[SydneyDude]

Just saw on the news, the Cross City Tunnel will open in 7 weeks, 4 months before schedule!

What are your thoughts on the impact it will have on the city?

My thoughts are it is the best thing to happen to this city in a while.... with 90,000 cars off city streets every day, and the work that will follow (wider footpaths, more trees etc...) hopefully we will see the city, particularly William St transform.

 

[christarrant]

3 things Id love to know-

1- be real interested to see how much of a difference it will make to CBD and William St traffic as these places could actually be NICE to walk around in morning and afternoon peak if this 90,000 car figure is correct,
2- how much is the toll ( will have a big effect on point 1 )
3- its just 2 lanes each way isnt it or is part of it 3 each way ???

 

[sirhc8]

$3.50 toll each way for whole distance.

 

[christarrant]

is that what everyone expected ??? My guess that a fair rate wouldve been $2.50 - $3.00 but I guess coz its the eastern subs those people can afford it.
Compare this to $2.20 for westies to use the ENTIRE 40 odd km stretch of the M4 !!!!!

 

[sirhc8]

$3.50 isn't definite but that's what's expected. At the start of the project, the toll was set at $2.50 (1999) so to extrapolate that to 2005, most people would have expected at least $3.50.

 

[Ipggi]

The Eastern distributor is $4 these days so $3.50 to avoid the CBD completely isn't a bad deal. I am worried about them reclaiming William Street to one active traffic lane (with added bus only and turning lanes. I live in Kings Cross, so there is no option for me to even enter the tunnel without maybe doing a big round-about through the back streets of eliz-bay or rushcutters.

 

[hornetfig]

is that what everyone expected ??? My guess that a fair rate wouldve been $2.50 - $3.00 but I guess coz its the eastern subs those people can afford it.
Compare this to $2.20 for westies to use the ENTIRE 40 odd km stretch of the M4 !!!!!

actually, that's $2.20 for the privelege of travelling between Silverwater Road and James Ruse Drive. That was in return for the consortium building the section from Mays Hill-Prospect (Burnett St-Reservoir Road)

 

[sirhc8]

^
Which private users get back anyway.

 

[Grantus]

Is there a thread or map someone can show me about this project? So that i can get an idea of where its going ect. I don't know sydney that well so don't just say " it's going from this suburb to that suburb"

Also What other tunnels are there in sydney?

 

[sirhc8]

www.crosscitymotorway.com.au

Other Sydney tunnels- Harbour Tunnel, Eastern Distributor, M5 east, M2(only 400m).
Lane Cove Tunnel under construction. M4 east and F3-M2 tunnel to come shortly.

What have I forgotten(assuming we're talking only about road tunnels)?

 

[Grantus]

yeah road tunnels for now, But yeah i didnt realise how many tunnels sydney had, They have quite a few

 

[Q-TIP]

21 weeks til gridlock in CCT

 

[Tancred]

And how long before the CCT slows to a crawl as car use increases due to the faster travel times?

I would be a lot more positive about all the roads that Sydney keeps building if the same amount of effort and planning went into public transport.

 

[mutzdeputz]

21 weeks til gridlock in CCT

More like 21 weeks til bottleneck on the WD - the bit by the Goldsbrough to be exact. CCT wont be gridlocked for a long time.

 

[hornetfig]

the idea has been to stagger the merg, but you're right, there's problems when you get to the Goldsborough Mort building because there can only be 3 lanes there -
* CCT meet Market St: 2+2 = 4 lanes, merge to 3
* Druitt St meet Market St: 3+1(+1 bus lane, but it ends just before) = 4 lanes, merge to 3 again

that is, there are 5 lanes that must merge to 3.

If I recall from the temporary line markings that were done a while back, it is both CCT lanes which end up ending by the Goldsborough Mort building, this is not, in my opinion, a good idea. The "best" option would be to end the Druitt St lane and one lane from the Market St viaduct (either at CCT lane or a Market St lane)

 

[SydneyDude]

Here is a pic I took today of the new smoke stack, poking up behind IMAX:

 

[bennyboiler]

What exactly is a smoke stack? Why is it so big, it looks like a really cool skyscraper!

 

[SydneyDude]

What exactly is a smoke stack? Why is it so big, it looks like a really cool skyscraper!

Exhaust stack- for all of the fumes from the tunnel to escape!

The exhaust stack for the Sydney Harbour Tunnel is actually one of the Harbour Bridge Pylons!

 

[OzFrog]

What exactly is a smoke stack? Why is it so big, it looks like a really cool skyscraper!

It does, doesn't it? I quite like it myself.

To answer your question, the "smoke stack" is the tunnel exhaust stack, which allows the exhaust fumes from the cars in the tunnels to be let out into the atmosphere. Otherwise you'd have lots of drivers dying from carbon monoxide poisoning, and we don't want that to happen .

 

[Macca-GC]

do they have a second smoke stack at the King's Cross end?

I know that with Brisbane's NSBT, they're proposing a stack at each end.