News & Discussion: General CBD Development

[Ben]

The middle school building at St Aloysius has been complete demolished. I’m surprised it wasn’t heritage listed.

[abc]

The middle school building at St Aloysius has been complete demolished. I’m surprised it wasn’t heritage listed.

for reference, the first few seconds of the video shows the school prior to demolition

[floplo]

Those nice little touches

The Queen's Wall on the side of the Queen's theatre.

[ml69]

Not sure where this post fits, mods please move if it’s in the wrong section.
I’ve just visited Hobart. Their CBD is full of one-way streets. I was impressed with how smoothly the traffic moves with this system - it seems you almost always have a green light. For visitors, it’s a bit confusing initially but you soon see the benefits. Should certainly be considered for certain narrow streets in the Adelaide CBD - perhaps Pirie/Waymouth St and even Hindley/Rundle St.
Thoughts?

[[Shuz]]

One way streets wouldn't work in Adelaide due to the hierarchy of the street grid.

Basically each east-west street follows an alternating major / minor thoroughfare pattern.

To optimise traffic flow, you would want a major / minor / minor / major pattern - then it would work because the 2 consecutive minor streets would be the one way thoroughfares.

I think the best solutions to manage traffic flow ironically would be to invest in public transit measures which have the intended effect of mode-shifting, thus reducing traffic which makes it flow better for those who actually need to use it (courier trucks).

1. Closing the entirety of Rundle Street and Hindley Streets and converting it into a mile long pedestrian mall (similar to Swanston Street, Melbourne).

2. Constructing a bus only tunnel with "super stops" underneath Currie and Grenfell Streets (similar to Queen Street Busway, Brisbane).

3. Underground CBD rail loop.

[ChillyPhilly]

ACC have rejected 30kmh speed limits.

And by ACC I mean select councillors as always.

https://www.indailysa.com.au/news/just- ... eed-limits

Councillor David Elliott on Facebook:

Passed by a margin of just one vote, this is by no means a 'blanket' response from Council, and a show-motion that fixes nothing.

Attempts to completely halt reviews of the speed limits were undone, ensuring that we can still make appropriate changes without being beholden to car-brained ideologues on Council.

Our city is fast becoming an outlier for the wrong reasons; we have the highest rates of motor vehicle collisions (between cars, pedestrians and cyclists) of any council in SA and we are becoming surrounded by suburbs with 40kph local streets. Narrow and crowded city streets are an unsuitable place for 50kph default speeds.

There is a very good reason residents and business on streets with lower speed limits are doing better, and it's because it is safer to drive, walk and cycle.

[abc]

ACC have rejected 30kmh speed limits.

And by ACC I mean select councillors as always.

https://www.indailysa.com.au/news/just- ... eed-limits

Councillor David Elliott on Facebook:

Passed by a margin of just one vote, this is by no means a 'blanket' response from Council, and a show-motion that fixes nothing.

Attempts to completely halt reviews of the speed limits were undone, ensuring that we can still make appropriate changes without being beholden to car-brained ideologues on Council.

Our city is fast becoming an outlier for the wrong reasons; we have the highest rates of motor vehicle collisions (between cars, pedestrians and cyclists) of any council in SA and we are becoming surrounded by suburbs with 40kph local streets. Narrow and crowded city streets are an unsuitable place for 50kph default speeds.

There is a very good reason residents and business on streets with lower speed limits are doing better, and it's because it is safer to drive, walk and cycle.

30km/h is a stupid speed and likely to contribute to excess fuel consumption as its high revs in 2nd gear and too slow for 3rd

I'd like to see more streets adopt 40km/h however, such as Wright St

[Nathan]

Passed by a margin of just one vote, this is by no means a 'blanket' response from Council, and a show-motion that fixes nothing.

Meanwhile Indaily:

Adelaide City Council publicly condemned a proposal

[Patrick_27]

ACC have rejected 30kmh speed limits.

And by ACC I mean select councillors as always.

https://www.indailysa.com.au/news/just- ... eed-limits

Councillor David Elliott on Facebook:

Passed by a margin of just one vote, this is by no means a 'blanket' response from Council, and a show-motion that fixes nothing.

