Merry Christmas Revised!

I'm bold enough to admit it! I was wrong!

Instead of our usual Newell trip to Queensland, we this time drove out through Gippsland, up to Canberra, around Sydney and up the New England Highway. We took 3 days to do the trip (2,021 km) and spent most of our spare time having a look at the National Capital. I have flown home, but will return on 19th to pick up the family and bring them home. It started as a casual little conversation with my wife on Christmas Eve, and soon we had an entirely different plan on how we would get up there. It was really good!

Some friends of mine are genuine road geeks - and formed an e-group to discuss such things. I have to hurry to point out that I myself am not a road geek - I just know some. The fact that I am a member of this group and some of them talk to me is purely co-incidental. Anyway, several questions/comments occurred to me to ask my road geek freinds, as we were driving along. They were...

1. The unofficial Alt-M1 around Lakes Entrance (via B500 Bairnsdale to Bruthen and C620 Bruthen to Nowa Nowa) is getting a lot of work done to it – especially the C620 section. While there is probably very little thought of rerouting M1 (Princes Hwy), still there is good signposting of this alternative, and the road quality is being dramatically improved.

2. The section of NH23 (Federal Hwy) that brushes by Lake George no longer does. For our younger readers, Lake George is the pretty lake that USED to cover several thousand hectares in southern NSW. The nice people at RTA even built roadside stops so you can enjoy the lake. Unfortunately the lake had other ideas, and has left the building…

3. There has been a history of fatal road accidents at the junction of NH31 (Hume Hwy) and NH23 (Federal Hwy) near Goulburn. I’ve puzzled about why – it’s not a difficult intersection. But I noticed that as you approach from the west on NH31, the sign to Canberra indicates you need to do a U-turn. Indeed, a few hundred metres east of the intersection, a dedicated U-turn facility is provided for this purpose. But the indicator sign is located back before the junction. I wonder if people get to the junction, and try to turn back onto the northbound carriageway of NH23, into the oncoming traffic? Perhaps the sign and the U-turn facility need to be moved another kilometre east to avoid this confusion?

4. There is a really curious “phantom interchange” on the F3 (Pacific Hwy north of Sydney) near Gosford - a big cutting that leads off to... nowhere. But perhaps something is happening... I was surprised to see a lot of construction equipment sitting in there.

5. It was the first time I had driven my old friend NH15 (New England Hwy) for some time. Some minor improvements here and there were terrific, and I particularly like the new alignment of the Devil’s Pinch between Armadale and Guyra.

6. But – what is the story in the lower section of the Hunter? The NH15 from the end of the F3 through to Singleton is just a shemozzle. Speed limits up and down, so many little towns, slow roundabouts, traffic lights… is there any plan to do anything about this?

7. Around 10 km north of Guyra while NH15 continues along the spine of the Great Divide, the road level is sign posted at 1,410 metres. This would have to be the highest point on our National Highway system, I would think. The most remarkable thing about it is that this is not the top of some rugged range – it looks more like a fairly average undulating rural community.

8. Crossing the border from New South Wales to Queensland north of Tenterfield is a puzzle. How is the line defined? It is not a straight line as most of our state boundaries are, but nor does it follow a river like the Macintyre at Goondawindi or the Murray. Does anyone know how it is defined in the legislation?

9. A15 coming down Cunningham’s Gap is one of my favourite little sections on Australia’s National Highway network. The road drops around 600 metres in 10 km or so, but the hills either side of the Gap are quite a bit higher, making it seem like you have come down a lot more than that.

10. After a couple of days of driving around Brisbane, I come away shaking my head… why do the freeways have such complicated interchanges? Why is this so much more noticeable in Brisbane than Sydney or Melbourne? Some of the interchanges are simply… amazing…

No doubt there will be discussions about some of these issues for weeks to come!