[bikeqld] Re: Miskin St crossing (was Re: info (missing) aboutbikeways)

Thu Sep 17 22:41:16 CDT 2009

You can imagine the sequence.  Overworked DMR Met Branch functionary briefly
eyeballs Council drawing and says yeah, fine.  Then the thing actually gets
built and the complaints start to roll in.  Maybe even a Ministerial.  "Sh.t,
rip it up, now!"  So it's in Council's too hard basket until when, exactly?
Five years now, I think.

The real problem here isn't Council's bikeway crossing, it's DMR's intersection
design.  When I briefly studied traffic engineering at UQ decades ago, this
brand new two lane roundabout was considered absolute bee's knees.  Doubt anyone
would be so stupid now.  A signalised intersection would function much better,
and be much more urban-friendly.  I suspect there'd be room for exclusive left
and right lanes on Milton outbound, avoiding the high speed left turn rear-ender
at the bikeway.  There could be some increased storage inbound on the freeway,
but stuff 'em.

Now that Northlink no longer touches this perhaps something will actually get
done.  That's assuming the Trans Apex tunnel from here to Dutton Park is finally
dead and buried.  (Have to be, wouldn't it, when you've just sunk $1B of
ratepayer's readies into the other tunnel?  "No direct cost to Council...")

G.

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From: bikeqld-bounces at bikeqld.org.au [mailto:bikeqld-bounces at bikeqld.org.au] On
Behalf Of kim
Sent: Friday, 18 September 2009 12:32 PM
To: bikeqld at bikeqld.org.au
Subject: RE: [bikeqld] Re: Miskin St crossing (was Re: info (missing)
aboutbikeways)

Thanks Ian for separating that one out, I think I probably got carried away in
my last rant about Council :) .
I pointed out to Council that this crossing point was in MR jurisdiction as they
control 50m up the side roads including Miskin St. They said that they had got
the nod from MR which really leaves you wondering how that was the case. I was
actually a bit surprised when I saw what was really a traffic calming measure on
this road and now more surprised that Council did not think it out. It's kinda
ironic too that now they have a fresh black crossing there, and have widened the
refuge, that cars still think they need to stop if they see a bike on the refuge
or heading for it. I would advise cyclists to watch their situation if cars do
stop and then beckon them across just in case the car does get rear ended, the
motorist might claim that the cyclist was shooting out in front of them. That
two into one lane is bad on an intersection that size too.
The little dog leg to go from the crossing point(s) to the contra flow green
lane is not nice, its a bit off camber and has some trees which shed over it
creating a slippery condition for that sharp angle. As Michael Y pointed out,
forcing all the cycles on the blind side of the left turning buses (they go left
then around the roundabout and back up miskin to turn right into the depot) is a
bad move. Most cyclists I have seen just go diagonal onto the green but it looks
like there is an obstructing build out from the kerb there planned. The whole
thing seemed to just stop after they put that traffic calm 'in the wrong place'.
I think by rights the green is supposed to have an edge line too. Right now it
is not apparent at night.

> Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:55:33 +1000
> From: list-bikeqld at lister.dnsalias.net
> To: bikeqld at bikeqld.org.au
> Subject: [bikeqld] Re: Miskin St crossing (was Re: info (missing) about
bikeways)
> 
> P.S. for anybody not familiar with the area, here's what we're talking 
> about:
> 
> http://www.bikeqld.org.au/wiki/Image:Miskin_Street_crossing_August_2009.jpg
> http://www.bikeqld.org.au/wiki/Image:Miskin_Street_crossing_September_2009.jpg
>
http://www.bikeqld.org.au/wiki/North_Toowong_corridor#Crossing_of_Miskin_Street
> 
> On Thu, 17 Sep 2009, Ian Lister wrote:
> > On Wed, 16 Sep 2009, kim wrote:
> > [snip]
> >> One last note, I did ask about the Toowong bus depot/Miskin St design.
> >> I asked what happened there. They told me that the red traffic
> >> calming/crossing point "was put in the wrong place".
> > [snip]
> >
> > Funnily enough, after a few attempts I had somebody at Council call me back 
> > about this this morning, and was told it was a "residential area entry 
> > treatment" and caused problems because motorists got confused and started 
> > giving way to cyclists on it (perish the thought). This was reported to have

> > lead to near-accidents as other motorists going (nearly) too fast for the 
> > unexpected almost ran up the back of them.
> >
> > The officer I spoke to (in the transport infrastructure unit) also indicated

> > there were no further plans to improve this crossing, not even the holding 
> > rails that Cr Magub promised would be restored however many (three?) years 
> > ago that it is now. If anybody else here thinks this crossing needs some 
> > improvement, I suggest you give Council a call (3403 8888) and let them
know.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Ian
> >
> 
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