M1 chockes this morning....again...

[ramblingboy42]

it.s brissy show day....so what do the brissy ****tty slickers do?

of course.....they all go to the gold coast instead.....

I am taking a friend down to one of the private hospitals for a procedure this arvo but will have to consider leaving about 2hrs earlier, then there's the return trip in all the brissy traffic going home.

.....and 10,000,000 people go there and the developers are busting their guts to build more highrise....substantially more....and the M1 can't cope with brissy traffic now....

[scarry]

Its one big **** show,that traffic.

When it’s flowing they all seem to drive like they are on a race track,no wonder there are accidents.

One of the boys had to go to a job late morning at Burleigh,sat for almost two hours in the traffic….

No wonder our hourly rate keeps creeping up.

[disco gazza]

When I used to live on the GC back in the early 80,s,the highway was mostly a goat track.
After being overseas for a few years then back in Sydney(home town), I travelled up to see family on the GC.
Wanting to go up to brisvegas for a bit of shopping,my brother said to go via Smith st.Bro lived in Southport at the time (near the river and the old Southlands shops).
I was amazed that it only took me 1/2 hr to go from Southport up to centre of Brisvegas.
How times have changed..... Looks like the M1 is just as bad as Parramatta Rd here in Sydney. eg wow depot @ Minchinbury.
Roughly 40 minutes to get to Leichhardt. Leaving the store at approx 1530-1600, it would take anywhere form 1 3/4 hrs to 3 hrs to get back to yard for a 34k trip.
Off peak its not too bad,but as soon as it gets close to peak hour,it just clogs up real quick.
Thankfully I dont have to put up with that crap anymore.


cheers
DG

[scarry]

Back in the day,when Russ Hinze and co built the GC highway,others said why would you need so many lanes?

In those days some of the Pollies thought ahead.

Seems these days they dont give two hoots,and are about 10yrs behind.

Not that they seem to care,the deterioration of the traffic situation around Brisbane and the GC in the last 10yrs has been huge.

Try going down the coast on the weekend around 11.00am,its a disaster.Worse than peak hour during the week.

Centenery HWY around the Jindalee bridge going north is no better.SWMBO sat in the traffic the other day there for 2.5 hours after there was a smash.
Continual accidents at the same place,rear enders where the speed limit drops from 100 to 80Km/hr.
Drivers stupidly slam the brakes on at the 80 sign,drop right back to around 65Km/hr,and get rear ended.[bighmmm]

[oldyella 76]

you are not 0n your own. the same things are occurring in regional Victoria where development is rampant and nothing is being done for infrastructure and services. As our Dan spends all our money in Melbourne, where the votes are.

[350RRC]

Back in the day,when Russ Hinze and co built the GC highway,others said why would you need so many lanes?

In those days some of the Pollies thought ahead.

..................

Didn't Russ organise an off ramp that led straight to the drive through bottlshop at a pub he owned?

AFAIR that was just one snippet from 'The Moonlight State'.

DL

[scarry]

Didn't Russ organise an off ramp that led straight to the drive through bottlshop at a pub he owned?

AFAIR that was just one snippet from 'The Moonlight State'.

DL

Probably.

I seem to remember Joh got a strip of bitumen on a dirt road for a few K’s in front of a property he owned out in the scrub somewhere.[bighmmm]

But they did get things done and thought ahead.
The mob that has been in a while here are so far behind in most things particularly road infrastructure,its rediculous.
They continually beat their chests about everyone wanting to come to Qld,but do nothing about the roads,etc.

Apparently last night some spent the night in their cars on the Logan Motorway as the road was closed due to an incident.

The Gabba is another mess,they have just spent $42M on a complete upgrade,which has only just been finished,they now want to pull it down and start again at a cost of $1Bill for the Olympics.FFS.
The building contractors must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Apparently they want to pull down the heritage listed school next door for more room,it’s been there for over 100yrs.

[ramblingboy42]

when the M1 was mooted and public forums were being held the proposal was for the road to carry 118,000 vehicles per day.

by the time it opened it was immediately carrying 145,000 vehicles and every developer within a bulls roar along the Brissy/Gold Coast section made application for housing developments and every honest real estate agent started flogging packages off the plan. You can see the effect.

the latest vehicle census on that section is now over 190,000 vehicles/day

the road is already 15yrs behind in its carrying capacity and transport authorities are adding big interchanges now to point more traffic onto the M1.

2 proposals at least to my knowledge to build parallel express roads have been defeated with major protests being koala corridor and animal habitat....since the defeat of the express road proposals , the developers and real estate agents moved in again and the usable corridor has become housing and the animal habitat has gone and the families adding to M1 vehicle access.....btw next time you go up/down the highway, look for the trees....what trees? grey/dark rooftops and no room on 400sq.m blocks to plant trees.

[scarry]

Different sections were upgraded at different times,and have different traffic volumes.

When the main section,Springwood to Nerang,was upgraded 90’s,it was designed for 120,000 vehicles a day.
That section was fine until it started to clog in 2016 with around 144,000 vehicles a day.

Today there are over 210,000 vehicles a day at times on that section.

Getting off at many of the exists is also very difficult at times,causing traffic to back up for Kim’s onto the main highway which is dangerous.

Yes the proposed new routes and upgrades have had numerous issues due to funding,and habitat and wetland destruction caused by the proposed routes.

I do know one thing if something is not done the road will be gridlocked all day in the near future,it’s not far off happening on some days now,even without an incident.
And on weekends it’s no better.

[V8Ian]

Consider yourself lucky you weren't on the Hunter Expressway this morning.

[ramblingboy42]

Also Logan Motorway.....lots slept in their cars last night because of an incident.

mmmm.....Emerald is a nice town with 2 intersections and as the out of town coal mines close , will improve.

