on 08-04-2014 03:18 PM
Sydney motorists will be driving along some of the longest urban road tunnels in the world, raising questions about how drivers will cope with the long stretches underground and about what happens when accidents occur.
The concerns emerge as new details come to light about the process of planning the 33 kilometre WestConnex motorway. At least 13 kilometres are expected to be in a continuous tunnel, from Strathfield to St Peters.
At nine kilometres, the NorthConnex motorway to be built between the M1 and M2 in northern Sydney will also be more than twice as long as any other in Sydney.
''These are at the top table,'' said Arnold Dix, a leading tunnel safety expert who is consulting on both projects.
''This is not Australia building some tunnel like everybody else builds. This is the frontier. This is as challenging and as technically demanding as any of the main projects in the world at the moment.''
Even the NRMA, which is a strong supporter of the motorway projects, is arguing that the new tunnels need to be designed differently.
In a presentation to a road safety conference last month, the NRMA's senior policy adviser on roads, Mark Wolstenholme, said tunnels were monotonous for drivers and ''fatigue or tiredness in drivers in tunnels is more prevalent''. The insides of tunnels needed to be made interesting for drivers to look at, he said.
Mr Wolstenholme said the surface connections of the tunnels needed to be better planned because, if there was a big accident, the entire tunnel would need to be closed.
This meant that, for the WestConnex project, traffic would need to return to the road surface and planned bus lanes on Parramatta Road would need to be opened up to car traffic, Mr Wolstenholme said.
The question of the tunnel length emerged for WestConnex officials relatively late in the piece. The project director for the motorway, Paul Goldsmith, emailed advisers in May to request a position paper about long tunnels.
''We've assumed to a large extent that existing Sydney tunnels provide precedents to follow,'' he wrote.
He was told by a consultant, Steve Messenger, that there was in fact no precedent in the world.
Read more: Here
Geez I shudder to think what the toll would be to use that sort of tunnel!
on 08-04-2014 03:36 PM
The advertising space available on the walls ...........that could divert drivers' attention from the monotony and it would pay for the toll on behalf of the drivers.
Or alternately, competitions for graffiti artsts to show their talent.
Or a "scenic length of screen" applied to the walls (a country drive without the wildlife crossings and with a spritz of eucalyptus).
These alternatives could give "perspective" of distance and space.
DEB
08-04-2014 04:30 PM - edited 08-04-2014 04:30 PM
I hate looong tunnels. 13 kilometres.. I would be freaking out the entire way and having to talk myself through it. lol
on 08-04-2014 04:58 PM
@lloydslights wrote:The advertising space available on the walls ...........that could divert drivers' attention from the monotony and it would pay for the toll on behalf of the drivers.
Or alternately, competitions for graffiti artsts to show their talent.
Or a "scenic length of screen" applied to the walls (a country drive without the wildlife crossings and with a spritz of eucalyptus).
These alternatives could give "perspective" of distance and space.
DEB
I think the graffiti artists would be good
all of the above actually.
on 08-04-2014 05:24 PM
on 08-04-2014 05:45 PM
on 08-04-2014 05:48 PM
why is a tunnel different to a normal road?
can't you new south welshmen drive?
it is bitumen with white lines painted on it
on 08-04-2014 06:16 PM
Has anyone considered the event of a ventilation system failure?
on 08-04-2014 06:17 PM
i'd rather other drivers sharing the tunnel with me concentrate on the road and what other traffic is doing rather than whats on the walls, but i'm just fussy like that.
on 08-04-2014 06:49 PM
drove my a9x thru the northbridge tunnel soon after it opened and mates muscles cars since, sounds alright