Driving & Traffic

That does support numerous recent studies (even an overseas study) saying Brisbane does in fact have the worst traffic delays in the country. People scoff but it is pretty bad. Problems include geography and topography. A huge river dividing the city and sprawl towards both coasts. The tunnels are generally a bit tricky but you will get used to them. I suggest going for a drive through them without looking at your navigation. Look up at the signs and get your bearings. Locals tend to use the tunnels for a specific purpose only and not just chance it with a sat nav. If it’s any consolation it seemed a LOT worse in the early 2000s before the tunnels and the duplication of the Gateway Bridge.

doesn’t help when the council closes a major bridge crossing into the CBD (Victoria Bridge) leaving only 2 free options (and one toll bridge) into the CBD. God forbid there’s a crash on the Story bridge or riverside expressway - the whole city essentially shuts down. I’ve had my 45 min bus commute blow out to over 2 hours because of incidents.

I’m really dreading the Olympics - i’ll be taking 2 weeks leave from work

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The Riverside Expressway is really a major chokepoint in the city and I don’t see how it can be fixed in reality. You can’t divert more traffic through South Brisbane or across the Story Bridge. Most of the traffic on the Riverside Expressway is through traffic and not heading to the CBD at all, so the Victoria Bridge wouldn’t help much even if it was open to general traffic. The Clem7 tunnel is kind of heading in the wrong direction for a big chunk of that traffic too which is often heading more northwest. Yes you can go through the Clem7 then ICB then Legacy Way tunnel but the tolls are a disincentive and the interchanges are awkward. There was a tunnel proposed as part of the “Transapex” solution to go from the SE Freeway to Toowong. At the time I thought it was overkill, but now I can see the reasoning for it - the Riverside Expressway is well over-capacity for most of the day and night.

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Have done the Bruce Hwy trip up as far as Townsville.

Its a pretty decent highway, but could do with some more overtaking lanes.

But i did notice two odd things, particularly north of Rockhampton

  1. Most of the traffic seemed to be heading south

  2. Most of the rest stops were southbound ones too, a bit frustrating for a north bound traveller like me!

Couldn’t see any rationality for all the south bound traffic eg. school holidays, and based on the “what goes up must come down” theory, surely there should be a similar number of rest stops north bound too?

And Rockhampton needs a bypass.

Rockhampton is getting one :smiley:.

Although timing is yet to be confirmed although “early works” have apparently started.

It’s not exactly a motorway but is duplicated in the northern half including a new river crossing.

https://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/projects/100660-18qld-np

Not sure why more traffic would be southbound, what day and time was this?

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Pretty much all day 9am to 4pm yesterday and today.

Good to know re bypass!

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I agree ,Rockhampton does need a bypass or ring road,

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I think it might have been this causing the strange traffic. Queensland mining expo was in Mackay 23rd to 25th July. Apparently it was huge. People may have been heading to or from that. I did an airport pickup from Mackay last night at Brisbane and people were saying how expensive flights were this week.

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That explains why there was a long wait for cabs at the airport the other night.Lucky I was able to share a cab with a couple who lived in Glenella (North Mackay)where I stayed in an Airbnb for 3 nights.
Last year when I travelled up there(the weekend I purchased my Mazda)I stayed in the Ibis Hotel that is right next to the airport,very handy,they had no rooms available this time .

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In an Australian first, Transport for NSW has combined the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scanning technology with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) software.

The six-month trial will see trucks taller than four meters scanned as they pass under the sensor, and their height and number plate information will be gathered and instantaneously displayed to drivers on the overhead Variable Message Sign (VMS).

The first site is now live on the southbound lanes of the M1 Pacific Motorway at the Mount White Heavy Vehicle Safety Station which is operated by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR).

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That works out at $500,000 per charger.

From what I’ve read elsewhere, a 350kw public EV charger shouldn’t cost anymore than $160,000 each including installation.

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I doubt that includes any contribution to grid infrastructure (new transformers and the like), which isnt cheap

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100,000?!! How hard is it to put a seat belt on?

I remember as a kid, sitting in the back seat of the family car at my grandmother’s house in her driveway to read a book, and I still put my seatbelt on even though the car wasn’t moving! My mum and dad had fits of laughter when they saw me, I didn’t even realise I’d done that because I was so used to just putting my seatbelt on in the car anyway.

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NSW Roads Minister John Graham said the figures were a “shock” and higher than anticipated.

Not that they’ll ever admit it, but the NSW Government was repeatedly told by several groups that seatbelt compliance was a rapidly growing issue in the lead-up to the introductions of the cameras.

Don’t all cars beep at you these days if you haven’t clicked your seat belt on?

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The newer ones do, but still lots of cars that don’t do that… even then, I bet some will just ignore the beeps and turn the music up anyway to drown it out.

My car is so sensitive sometimes that if you have groceries on the passenger seat it would trigger the seat beat alarm. I’d like to know how many false positives the cameras are picking up as well.

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