[COM] Victoria Square Upgrade - $24m

[ChillyPhilly]

Lots of cars driving into the curved bus only section in the middle of the square, as a pedestrian I've had a few near-misses by some blind motorists who clearly dont see the "bus-only" sign

We get people routinely driving on to the O-Bahn, so not surprised people ignore a single 'bus-only' sign. (That also applies to the bus lanes on Curry/Grenfell, and Botanic Rd.)

Kellogg's must be putting driving licences on the back of Crunchy Nut boxes.

[Phantom]

INCOMING REQUEST!!!

If anyone has a really good camera and has a spare ten minutes in the City, could you possibly do me a massive favour?

Seeing as how you're in the Victoria Square thread, I'm sure you'll get where abouts I'd like a photo from.

I drove through the Square for the umpteenth time last night and I'm truly amazed about how well the lighting and architecture look at the moment. The City looks awesome from the perspective around the tram stop in front of the Hilton and also just south of that intersection, looking north towards the main northern city area. If anyone could take a few shots of this, that would be awesome and much appreciated. I have a few friends overseas who are quite curious as to what I'm on about when I say that they have to see how good this looks in my opinion, and unfortunately my phone camera just can't cut it...

Also, while talking about how it looks, I have to admit, I have nothing but praise for the perspective of the Quest building from the Square. It looks like both a nice density filler and also I actually think that at night the Quest logo looks quite smooth, and during the day it helps the Optus Building no longer stand out like crazy (along with that Credit Union building).

[monotonehell]

I've seen someone (different) with a tripod there most nights going past from work. I think there will be a tonne of photos soon. Somewhere...

[Paulns]

Looks awesome at night! I really hope they find the money to go through with the remaining stages.

[Paulns]

Here's a few photos I took recently of the fountain under lights!

[rhino]

Love your photography Paul - more like these please!

[Paulns]

I'll work on it Rhino, thanks!

[Phantom]

Paul, if you could take a photo at night of the northern side of the Square (mainly of the Post Office, KW and the Town Hall) from the perspective of around the tramstop, that would make me really happy!

[Paulns]

I'll have to go out and have a look next time Phantom. I'd love to be able to get up into one of the surrounding buildings and take a shot of the whole square looking down, at night!

[Songsting]

Paulns, they are exceptional photos -great work!

[Wayno]

currently some issue/confusion (mayoral election jockeying?) with the new VSQ road pavers? slippery when wet? apparently same issue occurred in Hindley St West - how was that resolved?

This is all new news to me.

[SRW]

currently some issue/confusion (mayoral election jockeying?) with the new VSQ road pavers? slippery when wet? apparently same issue occurred in Hindley St West - how was that resolved?

This is all new news to me.

AFAIK, as council hasn't yet determined whether the Hindley Street problem relates to wrongly-used pavers or installation, they're exercising caution in Victoria Square as it shared the same construction contractor (though different designers). They've wisely lowered the speed limit to 25km/h pending slip test results.

[JamesXander]

I get the feeling that this whole paver-gate is going to sink Yarwoods re-election chances. Don't get me a wrong I think what he has done is great for the city, but sheeesh what a muck up.

[Pikey]

Yeah, evidently the whole slip factor of the pavers was overlooked, and in the wet they are meant to be incredibly slippery, to the point cars travelling at low speeds were locking up when braking. Same for cyclists.

Seems like a fair whack of a stuff up too.

[SRW]

I get the feeling that this whole paver-gate is going to sink Yarwoods re-election chances. Don't get me a wrong I think what he has done is great for the city, but sheeesh what a muck up.

I think that's little bit catrastrophising. For one thing, it's misunderstanding the Lord Mayor's role and responsibilities. For another, it doesn't appear that council has done anything explicitly wrong; it paid qualified groups to design and deliver a project according to their own expertise. If there's been a mess up, it's on them. The council's public realm objectives remain valid. But more than anything, the problem is temporary -- it's presumably fixable, and even if not, 10km/h in a highly pedestrianised section of Hindley Street is not a wholly unreasonable ongoing limit.