Page 1682 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 1 May 2012
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The metering is the traffic lights that come on at certain times, as we have, for instance, at Athllon and Drakeford. So, again, there are problems. Then when you go to priority controlled intersections, again, under “Limitations” the report notes:
The key limitation for the combination of these measures would be the capital costs and whether these costs provide an appropriate benefit. The roundabout controlled intersections of Ashley Drive with Erindale Drive and Isabella Drive would also need to support the improved efficiency of the Ashley Drive corridor.
It is an interesting report. If people have not actually seen this report—I understand it is on the TAMS website; it is called Ashley Drive, Monash: road network upgrade feasibility study—what it does is propose metering on the eastern approach to the Isabella Drive-Ashley Drive intersection. Again, there is a set of traffic lights in a major roundabout. It then goes on to have traffic lights at Bugden and Sternberg, potentially a flyover at Sternberg and Erindale. It will have a set of traffic lights at Ashley and Bugden. There will be, let us see, a signalised intersection at Clive Steele Avenue and Ashley Drive. There will be a signalised intersection at Clift and Ashley. There will be a signalised intersection at Ellerston and Ashley, and there will be a signalised intersection at Johnson Drive and Ashley Drive.
It is an extraordinary number of traffic lights. I cannot think of a concentration like that. There are certainly no concentrations like that in Tuggeranong at the immediate time, and I cannot think of a street of this scope that has that many traffic lights probably anywhere in Canberra. If you do a Google look at, perhaps, George Street in Sydney and Ashley Drive with these traffic lights, then you are approaching that density of traffic lights. The question is: is it overkill and is it entirely appropriate?
In regard to the upgrade of the piece of Erindale Drive between Sternberg and Ashley, I think anybody who has sat there in the mornings would agree that it needs some immediate attention. There have been two deaths on Ashley Drive. There is a history there of serious accidents. I think there have been something like 20 major injuries as well. They are busy intersections at the peak hour in the morning and afternoon. And at 80 ks, it is a particularly fast road.
What the committee recommends in recommendation 1 is:
… that before the ACT Government proceeds with the works identified … it reconsider the sequencing of traffic streams in an attempt to minimise the number of traffic lights proposed to be installed at intersections.
If the ultimate is that we need grade separation at Erindale and Sternberg then perhaps we should go there first. Then recommendation 2 is that consistent with the recommendation of the GTA Consultants’ report, as a matter of priority, the government:
… examine the traffic generating characteristics of Gowrie, Fadden and Macarthur, and assess route choice and alternative routes in the area.
I think that is fairly reasonable. Recommendation 3 asks that the government explain how this is consistent with the goals of ACT sustainable transport. Certainly, we
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