[U/C] M2 North-South Motorway

[claybro]

DPTI reply to a comment on their Facebook page:
"speed limits on the lowered motorway will remain at the current posted 60km/hr until final asphalt compliance test results are received that satisfy increasing the speed limit. A new asphalt mix has been used on T2T to lessen maintenance, and there is a period of wearing in before we can raise the speed limit which we hope to do in the next few weeks."

A months long wearing in period? My BS sense is tingling.

[SBD]

DPTI reply to a comment on their Facebook page:
"speed limits on the lowered motorway will remain at the current posted 60km/hr until final asphalt compliance test results are received that satisfy increasing the speed limit. A new asphalt mix has been used on T2T to lessen maintenance, and there is a period of wearing in before we can raise the speed limit which we hope to do in the next few weeks."

A months long wearing in period? My BS sense is tingling.

How long have other new roads taken, and how much rain does it take to wash the oils out/off the surface? I wouldn't be surprised if they want to wait until it's had an inch of rain or something.

[Brucetiki]

What the hell happened on the Superway this morning. 35+ minute delays to get to Regency Rd. None of the displays gave the heads up until it was too late, and the Ad Insight app gave no notice of the delay either.

[timtam20292]

Glitch maybe?

[muzzamo]

What the hell happened on the Superway this morning. 35+ minute delays to get to Regency Rd. None of the displays gave the heads up until it was too late, and the Ad Insight app gave no notice of the delay either.

Use google maps. With the copious amounts of data that google collects, it beats ad insight any day.

[Brucetiki]

What the hell happened on the Superway this morning. 35+ minute delays to get to Regency Rd. None of the displays gave the heads up until it was too late, and the Ad Insight app gave no notice of the delay either.

Use google maps. With the copious amounts of data that google collects, it beats ad insight any day.

Ad Insight is pretty useless when it comes to major delays. It will either grossly underestimate a delay (like this morning - no warning for a 30-45 minute delay), or grossly exaggerate a delay (once it was saying there was a 15-20 minute delay on Port Wakefield Rd, and there were no delays at all).

[SRW]

DPTI just posted on Facebook that landscaping has commenced for T2T and will include 800 trees and 50,000 plants. Artist's impressions:

45855303_2095681790484120_7662840612390961152_o.jpg (161.39 KiB) Viewed 1942 times

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46156381_2095682013817431_2661196856549179392_o.jpg (193.39 KiB) Viewed 1942 times

[Llessur2002]

The updated renders for the T2T landscaping are all here:

http://www.t2talliance.com.au/about-the ... an-design/

It includes a long plot of all of the tree planting locations here:

http://www.t2talliance.com.au/wp88/wp-c ... -FINAL.pdf

There is a still a little discontent amongst the community with regards to the proposed landscaping – whilst trees for the South Road nature strips are now back on the table (the Claret Ashes shown in the renders posted above), the nature strips will now no longer be turfed and will be filled with compacted gravel instead. Looking at the long plot showing where on South Road trees will (and more specifically won’t) be planted, that’s a lot of gravel which in a few years will be weedy, looking pretty plain and doing absolutely nothing to stop the heatsink effect along these footpaths.

I can sympathise with the community here as by all accounts the liaison group between the community, T2T and DPTI was disbanded shortly before the landscaping amendments were announced by T2T. Other reductions in promised landscaping include the re-using of materials from some of the heritage properties which were demolished to make way for the road – apparently the community had been advised it had been the plan from the outset to use these to build benches etc throughout the project area but now have been told this will no longer be the case.

Today Tonight covered the story a week or so ago in true overly-dramatic form:

https://www.todaytonightadelaide.com.au ... t-troubles

Here's an updated render of the Harriet Street detention basin. Look at how the woman with the dog is marvelling at the aesthetic quality of the gravel nature strips...



And here's the 'before' render for comparison. The indented bench feature has also been removed - that should help keep the pesky elderly and infirm away from the area.



Not forgetting that the original plan for the Harriet Street basin was for a walkway to extend over it...



And the area around the shared path ramp. Lots of lovely brown gravel...



Here's the before...



Here's the new render for the Harriet Street intersection with South Road...



And the before...



And for South Road just south of the rail overpass:



And the greener before shot:



Just annoys me that urban design and landscaping seems to be a complete afterthought with these large infrastructure projects and, apparently, completely acceptable to dumb down in order to save a few bucks...

[Mpol03]

Does it really cost that much more to plant grass?
Adelaide projects always have such cost cutting foolishness that makes them look half arssed and so cheap ffs!

[SBD]

Is the "dumbing down" of the landscaping initiated by the T2T Consortium or by DPTI?

The changes look like they reduce the irrigation water requirements (and the maintenance on a watering system), and change the work required to maintain it neat and weed-free, so it can be sprayed with systemic weed killer a few times a year instead of needing mowing. If it is all focused on reducing regular maintenance costs, I wonder if it was initiated by DPTI not by T2T.

It's disappointing the walkway over the pond and the seats seem to have been lost. I don't know how much extra they cost to maintain.

[SBD]

Does it really cost that much more to plant grass?
Adelaide projects always have such cost cutting foolishness that makes them look half arssed and so cheap ffs!

I don't think the issue is the installation cost - it's the ongoing maintenance costs.

[Mpol03]

So they’ll do what they do best here and allow it to get weed riddled and neglect it.

[Patrick_27]

Grass or gravel aside, I'm glad to see that they've well and truly left this as the last job to be done with this project, means they might actually take time to ensure the job is done well.

[Waewick]

I can understand not going with grass, you need to keep it alive and then cut it.

A nicer replacement would have been nice.

[Llessur2002]

I can understand not going with grass, you need to keep it alive and then cut it.

A nicer replacement would have been nice.

Exactly. There are a multitude of clumping, native grasses which would require very little water once established.