Belconnen Changes

[Bus 400]

Benjamin Way will be shut between Chan Street/Cameron Avenue & Swanson Court from 17:00 10 October 2009 to 06:00 16 October 2009 for the demolition of the old bridge.(http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/160764/Benjamin_Way_Belconnen.pdf)

On another note, the red bridge that provides access to Westfield Belconnen will be closed from 31 August 2009 so that it can be relocated. (http://www.tams.act.gov.au/live/about_our_department/community_engagement/community_engagement_activities_and_events/belconnen_town_centre_improvements/key_dates/relocation_of_the_red_bridge)

[Bus 400]

Charnwood residents have done something so that their bus shelters on Lathlain Street so that they know which ones to use.

[Snorzac]

Charnwood residents have done something so that their bus shelters on Lathlain Street so that they know which ones to use.

[Irisbus Rider]

Charnwood residents have done something so that their bus shelters on Lathlain Street so that they know which ones to use.

YF!

[Bus 400]

Platform 4 on Cameron Avenue Bus Station now has a taxi rank at the rear end & a bus shelter is currently been put in at the same platform.

The fencing has finally been completed at Cohen Street Bus Station

[Bus 400]

As many would know the no entry signs that ACTION had around Belconnen Interchange & transferred those signs to Cohen Street Bus Station. Well ACTION have recently added a new no entry sign to Cohen Street Bus Station. It has the same words but with the new ACTION logo & on a white background. It is located on the median strip on the bus entry/exit road from Belconnen Depot as people shortcut across there rather then walk to the other end of the bus station & then double back.

[Bus 400]

The bridge has now gone & Benjamin Way has reopened-12 hours earlier then reported. There is a bit more demolition work to go on inside the Belconnen Interchange site

[Bus 400]

The tower was knocked down over the weekend. Once the steel & cement is cleared this week, that will just about be it. The next work is to get Cohen Street through there.

[Buzz Killington]

Went for a bit of a drive around the town centre the other night for the first time in ages, looks like a fair bit of work is going on around the place!

[Buzz Killington]

King Long has put together an article on the last night of Belconnen Interchange, for those who are interested:

http://actbus.net/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=837&Itemid=1

[smitho]

Noticed today a new set of (non operating) traffic lights east of the safety barrier on the new bus access road connecting Lathlain St with the Westfield Belconnen Mall bus station...

[Barry Drive]

The adshels for Belconnen East (ABS) have started to be installed. They appear to be the large version, rather than the single seat used everywhere else.

[p_stampy]

So... do they provide cover from the rain for more than 2 people?

[Barry Drive]

Can't attest for their rain-protection ability, but they will certainly seat more than 2 people.

[belcodriver]

So... do they provide cover from the rain for more than 2 people?

Probably not, no doubt following the reprehensible anti-homeless people design philosophy, seeing as it's illegal to be poor.

[Bus 400]

The adshels for Belconnen East (ABS) have started to be installed. They appear to be the large version, rather than the single seat used everywhere else.

The same thing has gone up at Westfield Belconnen Bus Station.

[Bus 400]

In relation to the Westfield Belconnen Bus Station, only the walkway between the bus station & the current Westfield building (upper floor) has to be open by end of October. Other sections are to open in November & it is all to be complete by end of March 2011. There is a little bit of chaos going on at the moment, with it being a push for Westfield Belconnen walkway being finished by end of October.

[Snorzac]

Where did you get this information? My mum (an executive at Westfield Belconnen) just looked at your post and said that the information you are giving is an epic fail.

[Bus 400]

Those building the thing.

[Barry Drive]

The Chandler Street overpass has recently been painted a dark grey / blue. Looks really good.

[smitho]

Work on the ABS Station (now called Belconnen Community Station) is coming along well and all the tarmac work, and most of the paving and shelter construction work, seem near completion. Lighting also looks near completion. It looks as if they're adopting a blue theme for this Station.

Some landscaping work still to do, but a good number of largish manchurian pear (shade) trees have been planted in recent days, so in time,  hopefully the area won't be quite so bleak and shadeless as Cohen St Station.

Not much evidence of Lake Ginninderra College Station yet although all the linking road works from the site of the old Belconnen Interchange (now partly occupied by the community Station) have been completed. As at last weekend, an Adshell type thingo was under construction on the site of the eastern entry/exit road to/from the old Interchange. An old goose neck light pole at that old entrance is still in situ.

Hardly anything from the old Interchange bus layover area remains other than a section of the kerbing from the old down ramp which has been preserved only because the construction company huts are perched over the top of it.

At the Westfield Station site, what I take to be the Bus Lounge building is largely complete but is yet to be fitted out. You can walk through a portion of it to access the existing Food Court. The platforms and overhead canopies and tarmac areas are close to completion. You can easily see these structures from the Lathlain St Bus Station and from the Red Bridge.

A great deal of landscaping work is going on along the bus lanes between the Community Station and Westfield Station sites....some of the stone faced parts of the old Belconnen Busway retaining walls are incorporated into the new construction, although most of the retaining walls are new bare concrete structures featuring a tree pattern (which looks quite effective).

As at the Community Station, large plantings of manchurian pear trees will soften the look of things and provide useful shade as time goes by. 

[Barry Drive]

Not much evidence of Lake Ginninderra College Station yet ...

There won't be a Lake Ginninderra College Station - just two bus stops: one on Eastern Valley Way (south) and another on Emu Bank across the road from McDonalds. The (small) AdShels for both of these stops are now being installed. Presumably the bunker shelter on Emu Bank will be removed later.

