What's the deal with the traffic in Greater Melbourne?

[FRD6RL]

Hi Everyone :

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on the recent explosion in traffic around Melbourne, particularly on the Monash freeway, Princess Highway and everything in between? I know it's getting closer to Xmas and that there is Eastlink consruction going on but it seems like alot of extra cars have appeared out of nowhere!!!

Cheers Nic :newangel:

[RG]

Originally Posted by FRD6RL

Hi Everyone :

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on the recent explosion in traffic around Melbourne, particularly on the Monash freeway, Princess Highway and everything in between? I know it's getting closer to Xmas and that there is Eastlink consruction going on but it seems like alot of extra cars have appeared out of nowhere!!!

Cheers Nic :newangel:

It's been like that for a while, it's called a lack of infrastructure and a severe lack of foresight over the last 8-10 years.

[Auslandau]

......... and trying to fix the infrastructure in one go! Bus lanes taking place of normal roads. n(in the east) which will force people to use eastlink. Also bad public transport. For the next 3-5 years the system will be crap while they try and catch up,



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[RG]

Originally Posted by auslandau

......... and trying to fix the infrastructure in one go! Bus lanes taking place of normal roads. n(in the east) which will force people to use eastlink. Also bad public transport. For the next 3-5 years the system will be crap while they try and catch up,

I'm still trying to figure out why the Govt. keeps on saying they can't get any trains delivered until 2009. Last time I checked Alstom (the contract holder to build them) weren't doing much, their yard is up here in Ballarat (I remember seeing them building the current crop of new trains and refurbishing the old Comeng ones) the yard is dead and people up here are dying for work. I wonder what the real hold up is.

[Geez Louise]

I counted the traffic lights on my way home from work one day. I go through 54 sets of lights!!! and get stopped at nearly all of them! No wonder it used to take me an hour and a half to get home and it is no wonder traffic is so bad!!

[pauly85]

damn straight with that one mate, there used to be a nice run down maroondah hwy between chirnside park and burnt bridge, now its full of traffic lights from the end of coldstream all the way to the friggen city

traffic lights do not solve all road problems

[rodderz]

Worst part of living in/near a major city, traffic

And putting up with the people in traffic!

[Magna]

I reckon part of the problem is with faulty brakes on trains, they've got more services and the gates go down earlier and stay down longer cause they have to approach at slower speeds. the number of times I get to a crossing only to have the gates go down :

[Powdered Toast Man]

Originally Posted by rodderz

Worst part of living in/near a major city, traffic

And putting up with the people in traffic!

I work 30 kays from the city (Dandenong) and live 60 kays away (Pakenham) but the daily traffic, especially on the Monash and getting out of Dandy is shocking. One fender bender somewhere between Narre Warren and the city on the Monash and the whole world stops. Sometimes it stops for no reason :

Oh and getting out of Pakey during school hours of a morning, takes 10 minutes to travel 2 kays on the Princes Hwy :togo:

[rodderz]

Originally Posted by Powdered Toast Man

I work 30 kays from the city (Dandenong) and live 60 kays away (Pakenham) but the daily traffic, especially on the Monash and getting out of Dandy is shocking. One fender bender somewhere between Narre Warren and the city on the Monash and the whole world stops. Sometimes it stops for no reason :

Oh and getting out of Pakey during school hours of a morning, takes 10 minutes to travel 2 kays on the Princes Hwy :togo:

A few years back I drove to pakenham for a few months doing a job there, I was going against the traffic, but heading ciiy bound on the sth eastern it was bumper to bumper from past Springvale Rd all the way down to the Berwick bypass....that would be 10km+?

Dunno how you folk do it...it'd do my head in :togo:

[Martyvan]

Brisbane is in the same boat, we have at least 4 major projects on the go at once... I live 17km from work, but have to cross the river, Tuesday i am doing a trial if it is quicker for me on a push bike than sitting in first gear idling for 20-40 minutes every morning... I think It will be in the pushies favour...

[XR6-VCT-2000]

All the above , and one of the reason why im getting out of melbourne around x-mass ! , I cant wait ! .

