Kings Highway to re-open today

They’re closing it again on 23rd May (next week) to blow up a giant boulder. It’ll be all day, 6am to midnight. Info here:
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadprojects/projects/south_eastern_region/kings_hwy/index.html

Are you serious? Araluen as a viable cost effective alternative? You obviously haven’t been through there or if you have you were too busy nervously clutching the steering wheel of your beige Camry to notice the terrain that would need to be overcome.

So the highway gets closed for a couple of days a year. Venice floods every winter and the shopkeepers in St Marks Square cope with an ocean that’s a foot higher than their floor without whining. Dunno why you’d want to go to Batemans Bay anyway. ‘Tis a bit of a hole.

DanielK said :

Thanks dvaey, cafand I-filed for your comments. a real discussion; now where to start?

Lots of unsealed roads between Kings and SnowyMountains Highways, very few transport corridors, gives us a fairly empty slate to begin with. The route mentioned near Captains Flat, Majors Creek, Araluenand moruyais just an example,but one which may well prove viable.

it can provide a route which traverses a minimum of state forest land (no national parks and quite
less than the Kings Hwy now does), involves a wide area through which a cost-effective route could
be chosen and connects towns which are not well served with major roads. We can select a route
based on cost-effective 21st century roadbuilding technology, rather than following 19thcentury coach
or wagon tracks.

The cost of land and roadbuilding will be much less than required for the M7

Most importantly it should save lives, disabilities,injuries, cost of repairs etc. A saving of 30 – 45mins (25% – 35%) off a trip is very important to most people, particularly if you combine it with the use of average speed cameras to keep the racers at bay (and contribute to costs).

And once this is shown to be a serious but more costly alternative to upgrading the Kings,it shouldn’t take long for vested NSW interests to demand the Kings Hwy be upgraded immediately. At least something wil be done

We don’t needtopurchase

Thanks dvaey, cafand I-filed for your comments. a real discussion; now where to start?

Lots of unsealed roads between Kings and SnowyMountains Highways, very few transport corridors, gives us a fairly empty slate to begin with. The route mentioned near Captains Flat, Majors Creek, Araluenand moruyais just an example,but one which may well prove viable.

it can provide a route which traverses a minimum of state forest land (no national parks and quite
less than the Kings Hwy now does), involves a wide area through which a cost-effective route could
be chosen and connects towns which are not well served with major roads. We can select a route
based on cost-effective 21st century roadbuilding technology, rather than following 19thcentury coach
or wagon tracks.

The cost of land and roadbuilding will be much less than required for the M7

Most importantly it should save lives, disabilities,injuries, cost of repairs etc. A saving of 30 – 45mins (25% – 35%) off a trip is very important to most people, particularly if you combine it with the use of average speed cameras to keep the racers at bay (and contribute to costs).

And once this is shown to be a serious but more costly alternative to upgrading the Kings,it shouldn’t take long for vested NSW interests to demand the Kings Hwy be upgraded immediately. At least something wil be done

We don’t needtopurchase

Came through Kings Hwy this morning and the repaired site was barely noticeable as the scene of mayhem we saw just days earlier.

The Nerriga Rd was fine too and a very scenic drive. Will definitely go that way again some time – especially for a spot of rock-climbing right next to the roadside. (Twice as long though…)

Can’t understand some people’s concern about the unsealed sections. The bit on the hill was fine and smooth and just a little windy. There was more unsealed roadworks on the Kings Hwy.

Turpentine Rd was one of the best unsealed roads I’ve ever driven on. If it wasn’t for people coming the other way, you could easily do 100 on it.

DanielK said :

Is there enough traffic to warrant a tollway, privately or part privately owned? Ideally such a tollway could be built on the most direct route to the coast, probably around 100kms or so. Eg Williamsdale, Captain Flat, Majors creek, Araluen to Moruya.

Once again, someone has been looking at a map and drawing a straight line, while having no idea of the terrain of the area. There is also the issue that almost any route chosen will traverse a large part of several national parks. As nice as it would be to save half an hour on the occasional drive to the coast, I sure hope our countrys government doesnt decide that this is worth sacrificing the protection of national parks.

How does this work for residents of Bungendore or Braidwood travelling to Canberra? How does it work for someone who lives on a farm and drives 15km along the road to get to town? This road is used by more than just the traffic that terminates at each end of the Kings Highway.

DanielK said :

Would you pay five or ten dollars toll one way for a safe modern road, cutting down casualties and crash costs to communities and individuals alike? And the saving in fuel costs, travel time handcar wear and tear.

To take the RTAs figures for the Nerriga roadworks (this was simply resealing and upgrading an existing route), they spent $95mil for 54km of road (approx 1.7mil per km). To build the suggested route of approx 100km (assuming no difficult terrain), with those costings you’d be looking at $170m-$200m..

Now, with a $10 toll for the road, you only need 20 million cars to pay that toll, to break even. (Or in other words, every Canberra resident has to visit the coast 60 times).

The numbers just arent feasible.

However, one method I think could contribute greatly would be if the NSW government decided to turn the existing speed detection devices into speed enforcement devices, I believe they could make a nice little income to more than cover the maintance costs of the road. Each of the electronic signs located along the highway, contains a speed radar which is used to advise

From RTA’s website about Kings Highway, “Roads and Maritime Services has placed speed radars on the two electronic message signs that show road safety messages and let motorists know when they are exceeding the speed limit.”

Why on earth are they installing radars on such a deadly road, that only show ‘safety messages and let motorists know when they are exceeding the speed limit’, without any form of enforcement? I would be seriously interested to know how many vehicles travel past these speed detection devices while exceeding the speed limit.

DanielK said :

Would you pay five or ten dollars toll one way for a safe modern road, cutting down casualties and crash costs to communities and individuals alike? And the saving in fuel costs, travel time handcar wear and tear.

Any saving to the health system can be picked up by the government, thanks.

GBT said :

Snarky said :

Speaking of names on that stretch of road, where did the name “Government Bend” come from at the base of the mountain?

You mean Government Bend Over, which someone helpfully renamed it for many years.

I remember driving past it once and on the next signpost someone had put up a sign saying Anarchy Angle.

GBT said :

Snarky said :

Speaking of names on that stretch of road, where did the name “Government Bend” come from at the base of the mountain?

You mean Government Bend Over, which someone helpfully renamed it for many years.

It was pretty Benny Hill stuff but for some reason always got a bit of a giggle from me on one of the 27 365 times I’ve driven past it.

I loved the way the RTA would keep painting over “over” and graffiti (and smart arse) artists would reinstate the school boy humour.

Until they got wise and shortened the sign so the extra letters wouldn’t fit! Comedy gold.

DanielK said :

Is there enough traffic to warrant a tollway, privately or part privately owned? Ideally such a tollway could be built on the most direct route to the coast, probably around 100kms or so. Eg Williamsdale, Captain Flat, Majors creek, Araluen to Moruya.

Would you pay five or ten dollars toll one way for a safe modern road, cutting down casualties and crash costs to communities and individuals alike? And the saving in fuel costs, travel time handcar wear and tear.

There is absolutely no way that this would be anywhere near economically viable. Just compare it with, for example, Sydney’s M7 which is shorter, passes through much less difficult terrain, has an order of magnitude higher traffic and a higher toll than your proposal.