On the one hand, a bunch of intersection upgrades are coming, first promised in the 2018 election campaign - on the other, they're all happening at once, and it's going to be pretty painful until it's all finished.

In April this year, The Courier did an unscientific survey to find out how long a morning commute or school drop-off might take - we left from DTC and the corner of Dyson Drive and Carngham Road at about 8.30am, taking a couple of different routes to Town Hall.

FROM APRIL: Is the morning commute getting worse?

The times we recorded set a baseline - it was a regular school day with no lockdowns, and work on the intersections hadn't begun yet.

We promised we'd go back six months later, when construction had started, and despite being held up by a certain global pandemic, we did exactly that.

During the 2018 election campaign, Labor promised to upgrade a bunch of intersections to respond to safety concerns and growth.

They are Hertford Street and Albert Street in Sebastopol, which will replace a roundabout with traffic lights; traffic lights at the DTC roundabout on the Glenelg Highway and Wiltshire Lane; more traffic lights at Wiltshire Lane and Latrobe Street in Delacombe; traffic lights and extra lanes at Docwra Street and the Midland Highway in Sebastopol; traffic lights synced to the railway crossing at Gillies Street and Gregory Street West in Wendouree; and what's likely to be a roundabout at Dyson Drive and Carngham Road.

Work is almost finished at Gillies Street, which will be a relief, but it's just getting started on Wiltshire Lane - early work is under way in Sebastopol, with the plans changing for Docwra Street, while Dyson Drive could change further if council's plans for a duplication get funded.

We decided to once again target the Delacombe intersections - we use the roads too, we know they're bad, and this is where more people are moving.

Town Hall was the destination because it's a common destination to get to by 9am, and we'd hit several school zones at their peak.

Four drivers set off from the Carngham Road and Dyson Drive corner - and one must note there are a lot more houses there than there were six months ago.

Two of them went up Dyson Drive, with one turning right at Cuthberts Road before going left and right onto Sturt, and the other just turning right onto Remembrance Drive.

The other two went down Carngham Road, with one turning left onto Wiltshire Lane and going right at the Arch roundabout, and the other continuing straight to the Midland Highway.

From DTC, one driver went through the roundabout north along Wiltshire Lane, hitting both construction sites, while the other went right, turning left at Albert Street.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? HAVE YOUR SAY BELOW

In April, we only did four of these routes - we've added the two Midland Highway routes as controls, and because there will be works happening in Sebastopol.

We all left at 8.30am exactly.

In April, our Dyson Drive drivers made it to Town Hall in just over 21 minutes - on Remembrance Drive, it took about 21 minutes, while on Cuthberts Road, fighting through school traffic, it took 22.38.

On Carngham Road, it took 19 minutes flat heading north on Wiltshire Lane and Learmonth Street, while our DTC drive took 18:20.

The biggest takeaway is that it took much longer for our DTC driver to head up Wiltshire Lane - this week, it took them 26:30 to get to the CBD, a difference of more than eight minutes.

The traffic heading north was banked up for a considerable distance, crawling along through the construction zone.

By comparison, the DTC drive to the Midland Highway took just 18:40.

On Carngham Road and Wiltshire Lane, it took 20:59, an increase of two minutes from six months ago - our control driver, who took Latrobe Street, made it in 19:15.

For Dyson Drive, it took a bit longer to get through Cuthberts Road, at just over 24 minutes, while heading straight to Remembrance Drive took slightly less time, at 20 minutes, about a minute less than April.

It's important to note that while construction's under way in Delacombe, there's also been a lot of work on Sturt Street.

All the traffic lights east of Pleasant Street were working in April, but a new set has been activated at the Morrison Street intersection in front of Victoria Park, which had noticeable amounts of traffic banked up trying to turn right onto Russell Street.

Similar restrictions on working from offices were in place in April, which we thought could have had an effect.

As mentioned, there are far more houses south of Alfredton, and there was plenty of construction traffic on the roads at that time as tradies visited sites.

We know Ballarat's growing pretty quickly, and all the 10-minute-city proposals in the world won't slow that down.

The city will remain car-centric for a long time, particularly in the growth zones, especially if the centre of gravity for work and schools remains in Ballarat Central.

Several groups have called for public transport to be overhauled in Ballarat, to recognise and support how the city's changing and growing - these include the Committee for Ballarat, City of Ballarat, and Public Transport Users Association.

IN THE NEWS

It's interesting to note that several of the upgrade projects are happening at once, and it's likely things will get worse before they'll get better.

Waiting at the corner of Dyson Drive and Carngham Road, it's obvious how much work will be required to make this a safer intersection, and much like Docwra Street, perhaps traffic lights will be required much sooner than expected instead of a roundabout.

The Courier will be back out there in April, to see how things have changed in 12 months (barring another lockdown).

By then, the Delacombe projects will be either finished or very nearly finished, so we should be able to see how traffic flow has changed.

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