[pauljh74]

Due to Eastlink, for the past couple of years the major routes in the South East have been restricted. Living in Dandenong, when I need to head west past Eastlink, Greens Rd, Cheltenham Rd, Princes Hwy and Monash Freeway all have roadwork speed limits, despite some areas having little more than orange bollards on the road edge at out of work hours are still suffering lower speed limits.
What I do notice - that for every 1 man working on the road construction site, 2 are standing nearby talking and doing no work - that's if you see any working.

The new Dandenong bypass (between Greens and Cheltenham rds) will end at Perry Rd near Parkmore S/C, which until the proposed link to the Westall Rd extension is completed, well actually STARTED and completed will simply shift the bottleneck to Perry rd, which won't cope with the traffic from the bypass.

The Monash is a car park during peak hour to be avoided and Princes Hwy & Springvale Rd traffic is regularly banked back to Sandown, sometimes back to Browns Rd Noble Park, which would be 3km easily, if not more.

Eastlink should have been a freeway - there are only 2 real north/south arterials in the outer east/south east - Springvale Rd and Stud Rd, which would be about 6km apart, with no alternatives between.

The poor programming of lights doesn't help - it's ridiculous that you get a green light, drive 200 metres and the light there goes red, no matter how fast or slow you drive - everyone has to come to a stop again, whether you're on a fast sports bike or in a semi trailer. When you're stuck behind a semi it's painful - most of them will go along at a good pace once they're rolling, but getting them going takes time.

:
I'm listening to some metal now to calm down.

[xurbanx]

Agreed! I live in Narre Warren and the traffic just to get from home to the city is horrible! Sometimes you have people slowing down for nothing, or slowing down just to look at another car parked on the side!

[Auslandau]

Originally Posted by pauljh74

Eastlink should have been a freeway - there are only 2 real north/south arterials in the outer east/south east - Springvale Rd and Stud Rd, which would be about 6km apart, with no alternatives between.

Stud road Rowville. You really do need to laugh dont you! One of the worst roads in Melb between Kelletts and Wellington. So guess what they do? Open another lane for buses only! With the police in the morning catching anyone who dares wonder into the lane, they are having a ball!

As these buses are always empty though, doesnt anyone use them and if they dont, why not?

Once on the freeway though against the traffic I feel for all those poor bastards going the other way every morning and an night! :



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[sfr rob]

Originally Posted by Powdered Toast Man

I work 30 kays from the city (Dandenong) and live 60 kays away (Pakenham) but the daily traffic, especially on the Monash and getting out of Dandy is shocking. One fender bender somewhere between Narre Warren and the city on the Monash and the whole world stops. Sometimes it stops for no reason :

Oh and getting out of Pakey during school hours of a morning, takes 10 minutes to travel 2 kays on the Princes Hwy :togo:

hopefully the new bypass helps somewhat.

[fangq]

Originally Posted by FRD6RL

Hi Everyone :

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on the recent explosion in traffic around Melbourne, particularly on the Monash freeway, Princess Highway and everything in between? I know it's getting closer to Xmas and that there is Eastlink consruction going on but it seems like alot of extra cars have appeared out of nowhere!!!

Cheers Nic :newangel:

Probably all moving to Queensland.
Steve

[XR 666]

I thought it was just me, I use Melbourne rd / Williamstown road every day and that has been really bad in the last week or so...strange.

[onfire]

Another element to add to all the others already mentioned.. its ' P-Plater Season ' dispite birthdates being spread over the entire year, Iv noticed about this time of the year more and more P-Platers hit the roads. Spring weather, finances, etc.

[Dezza]

I always seem to have a rotten run with red lights. I always seem to be sitting at them. Also what Magna said is true. Many times I've sat at boomgates because of a train sitting at a station nearby. Clayton Rd is an absolute shocker for this. Inadequate turning lanes are also a problem (for example, 2 lanes going straight ahead with another lane turning right). Many times, you have to wait to get in the turning lane because the traffic in the right hand lane going straight ahead has built up too much. Also sometimes the traffic in the turning lane is too much, blocking the right lane going ahead. Longer turning lanes would fix this. Also when lanes merge together, this gets incredibly slow due to people not letting others in and cutting them off.

[dom_105]

Originally Posted by pauly85

damn straight with that one mate, there used to be a nice run down maroondah hwy between chirnside park and burnt bridge, now its full of traffic lights from the end of coldstream all the way to the friggen city

traffic lights do not solve all road problems

Not to mention the new set of lights at the top of Chirnside Park hill, gets me all the time.

