.

As they say, widening roads to cure congestion is like widening your belt to cure obesity. Jimmy, you can't just throw money at the problem, stick your head in the sand and expect it to go away.

[stelaras]

here here ATD

Im sure there is a plan to tackle most of these issues by the state government.

The public will know when it is time to. The public has, is and always will be on a need to know basis with most decisions!

[AtD]

stelaras: You can help me out here. What's the freeway the Vic govt a few years ago spent $billions to widen just to turn it from a two lane car park into a three lane car park? (Or something to that effect)

[Cruise]

here here ATD

Im sure there is a plan to tackle most of these issues by the state government.

The public will know when it is time to. The public has, is and always will be on a need to know basis with most decisions!

In the sunday mail a few weeks ago there was a study that issued it would be in the cities best interests to build 'indented' bus stops and increase clearways, and build a suicide lane along south road, the report also said to introduce a toll on the inner CBD during peak hour, much like Londons congestion tax.

[rhino]

In the sunday mail a few weeks ago there was a study that issued it would be in the cities best interests to build 'indented' bus stops and increase clearways, and build a suicide lane along south road, the report also said to introduce a toll on the inner CBD during peak hour, much like Londons congestion tax.

OK, so what is a suicide lane (dare I ask)?

[Cruise]

Suicide lanes more cominly known as reversible-lanes are lanes that can be changed in direction at different times of the day. (ala Flagstaff Hill Road)

[Cruise]

They got the nickname suicide lanes because it feels like you have to drive on the other side of the road, risking a head-on collison.

[rhino]

I can see how that would help with traffic on some roads, but not on South Road. For example, on Flagstaff Road there is no need to make a right hand turn from the centre lane, and bring all the traffic in that lane to a standstill. Also, the number of heavy transport vehicles that use South Road need, in my opinion, some sort of divider between opposing carriageways or there will be some serious accidents (imagine two trucks clipping one another and slewing sideways into the other choked-up lanes of traffic).

St Kilda Street (not St Kilda Road)in Melbourne operates with one of these lanes, and is through residential suburbia. I wonder if Stelaras can tell us how that works? Perhaps heavy transport is banned from using it? Or right turns are banned?

[AtD]

Just a side note, rhino. You probably already know this, but up north between Port and Torrens Rd, South Rd is just four lanes with no turning lanes and no median. There's several side streets, an intersection and a few busy businesses that have no turning lane, meaning the right lane is often blocked. There's also power line right on the curb on both sides, and the gradient of the road means trucks must stay in the right lanes or their tops would hit the poles. There's also a level crossing in that mix too! It might not be the busiest stretch of South Road, but it’s the most annoying for me at least!

[rhino]

Oh yes, I'm aware of that bit of South Road. I'm an old Western Suburbs boy who's re-located to (literally) greener pastures.