Driving & Traffic

I thought the complaints were about iron cove bridge and city west link merge lanes going from 4 to 2 lanes

I never heard any discussion about why there was no free flowing access from the m4/m8 onto the Anzac bridge

Some other oversights I was surprised at

  • no M route designations forthe motorway link to airport (gateway)
  • traffic lights on the motorway to airport(1 random set)
  • M4 designation does not continue to city
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I think you are referring to the traffic lights on the intersection of Airport Drive and Link Road near the international terminal. It is necessary to allow freight trucks ample time to turn in and out of Link Road.

Not necessary. It’s a brand new motorway. They should have built a grade separated interchange

They’re ramp metering lights - they give a greater ability to control the flow of traffic. Admittedly, they aren’t great at doing this job (although I believe they’ve improved albeit slightly). They’re a lot more wide spread in Melbourne than they are in Sydney (I think the Rozelle Interchange is their only location currently)

The Rozelle Interchange is the start/end of the motorway network - while the connection into the CBD and across to North Sydney is motorway-like, its not motorway.

It’s all connected - there was also some questionable signage. The ramp metering was favouring the M4/M8 traffic initially which didn’t help.

This is something that may occur in the future - currently the gateway carries no route number or designation whatsoever

It also ended at Homebush/Burwood for the longest time

The size of the gateway is significantly constrained by available space, limitations on height due to the proximity to the airport and limited access to the terminals. That said it is a vast improvement to the previous access arrangements.

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Am I reading this right that ramp metering traffic lights aren’t common in Sydney? Geez they’ve been a thing in Brisbane for decades on the SE freeway/Pacific Motorway.

Yep - they’ve been introduced on the “smart” section of the M4 and on the rozelle interchange

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That’s not ramp metering. The M4/M8 x Anzac Bridge connection is not ramp metering. It’s a standard signalised intersection suburban style

I know the Anzac bridge connection into the CBD is motorway like - as is the harbour bridge - but they should have spent some extra money and Made it as M like as possible and kept the M4 designation all the way to Barangaroo when it then becomes M1

Today I had to drive a different RSPCA vehicle,it was an MG wagon,and yes it did have the wiper and indicator controls back to front. Too many times when driving this vehicle I kept turning on the wipers when I meant to use the indicator :confused:
I much prefer driving one of the Hyundai Staria vans or even the older Hyundai ILoad they have,or my own car that has the controls where I’m used to having them.
It’s any Chinese or European built vehicles that are like this ,so annoying ,and that’s why I’ve never owned one.

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It will be very costly. For example, the shared use path on the north side of Anzac Bridge will need to be relocated to raise the speed limit of the bridge from the current 60 km/h.

Nobody is suggesting that the speed limit needs to be raised. Just that traffic lights and intersections should have been avoided with a better design.

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No it isn’t - if you’ve exited the tunnel to a standard set of lights, your uber driver has taken the wrong exit. You can get from the M4/M8 to the Anzac bridge directly

Video: M4 East to Anzac Bridge | Inner West Improving your community | Transport for NSW | Powered by CA

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That’s coming city bound on M4 EB

I was coming from the airport city bound on M8 NB, it’s a different connection. It’s a signalised T intersection

It was the same getting on M8 SB from Anzac bridge heading back to the airport. It was a giant suburban intersection with traffic lights

Huge oversight to build a massive new M4, M8, Airport Motorway and massive Rozelle interchange and then have Airport / M8 access to the city not be free flowing.

Cost cutting obviously but with the 10s of billions spent seems like an odd place to cut costs

Victoria’s Western Fwy/Hwy (M8/A8) remains closed for a prohibitive length (80km) between Ballarat and Ararat, following a fatal accident this morning near the tiny Hillside Rd intersection in Buangor, a rural area just east of Ararat. Police have set-up a local detour via the B220 and B180 (Sunraysia and Pyrenees Hwys) to the north, but will add another 80km and 1hr 30min to the travel. It is a National Highway/route and poses significant challenges for interstate logistics between Melbourne and Adelaide and wider to Sydney and Perth, as well as state-wide and local vehicles. Messy. Rare to see such a major and large-scale closure continuing all day, must be a very serious MCIU investigation.

updated Wed 20/11

The highway has now re-opened as of last night, but a speed reduction (below 100km/h) is now in place near the collision site, for safety due to barrier damage.

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I wouldn’t be hard to upgrade sections of existing A6 to a much better standard that would allow better traffic flow (not motorway as such) to achieve similar result to a very long motorway tunnel. If would need:-

  • widening to 3 lanes each way between Bangor by pass and Bankstown
  • better lane arrangements around M5 and Milperra road intersections
  • grade separated intersection at Hume Hwy and associated lane arrangement improvements through Bankstown (the space is there and been empty ready for road widening for decades)
  • tunnel from near Borera St to north side of M4 Silverwater road to avoid Parramatta Rd and Rawson St intersections
  • another tunnel for a few KM from before Kissing Point road to join North Connex and M2.

Bunbury Outer Ring Road in WA’s south west, now called the Wilman Wadandi Highway, will open to traffic on December 16.

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Elaurant said trucks caused almost all the damage by cracking the thin layer of pavement used on most roads around the country.

While there is a lot of truth to this (and its not just trucks, but its also a shift towards heavier vehicles) - the failure to keep up with the maintenance required has exacerbated the issue.

The greatest enemy of road pavement is water and while sealing a road delivers significant road user benefits, the greatest benefit it delivers is waterproofing the pavement. As the seal ages, it loses its ability to keep the water out by becoming brittle and cracking and once it cracks the likelihood of pavement damage increases.

Investment in maintenance is expensive and isn’t very sexy, but it’s critical and most road managers have struggled to keep up with what is required to be spent to keep their road networks in a reasonable condition.

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