[Powdered Toast Man]

Originally Posted by onfire

Another element to add to all the others already mentioned.. its ' P-Plater Season ' dispite birthdates being spread over the entire year, Iv noticed about this time of the year more and more P-Platers hit the roads. Spring weather, finances, etc.

That would be because school is ending, well near to ending. Whether it's high school, tafe or uni they are all wrapping up classes in late October, early November so there are more P platers with time on there hands.

[LTDHO]

For some reason almost every road is under construction, making it very difficult to get around. I have noticed raos that were fine, being re-built.

The strange thing is, there never seems to be any progress.

[Mechan1k]

By the sounds of it ... it sounds like normal traffic ... after having to negotiate traffic in Melbourne and Brisbane ... it's really nothing much at all ... that's what I'd call light to moderate traffic.

I deal with that and much worse on a daily basis in Sydney ... I wish our traffic was like that of Melbourne and/or Brissy ... would make my life a lot easier.

[T3ts50]

Originally Posted by FRD6RL

Hi Everyone :

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on the recent explosion in traffic around Melbourne, particularly on the Monash freeway, Princess Highway and everything in between? I know it's getting closer to Xmas and that there is Eastlink consruction going on but it seems like alot of extra cars have appeared out of nowhere!!!

Cheers Nic :newangel:

I get on the Monash at about 7.20 every morning and in the past 3 weeks or so it has been as been really bad. It usually takes me about 40 minutes to get to the Bourke Road exit. Where 2 months ago Id leave at the same time and It would take me 40 minutes to get to work on Chapel street.

[SB076]

Traffic in SE suburbs is shocking and whats worse is once Eastlink is finished there are no new major projects planned to ease traffic congestion. The Monash is shocking (and I think Easlink may make it worse - with traffic coming from Frankston way and using the Monash SE suburbs)

Keep in mind once they start planning for a new project it will take approx. 20 years for them to actually accomplish it - so its going to be scary for awhile. Someone actually told me the powers to be actually dont mind traffic as it acts like a spped limit and reduces fatalites

[Dezza]

Originally Posted by SB076

Someone actually told me the powers to be actually dont mind traffic as it acts like a spped limit and reduces fatalites

What a load of crap that is. More traffic = more congestion = more accidents

[T3ts50]

Originally Posted by SB076

Traffic in SE suburbs is shocking and whats worse is once Eastlink is finished there are no new major projects planned to ease traffic congestion. The Monash is shocking (and I think Easlink may make it worse - with traffic coming from Frankston way and using the Monash SE suburbs)

There will be a project starting in around 2009 on the Monash. They are adding in a fourth lane, most likely from Stud Road to Toorak Road.

[FRD6RL]

EXACTLY T3ts50!!!!!!

I get on the Monash at about 7.00am everyday and it has only been the last 3 weeks or so that it has been beyond crazy It has been taking me 30-45min just to get from the South Gippy merge to Police Road! and then about another 30-45min to get to Huntingdale Road where I get off. : 3 or so weeks ago it would take me 1 hour in total to go from Wattletree Road in Malvern, to Huntingdale Road on ramp, along the Monash to the South Gippy exit to Hampton Park to home!!!!!!! : This morning it took me 1 hour 45mins to get to work : It is getting beyond a joke at the moment. Soon I will have to leave at 6am just to get to work at 8am. : Apparently Dandenong Road isnt any better! :

Originally Posted by T3ts50

I get on the Monash at about 7.20 every morning and in the past 3 weeks or so it has been as been really bad. It usually takes me about 40 minutes to get to the Bourke Road exit. Where 2 months ago Id leave at the same time and It would take me 40 minutes to get to work on Chapel street.

[SB076]

Originally Posted by ea_silver_ghia

What a load of crap that is. More traffic = more congestion = more accidents

Yeah I never said i agree with it - maybe they think less likely to have fatalaties due to slower speeds (remember these are the same guys that say that cameras aren't for revenue raising

There will be a project starting in around 2009 on the Monash. They are adding in a fourth lane, most likely from Stud Road to Toorak Road.

Yes they have already started that, they advertised that on tv about a year ago - that might help the hallam bypass merge but basically the traffic will still bank back but just slightly further up the road.