I haven't finished yet.
Two weeks ago, this column listed examples of state and federal negligence of Newcastle, such as the crummy entertainment centre, the cheap and undersized railway terminus at Newcastle West and the outrageous plan to sell land from under the basketball stadium without buying a site for a new one.
But we have roads to whinge about, too. And whinging is what we need to do. My point is not that Newcastle is neglected - everyone knows that - but that Novocastrians hardly complain about each instance of neglect. We've dropped into a condition of permanently low expectations. No one whinged about the inadequacy of the railway station for long-term growth, for example.
Now we're looking forward to the opening next year of the Newcastle Inner City Bypass section from Jesmond to Rankin Park. On opening day, expect ministers or local members of parliament to crow about the final "completion" of the multi-stage bypass.
But it won't be complete, will it? We'll have a motorway-standard stretch from Gateshead to the western edge of Kotara, and another from Rankin Park to Sandgate. But in between there'll still be 1.5km of ordinary main road interrupted by intersections and two sets of traffic lights. North and south of that section, we'll whizz along at 90kmh, but when we get to it we'll have to slow to 70kmh, at best, and maybe hit the brakes for red lights.
Why have we accepted that? Why didn't we complain? When the Liberal-National state government eight years ago showed its concept design for the "final" section of the bypass between Jesmond and Rankin Park, Newcastle should have lifted its head, glared and said, "No, that can't be the 'final' section." It didn't.
Upgrading the slow stretch to motorway standard would be quite practicable. A lot of the current road could be used pretty much as it is, though a bit of straightening may be needed and more houses would have to be bought and demolished.
When officials at the old Department of Main Roads first drew the bypass on their planning maps more than 70 years ago, they also reserved land for an interchange with Main Road and Carnley Avenue. Admittedly, it's hilly terrain, so the interchange wouldn't be cheap.
But none of that is planned. As things stand, we'll always have an imperfect link from Gateshead to Sandgate, not a continuous motorway. As so often, we can imagine ministers and officials in Sydney saying, "Well, that's good enough for Newcastle. They'll be satisfied".
The next example of our excessive tolerance is Bridges Road, New Lambton, where widening is long overdue. When they were designing the bypass, the same mid-century DMR officials also worked out a plan for a high-capacity road from Broadmeadow to the Pacific Highway at Adamstown Heights; it's the route formed by Bridges Road and Northcott Drive and numbered B63. Because those were the days when planners planned properly, they provided a corridor all the way with enough width for divided carriageways and turning lanes.
The section of Bridges Road south of St James Road was soon built or rebuilt to their design, but the narrow northern half, which was already there as a standard-width street, was considered good enough for the time being. Reasonably enough, the state just put reservations on properties on the western side for eventual widening.
Widening that still hasn't happened.
The decades have rolled on. The 1960s brought the opening of Kotara Fair, a traffic-generating development that the old planners hadn't expected, and the shopping centre grew and grew into today's giant Westfield Kotara.
The homemaker centre on the other side of Park Avenue has grown as another destination that people want to drive to.
And still Bridges Road traffic is squeezed into that narrow corridor for about 1km north of St James Road. Four lanes are provided only by eliminating parking lanes, so there's no room for turning lanes. Left-lane traffic must slow when someone turns left, and the right lane stops when someone wants to turn right.
The constriction is also the reason why there are no right turns from Bridges Road to St James Road. People instead have to take zigzag routes, including a difficult right turn from Fairfield Avenue onto St James Road.
But converting the narrow part of Bridges Road to dual carriageway would not be hard, thanks to the farsighted reservations created decades ago. Widening would infringe on little Bill Curry Park, but the easy answer is to compensate by buying two or three adjoining residential lots and extending the reserve. Some trees would have to go, as trees often have to go when roads are built or widened.
But the splendid fig trees at the intersection with Lambton Road could be preserved if adjacent lots were bought for a turning lane.
We have waited patiently since the 1950s for this road to be widened. And there's the problem: our patience.
How about City Road at Merewether? The Pacific Highway's three city-bound travelling lanes become two at the intersection with Brunker Road and then just one at Scenic Drive. After the descent to residential Merewether, we get two travelling lanes in each direction again, but, just like those at Bridges Road, they're squeezed onto a single carriageway that has no room for turning lanes.
Traffic is slow and constricted. As at Bridges Road, vehicle noise is right next to the footpath. And, as at Bridges Road, old planners provided for a corridor, including reservations, for a proper four-lane divided carriageway, and properties were later resumed for the widening. On the south side of City Road, you'll see empty lots waiting for the state to allocate money and get on with the widening project.
They wait and wait. We wait and wait.
Guess how long we've been waiting?
Correct. More than 70 years.
