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claybro wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 04, 2022 5:37 pm

The Flinders line trains don't run often enough for that to be viable, this came up in the last government's abortive horror show of a bus network "upgrade", all it does is make the trip take even longer and encourage more car use, and that's before you get to the train not making convenient stops in the South of the CBD as said above.

Then make the Flinders line more frequent.-And speed the damn trains up...they are designed to travel up to 130km/h, although obviously not where there are level crossings-they could be much faster than the current timid way they are run in Adelaide. Seriously-bus to rail works well in very other mainland city. I don't know why it is such a taboo in Adelaide.
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True. It's ridiculous that we still have so many level crossings over main arterial roads. The government should follow Victoria's lead in investing in the removal of level crossings on busy roads. A much cheaper way to speed up trains is to remove closely spaced low patronage stations. Not sure why this one is so difficult.

claybro wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 04, 2022 5:37 pm

Then make the Flinders line more frequent.-And speed the damn trains up...they are designed to travel up to 130km/h, although obviously not where there are level crossings-they could be much faster than the current timid way they are run in Adelaide. Seriously-bus to rail works well in very other mainland city. I don't know why it is such a taboo in Adelaide.

The problem with the Flinders line is it's single track and that puts a hard limit on its frequency. There's also no real interchange with buses at Flinders. Also, if buses interchange at Flinders, there's no where for them to turn around, unless they continue into the city which would defeat the point of having an interchange.

1NEEDS2POST wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 10, 2022 12:25 am

claybro wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 04, 2022 5:37 pm

Then make the Flinders line more frequent.-And speed the damn trains up...they are designed to travel up to 130km/h, although obviously not where there are level crossings-they could be much faster than the current timid way they are run in Adelaide. Seriously-bus to rail works well in very other mainland city. I don't know why it is such a taboo in Adelaide.

The problem with the Flinders line is it's single track and that puts a hard limit on its frequency. There's also no real interchange with buses at Flinders. Also, if buses interchange at Flinders, there's no where for them to turn around, unless they continue into the city which would defeat the point of having an interchange.

I thought the intent at the planning stage was that the bus interchange would be at the new Tonsley Station rather than Flinders. I don't know if that space was actually allowed by the time they came to build it.

SBD wrote:

1NEEDS2POST wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 10, 2022 12:25 am

claybro wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 04, 2022 5:37 pm

Then make the Flinders line more frequent.-And speed the damn trains up...they are designed to travel up to 130km/h, although obviously not where there are level crossings-they could be much faster than the current timid way they are run in Adelaide. Seriously-bus to rail works well in very other mainland city. I don't know why it is such a taboo in Adelaide.

The problem with the Flinders line is it's single track and that puts a hard limit on its frequency. There's also no real interchange with buses at Flinders. Also, if buses interchange at Flinders, there's no where for them to turn around, unless they continue into the city which would defeat the point of having an interchange.

I thought the intent at the planning stage was that the bus interchange would be at the new Tonsley Station rather than Flinders. I don't know if that space was actually allowed by the time they came to build it.

Years before the Flinders extension happened they were going to build a bus interchange at Laffers Triangle that would’ve connected with the old Tonsley station across Sturt Road. Is that what you’re thinking of?

Spotto wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 10, 2022 10:21 pm

SBD wrote:

1NEEDS2POST wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 10, 2022 12:25 am

The problem with the Flinders line is it's single track and that puts a hard limit on its frequency. There's also no real interchange with buses at Flinders. Also, if buses interchange at Flinders, there's no where for them to turn around, unless they continue into the city which would defeat the point of having an interchange.

I thought the intent at the planning stage was that the bus interchange would be at the new Tonsley Station rather than Flinders. I don't know if that space was actually allowed by the time they came to build it.

Years before the Flinders extension happened they were going to build a bus interchange at Laffers Triangle that would’ve connected with the old Tonsley station across Sturt Road. Is that what you’re thinking of?

It could be. I probably didn't pay much attention as it would not be relevant to me.

Thought I'd compare what the Gallipoli Underpass area looked like after completion in 2009 to 2022. Yikes.


2009:



2022:

I see this situation as a complete waste of taxpayer money.
We have a fancy bit of new infrastructure, tizzy it up for the grand opening, then either bicker about who is responsible for ongoing maintenance (ie state or local govt) or totally ignore it. Not to mentioned street furniture that is hopelessly placed in areas that people never venture.

Fact is that its a road in the middle of suburbia, not some sort of nature reserve to be preserved for future generations. Save money and get rid of "greening" elements in future metro road projects and focus on efficient and functional road design that is easy to maintain.

Understand that returning land to nature is important, just not next to an underpass on Anzac Hwy / South Rd.