Swmbo is favouring downsizing to southern gold coast/cooly area soon. Like within 12mths.

I'm favouring getting the hell out. Wonder what will eventuate.

Could go to the Caribbean , St Martens sounds real good. One side basically Dutch, the other French and both side love food with something like 300 restaurants.

[scarry]

Sorry for the bad news,but the traffic down there is just as bad.....[bigsad]

Maybe a bit further south is the go,we have an old Fishermans shack at Arrawarra,not much traffic there.[biggrin]

One set of traffic lights between our front door and the shack.

[350RRC]

by the time it opened it was immediately carrying 145,000 vehicles and every developer within a bulls roar along the Brissy/Gold Coast section made application for housing developments and every honest real estate agent started flogging packages off the plan.

Developments on the flood plains perchance?

DL

[workingonit]

Back in the day,when Russ Hinze and co built the GC highway,others said why would you need so many lanes?

I'm guessing no more than ten in a gathering would have equally relieved the congestion...

From memory Australian comedy version of Utopia covered the futility of building better roads.

[3toes]

I always switch off when the ‘expert’ comes out with the if you build more road capacity it only results in more vehicles. If they really believe this they should not be in a position to either influence or make decisions. There are a finite not infinite number of journeys and if they do not comprehend this ………..

The quests about how those journeys will be accommodated which can involve a range of options which should be complementary. Although in the UK the it was better when people stayed within walking distance of where they were born and only people with money traveled have a large voice under a number of influential organizations

Between Brisbane and the Gold Coast they are building massive housing estates without at the same time building the required transport infrastructure. As new build estates there is no excuse for building car only housing estates. You need to build this as you develop as it becomes difficult to install after the event. The developers will have moved on and the residents and council will be left with the inbuilt problems

[scarry]

Between Brisbane and the Gold Coast they are building massive housing estates without at the same time building the required transport infrastructure. As new build estates there is no excuse for building car only housing estates. You need to build this as you develop as it becomes difficult to install after the event. The developers will have moved on and the residents and council will be left with the inbuilt problems

It isn't happening just between Brisbane and the Gold Coast,it is happening all over SE Qld,probably most of the state, and all over Australia.

Yarrabilba is another that comes to mind close to here,thousands of homes built in the last few years,with virtually no public transport to the area,and the same old single lane road running out there,from Waterford,for around 8Km,at a guess.

[350RRC]

A good mate of mine is a retired state manager for one of the major home builders in Oz.

He had a cynical attitude to all of it in the end, describing the business as 'building tomorrow's ghettos today'.

DL

[DiscoMick]

Will be interesting to see if the infrastructure spending for the 2032 Olympics improves the transport situation.
The SEQ mayors cooked up the plan for the Olympics as a way of getting funding approved for the infrastructure they know the region needs.

[scarry]

Will be interesting to see if the infrastructure spending for the 2032 Olympics improves the transport situation.
The SEQ mayors cooked up the plan for the Olympics as a way of getting funding approved for the infrastructure they know the region needs.

Hopefully,but i think you are dreaming.[bigsad][biggrin]

Once they have rebuilt a few of the stadiums,they will no doubt find they are well over budget and the money will be all spent[bighmmm].

[DiscoMick]

Work has started on the upgrade at the Landsborough rail station parking area, to become an overpass as part of fast rail to Nambour, so things are happening.

[NavyDiver]

Building bigger roads, more lanes to park in more often [bigwhistle] I miss my m-bike :( note i can beat car travel time at times on my push bike here in Melbourne. In Sydney it was 30mins to work on my bike or two hours some days in a car/public transport.

No solutions for ever increasing traffic of course.

[scarry]

No solutions for ever increasing traffic of course.

I good public transport system like some other countries have,would help,but unfortunately that isn't going to happen here.

[RANDLOVER]

Also Logan Motorway.....lots slept in their cars last night because of an incident.

.........

The public might have to start carrying a rattle gun or angle grinder to help the police open up the armco so people can turn around on the freeway, although I thought this sort of thing could be done by the fire brigade?

[workingonit]

... armco...

Bit off topic I guess.

But on the drive from Darwin CB to home in the rural area the Stuart Hwy crosses some gullies, enabled by loads of infill to build up the gully to level with the rest of the road.

Originally along these gully areas there was plenty of shoulder to pull off, out of traffic flow if you had engine problems. But now we have barriers all along these sections of road, so if you do have to pull off you are still half in the slow lane at risk of collision. There was plenty of room on the shoulder in the first place to have them further removed from the road, but no...

And yes, there is a bit of a ramped drop off if you accidentally went right off but never seen it, except maybe if the car is stolen and set on fire to cause maximum difficulty in recovery.

Then there are high set concrete guides that mark the entrance/exits to side roads and run some distance back up the side road. A pointless exercise if authorities don't want drivers accessing the shoulder at that point because you can access the shoulder by leaving the road just before the concrete comes into play. In the 'olden days' if your car conked out at the intersection you could push immediately to the shoulder. Now if the front car breaks down two or three other cars get stuck behind because none can get over the concrete, and if you nip around the broken down vehicle you risk a head on with a vehicle coming off the highway.

[DiscoMick]

Fair bit of the Logan Motorway is elevated, so it could be a decent drop.

Saw an ambulance nearly take out a road worker last night. A road crew had blocked one lane and was signalling traffic through. Ambulance with flashing lights comes flying up, drivers pull over, ambulance accelerates. Traffic guy in hi vis suddenly realises standing in the middle of road might not be a safe place, retreats. Ambulance brakes, swerves, just misses him.
It's a dangerous job. They do get hit.
The public might have to start carrying a rattle gun or angle grinder to help the police open up the armco so people can turn around on the freeway, although I thought this sort of thing could be done by the fire brigade?