Attempts to completely halt reviews of the speed limits were undone, ensuring that we can still make appropriate changes without being beholden to car-brained ideologues on Council.

Our city is fast becoming an outlier for the wrong reasons; we have the highest rates of motor vehicle collisions (between cars, pedestrians and cyclists) of any council in SA and we are becoming surrounded by suburbs with 40kph local streets. Narrow and crowded city streets are an unsuitable place for 50kph default speeds.

There is a very good reason residents and business on streets with lower speed limits are doing better, and it's because it is safer to drive, walk and cycle.

30km/h is a stupid speed and likely to contribute to excess fuel consumption as its high revs in 2nd gear and too slow for 3rd

I'd like to see more streets adopt 40km/h however, such as Wright St

Without wider median strips and footpaths plus vastly more separated bike lanes and bus lanes, slowing speeds down by that much across the CBD seems counter productive. I'm just trying to imagine how painful driving down a very wide corridor like Pulteney Street on a Sunday afternoon at 30km/hr would be. I'm not against 30/40km/hr along narrower streets (Gilles/Gilbert etc) but until we have made improvements to the flow of the city ring route with more flyovers and less traffic lights and a more extensive PT network, trying to reduce private vehicle volumes in the CBD by way of slowing the speed limit seems stupid. Plus, weird for the council that makes good buck on parking revenue.

[ChillyPhilly]

ACC have rejected 30kmh speed limits.

And by ACC I mean select councillors as always.

https://www.indailysa.com.au/news/just- ... eed-limits

Councillor David Elliott on Facebook:

30km/h is a stupid speed and likely to contribute to excess fuel consumption as its high revs in 2nd gear and too slow for 3rd

I'd like to see more streets adopt 40km/h however, such as Wright St

Without wider median strips and footpaths plus vastly more separated bike lanes and bus lanes, slowing speeds down by that much across the CBD seems counter productive. I'm just trying to imagine how painful driving down a very wide corridor like Pulteney Street on a Sunday afternoon at 30km/hr would be. I'm not against 30/40km/hr along narrower streets (Gilles/Gilbert etc) but until we have made improvements to the flow of the city ring route with more flyovers and less traffic lights and a more extensive PT network, trying to reduce private vehicle volumes in the CBD by way of slowing the speed limit seems stupid. Plus, weird for the council that makes good buck on parking revenue.

It is more to do with safety, any other benefit is a bonus.

[[Shuz]]

30 is way too slow.

But a blanket 40kph rule would be appropriate (West Terrace the exception).

[Bobski]

30 km/hr is not feasible IMO. I can't see someone racing across town to get their kid to school on time patiently poodling along at that pace, nor someone on the western streets at 1pm on a Sunday when they're desolate. Even 40 km/hr would be challenging to implement across the whole city, as demonstrated by the 2014 Hutt St trial.

One area I do think it could work/be justified is Carrington St between King William and Whitmore Square. People headed to & from the markets routinely just walk out onto the road without looking; ditto around the square. I automatically drive slower along there out of fear of hitting someone; it's like a defensive driving test every time.

Of course, if not uniform across the city they would need to clearly delineate the reduced speed area. One issue with the Hutt St trial was people not realising the limit and tooting/road raging at those observing it. Perhaps paving similar to the 40km zone on King William at Hyde Park could help with demarcation (controversial, I know).

Edit:

1. Closing the entirety of Rundle Street and Hindley Streets and converting it into a mile long pedestrian mall (similar to Swanston Street, Melbourne).

I agree with this. It's often quicker to walk down Hindley or Rundle than drive anyway, and removing cars would alleviate pedestrian congestion on footpaths.

[Bobski]

Just noticed the ugly carpark shed at 218-230 Flinders St has been knocked down (adjacent Vibe hotel and One Adelaide apartments).

Anyone know what's planned for the site? I didn't see see any recent sales on realestate.com and nothing on the development tracker.











Before:

Tracker:

[Ben]

The council bought it about 3 years ago with the promise of developing into housing. However I believe they’re just making the carpark more safe by removing the sheds. No applications for the site have been lodged.

[Bobski]

Thank you, Ben