What happened to the rest of the Xanthorrhoea / grass trees? Died? Stolen?

rogue wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 13, 2022 5:08 pm

Fact is that its a road in the middle of suburbia, not some sort of nature reserve to be preserved for future generations. Save money and get rid of "greening" elements in future metro road projects and focus on efficient and functional road design that is easy to maintain.

I tend to disagree based on the very fact that these roads are in the middle of suburbia. As a tax and rate payer I am more than happy to see appropriate funding being allocated to greening and beautification elements of major projects - not only to improve the aesthetic of the area but also to aid with urban cooling. These wide strips of land are perfect to help increase our overall tree coverage, otherwise they just end up as concrete/bitumen heat sinks which does have an immediate impact on surrounding residential areas. There are also many bus routes which run along main roads - providing shade and greenery for pedestrians will help push up patronage along those routes.

What really wastes taxpayer's money and needs to be fixed is the wooly ownership of these plantings and lack of binding agreements over long term maintenance. In my experience DIT don't give a flying fig for ongoing maintenance of plantings and irrigation systems along the main arterials - I presume they see it purely as tick-box exercise to satisfy basic design requirements at the build stage, after which it's just abandoned. Some local councils are better than others but overall I feel at least they are slowly investing more in greening and urban cooling projects.

Fix that issue and I think we'll find money spend greening these routes to be a good investment for multiple reasons.

People are surprised with a lack of maintenance and trees/greenery dying?

We have two water fountains in Victoria Square that turn on and off by them selves, but cant install watering systems for road side vegetation to do the same. Pathetic.

rev wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 14, 2022 10:59 am

People are surprised with a lack of maintenance and trees/greenery dying?

We have two water fountains in Victoria Square that turn on and off by them selves, but cant install watering systems for road side vegetation to do the same. Pathetic.

From what I've seen the irrigation systems are the first to go - all it takes is for one heavy vehicle to drive across the planted area and chances are the irrigation pipework will get pulled apart at a joint. I quite often see random bits of purple pipe sticking up from the ground when waiting at intersections near planted (or previously planted) areas - no one ever seems to inspect or fix it. A prime example would be the planted area by the Entertainment Centre tram stop where the relatively new irrigation system had been damaged and was pissing water out for months. Presumably that results in a section of planting not being irrigated and eventually dying off. A couple of areas of the new T2T plantings close to Croydon Station have gone the same way.

I did eventually get the Entertainment Centre one fixed but took me multiple attempts at badgering Charles Sturt before anything was done about it.

I understand that trying to keep on top of various systems across the metro area must be a nightmare but I would have thought with a small number of dedicated 1 or 2 men crew it would be feasible for most roadside irrigation systems to get a check and maintenance maybe once a year.

What I love is when you see the same people complaining about too many government workers and then also complaining about elements like tis being overlooked or not having any consistency.

Llessur2002 wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 14, 2022 11:16 am

rev wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 14, 2022 10:59 am

People are surprised with a lack of maintenance and trees/greenery dying?

We have two water fountains in Victoria Square that turn on and off by them selves, but cant install watering systems for road side vegetation to do the same. Pathetic.

From what I've seen the irrigation systems are the first to go - all it takes is for one heavy vehicle to drive across the planted area and chances are the irrigation pipework will get pulled apart at a joint. I quite often see random bits of purple pipe sticking up from the ground when waiting at intersections near planted (or previously planted) areas - no one ever seems to inspect or fix it. A prime example would be the planted area by the Entertainment Centre tram stop where the relatively new irrigation system had been damaged and pissing water out for months. Presumably that results in a section of planting not being irrigated and eventually dying off. A couple of areas of the new T2T plantings close to Croydon Station have gone the same way.

I did eventually get the Entertainment Centre one fixed but took me multiple attempts at badgering Charles Sturt before anything was done about it.

I understand that trying to keep on top of various systems across the metro area must be a nightmare but I would have thought with a small number of dedicated 1 or 2 men crew it would be feasible for most roadside irrigation systems to get a check and maintenance maybe once a year.

My workplace in Perth is leased from the local council, who maintain the gardens. The reticulation is automatic, and is controlled /monitored remotely at the council depot, as with all council retic. It is apparently able to monitor water use and therefore leaks or malfunctions. So yes it is feasible to be properly monitored.. but Adelaides various councils have always had a poor track record with public space maintenance.. almost a reluctant afterthought.

The Torrens to Torrens is even worse... this is a year old photo - the concrete plinths are badly cracked and crumbling now. And look at the unevenness of the guttering. The road surface also looks like its 20 years old. No street trees can fix the level of craptacular construction on display here

Those anti-throw screens were a latter addition as well... looks like DIT didn't learn from previous incidents on the Southern Expressway!