Driving & Traffic

Thought there would be a provision for an extra lane like the new tunnels in Sydney. No doubt this will become as congested as the existing roads within 5 years though.

1 Like

That’s just Sydney’s weirdness of opening everything as 2 lanes to start with. Seems a waste of money to over build a tunnel to ‘expand’ it.

I can’t see it getting significantly congested, it’s not a needed route.

1 Like

Will depend on if/how much the tolls are… some new roads like the M8 are underused because of it.

1 Like

I was at the discovery day at Yarraville Gardens. I think there were 2,000 people when I arrived, despite the showers. There were food trucks, stalls from local groups, Transurban and the West Gate Tunnel project, a kids play area, and even free plants giveaway. The UFU also had a presence with signs warning its members will not be able to come into the tunnel to rescue drivers in case of emergency, mainly due to air flow issue.

Later I took a walk along a 2.5 km section of West Gate Tunnel from the eastern portal. It took me around 20 minutes.

EDIT: here are some photos from the event

2 Likes

I’ve been really impressed with Tesla’s customer service. On Friday I called to ask how long pickup would take if I put down the $400 deposit on a used 2019 Model 3 I was looking at. One staff member (won’t name him just in case) went above and beyond, coordinating with different departments and arranging a Saturday morning pickup—less than 24 hours later.

When my family arrived on Saturday, the delivery assistant spent plenty of time walking me through all the setup steps, including creating my driver profile and pairing my phone. When I mentioned we were heading home to swap cars before driving to the Gold Coast, she even offered to top the car up, but since it was already at 78% I didn’t bother.

The car itself has been a pleasure to drive—if not, dare I say it, almost boring—thanks to the lane-assist and adaptive cruise control doing so much of the work. And I keep discovering new features. The Auto Park function has quickly become a favourite—it can automatically back the car into parking spaces, and it does it far better than I ever could.

1 Like

Didn’t you just recently buy an electric car alreadyl?

Can I ask, how many kms and what was the battery status on the Model 3 ie. % of original capacity left on the battery, given its a 6 year old vehicle.

yep. a few weeks ago brought a 2023 MG ZS EV. my wife drove it and claimed it but due to work i needed a car. I told her she can have the MG if she gave me the ok to buy myself a tesla.

the tesla had 43,000 km and battery is at 85%

1 Like

That’s pretty low km for a 6 year old car…

Battery Health is a bit lower than I thought (I would have thought it’d be over 90% with that mileage), there could be an age factor there too.

1 Like

thats my assumption as well, but i’m not worried. by buing from tesla i get a warranty until 2027 on the battery

1 Like

Darebin Council in Melbourne’s inner north has endorsed a plan to upgrade a section of High Street in Preston, including reducing the speed limit to 30 km/h.

Interesting drone video

3 Likes

I like watching those - here’s the Nov 2025 update from the same YouTuber of the Hexham bypass

And this is another car related YouTube account I like watching too… the ‘Back In Time’ series has pics of old cars, dealerships, streetscapes etc going back to the 1960s… currently 15 videos in that series.

3 Likes

7NEWS Queensland on X: “Plagued by years of delays, cost blowouts and CFMEU stalling, the new Centenary Bridge has now hit a major milestone. Northbound lanes have opened, but many believe it’ll do nothing to speed up travel times. @mhammond7 https://t.co/d4i5llnwUk” / X

1 Like

First stage of Coomera Connector opens to bring relief for northern Gold Coast drivers

After two decades of planning and recent safety scares, the Gold Coast’s second M1 is set to finally open with 60,000 cars expected daily.

The state’s transport minister insists the $3.5bn Coomera Connector will be safe to drive on ahead of its opening.

The first of up to 60,000 cars a day will travel on the northern stage of the motorway from 5am Tuesday.

4 Likes

The country’s peak motoring body has found the real world driving range of popular EVs has proved to be between three and 31 per cent worse than manufacturers claim. And it’s a key problem standing in the way of growing adoption.

The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) program has now tested nine EVs, finding each had an on-road range shorter than the results recorded in mandatory laboratory testing reported by the carmakers.

Interestingly, certain brands fared much worse than others.

Which doesn’t surprise me at all.. it’s been the same with petrol consumption claims in ICE vehicles for years too.

2 Likes

Sydney’s M4 Tunnel on WestConnex was closed westbound for several hours this morning, following a fault detected overnight during routine closure maintenance.

Some drivers were stuck for hours and many blamed poor or no advance warning.

Transport for NSW / NSW state government were not happy and have blamed the toll road’s private operator Transurban for a communication failure, while Transurban have rebuffed their claims saying TfNSW were contacted multiple times early in the morning.

Not a good look for such a new and expensive project that has already attracted a lot of media attention over the years, both the structural issue and the apparent systems or comms breakdown.

ABC story: Sydney's M4 tunnel shut over fears concrete roofing could fall onto vehicles - ABC News

2 Likes

Explaining what shotcrete is.

1 Like

So, did they use shotcrete instead of actual concrete when they constructed the tunnel? That’s what I’m reading…