Also, poles for Parking signs and Parking ticket machines have been installed on Lathlain St in anticipation of the removal of the bus stops.

[smitho]

There won't be a Lake Ginninderra College Station - just two bus stops: one on Eastern Valley Way (south) and another on Emu Bank across the road from McDonalds. The (small) AdShels for both of these stops are now being installed. Presumably the bunker shelter on Emu Bank will be removed later.

Also, poles for Parking signs and Parking ticket machines have been installed on Lathlain St in anticipation of the removal of the bus stops.

That's interesting. Hadn't heard that before. The partly built Adshel at the former eastern entrance to the old Interchange would be one of the two you're referring to.

[smitho]

Noticed that new Network 10 shift cards refer to "Emu Bank Bus Station" (I guess this is what had previously been referred to as the Lake Ginninderra College Bus Station).

Also, the Station on the site of the old Interchange is referred to as the "Belconnen Community Station"...ie. without the word "Bus".

[Barry Drive]

The traffic light sequence on Cohen St has been changed already to give buses priority - when you get the green light coming down the hill, at Lathlain St there will be a left turn arrow. Similarly when exiting the bus station (B light), there will be a green light at Lathlain.

[Bus 400]

Trying to work out the new roads. Can normal traffic access Cohen Street from the Benjamin Way left turn lane? It appears that traffic heading west on Emu Bank can't access Cohen Street.


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[Snorzac]

The Cohen st extension will be buses only except for a small part off Lathlain st to give access to the Westfield Carpark.

[Barry Drive]

Cohen St between Lathlain and Benjamin will be fully open to normal traffic. Between Benjamin and Emu Bank will be buses only.

[Barry Drive]

Top effort! The street signs have gone in at Cohen / Lathlain. Problem is it says "LAITHLAIN ST".

[Snorzac]

Lol. Cohen will be buses only all along the new part. My source: the giant writing on the road.

EDIT: I stand corrected

[Barry Drive]

The outside lanes will be BUS ONLY (although this may not be legally enforceable since the road rules do not have any provisions for bus only lanes), with inside lanes + turning lanes for all traffic.

[smitho]

Looking at the Westfield Bus Lounge and adjoining new buildings, there seems to be a great deal of work that will need to be done in quick time if these facilities are to open on 15 Nov.

[Bus 400]

The fences have been removed from around the Westfield Bus Station. Work looks pretty much done at the Community Bus Station, with the west bound bus stop on Benjamin Way being right in front of the old Interchange exit road.

[Barry Drive]

Top effort! The street signs have gone in at Cohen / Lathlain. Problem is it says "LAITHLAIN ST".

Incorrect signs have been replaced.

[Sir]

Still a bit of work to go down at the ABS Station, mainly cleaning up and finishing paving. Inside Belco up on level 3 near the food court the wooden wall has being taken down so you can see the walk way to the bus staion. No shops yet and there is a temp fence still there, but other than a quick clean inside looks ready!

[smitho]

Yeah, it looks to me as if the bus station access way will open well before those shops are fitted out.

[Sir Pompously]

Free bus station familiarisation tour

As part of the Belconnen Community Festival on Saturday 13 November 2010, ACTION will run free familiarisation bus tours of the new bus stations providing people with an opportunity to visit the Westfield and Belconnen Community Bus Stations. Bus tours will commence at 11.30 am (after Westfield's Santa Parade).

[Barry Drive]

For more photos and commentary on the new Belconnen Stations, read D.C.Haas's blog.

[Bus 400]

The bollards have been removed from Lathlain Street & Cameron Avenue Bus Stations, with the timetables sticky taped onto shelters/brick walls (won't last too long in this rain).

I can see an accident happening where buses leave Westfield Bus Station & re-join Cohen Street (Community Bus Station bound) as one day a car isn't going to see the bus leaving/entering & go through the Give Way sign. But in all the set up from Eastern Valley Way through to Cohen Street Bus Station looks a good set up for getting buses through quickly & we the 3 bridges over Cohen Street, it should provide a few good locations for bus photography.

[Sir]

Has anyone got any images of the finished westfield station? And what real time display was ment to be installed?

[400:D]

The bollards have been removed from Lathlain Street & Cameron Avenue Bus Stations, with the timetables sticky taped onto shelters/brick walls (won't last too long in this rain).

I can see an accident happening where buses leave Westfield Bus Station & re-join Cohen Street (Community Bus Station bound) as one day a car isn't going to see the bus leaving/entering & go through the Give Way sign. But in all the set up from Eastern Valley Way through to Cohen Street Bus Station looks a good set up for getting buses through quickly & we the 3 bridges over Cohen Street, it should provide a few good locations for bus photography.

The rain will destroy that paper unless its under good shelter. The accident you describe can easily happen as when I was in Newcastle (livin ) A bus ignored a stop sign I think or a give way and hit/grazed/lightly hit the back of the car I was in so these things can happen. Bus stations, Buses and photography, is there a better mix.

[smitho]

For more photos and commentary on the new Belconnen Stations, read D.C.Haas's blog.

Thanks Martin; that blog review of the Belco bus stations makes some pretty interesting points.

[p_stampy]

I'd just like to add that the bus shelters at the westfield stop are decent enough when it's raining. Happy Stampy.

[Bus 400]

Work has now begun ripping up the old carpark on Cohen Street near the Belconnen Depot entrance. I am unsure what it is meant to be, but I was told of a rumour it is to be shops of some sort.

[p_stampy]

More shops and no parking? sounds good...