YOUR solutions: How should we fix Glen Osmond Road?

[drsmith]

A cheap (and nasty) solution to improving triffic flow on a narrow 4 lane road is to do what has been done to the Great Eastern Highway in Perth's inner north eastern suburbs between the airport and the Garhame Farmer Freeway. There the double white line marking the centre of the road has been covered with a low concrete barrier preventing all right turns except at major intersections. As a consequence it has made the allready narrow lanes narrower.

Anyone who has travelled from Perth airport to the city centre would be familiar with this stretch of road.

Unlike Adelaide on-street parking is generally not permitted on Perth's major suburban arterial roads.

[Will]

An affordable solution could be to build pedestrian overpasses to replace the 2-3 pedestrian crossings located on the road. Furthermore although already mentioned by someone else, I too think that removing on-street parking from the road could improve traffic flow, particularly on the stretch of the road where the 'DFO' shops are located.

[AtD]

Pedestrian crossings, if property timed with the surrounding intersections, shouldn't significantly interrupt traffic flow. Also, pedestrian overpasses are bloody annoying

[Prince George]

Pedestrian crossings, if property timed with the surrounding intersections, shouldn't significantly interrupt traffic flow. Also, pedestrian overpasses are bloody annoying

And they are significantly less accessible for people with limited mobility - whether on crutches, in wheelchairs, or simply elderly.

What I find amusing about this thread is that the problem to be fixed is "how do we reduce driving times down Glen Osmond Road?" This has collapsed what is a complex situation down to a single aspect, which we then try to optimise rather aggressively and let other considerations take a back seat. What about the problem of walking from one side to the other? What about the problems for the people living near the road, especially those with driveways onto the road, or the businesses along the road? What about the problems for buses along the road, or cyclists, or access to schools by children that could travel there alone? There are a host of things that we might want to "fix" about Glen Osmond Road.

I know that I carp on about it, but it seems clear to me that we can address more of these issues at the same time by working on the things that cause so many people to want to drive down Glen Osmond Road. Obviously, changing where everyone lives isn't a plan that we could act on right away, but there are other options. Could we encourage variable work-days to spread the commute times over a wider period? Could we encourage more telecommuting or other remote work options? For example, could there be short-term office spaces available in shopping centres that you could lease for a day or morning at a time? They wouldn't need much more than desks and decent wifi.

[Aidan]

Short to medium term solution: impose a toll on the South Eastern Freeway at peak times. Use the money to increase the coverage and frequency of bus routes in the Adelaide Hills. If it's still congested, increase the tolls and expand the Metroticket area.

Long term solution: build an expressway directly above Glen Osmond Road. This would be somewhat disruptive, but far less so than one alongside it, and it should make it less of a barrier to pedestrians as without the need to move so much traffic along the road, they could be given greater priority. To minimize blight, land alongside the road could be rezoned commercial (as much of it already is). The left lanes of Glen Osmond Road could be devoted to buses and turning traffic (giving the advantages of bus lanes without adversely affecting the businesses alongside the road) and as the freeway would no longer need to be so wide at the Glen Osmond end, a major bus interchange could be built there, with extra ramps for buses between it and the expressway.

[AtD]

An elevated expressway is a long term problem, not a long term solution. Not only would it destroy any character left along Glen Osmond Road, it'll simply encourage more city-bound traffic from far flung hills towns-come-sprawl. It'll exacerbate all the problems associated with low density sprawl, traffic in the CBD and car dependence that modern cities are trying to address.

[Somebody]

Freeway tunnel from Glen Osmond to CBD with on/off-ramps leading to:

all major City car parks
main CBD streets
a token lane for people not driving into the CBD itself (WTF!? people don't wanna go to the City!!?!?)

Plus:
single bus lane along the existing Glen Osmond Rd. Used for citybound buses 0700 to 0945 and outbound 1500 to 1830. Used as car parking during off-peak, weekend and evenings.

Or more seriously , full time bus lanes in both directions all the time. Fix the service frequencies and routes. Have a better interchange point at Glen Osmond between the 100 and Hills buses, although the former is useless if it doesn't run every 10 minutes.

I think the hills are more and more becoming just sprawl for Adelaide.

Also improve local buses around Aldgate/Stirling and Mount Barker to continue to the city as said express buses, not just connect with them.

Why the obsession with giving every single backstreet a single-seat express journey to the CBD?

I think bring back the train service to the hills is perfect. It will cut down traffic dramaticly.

No, just no.

http://transporttextbook.com/?p=509

[Cruise]

Honestly, i am dead set against turning Glen Osmond road into freeway. It is not a high priority freight route.

See:

http://www.transport.sa.gov.au/transpor ... colour.pdf

[AtD]

I almost thought you were serious there Somebody!

[Aidan]

An elevated expressway is a long term problem, not a long term solution.

Whether it solves or exacerbates the problem depends on how it's used. I should've specified that the long term solution would be in addition to, not replacing, peak hour tolls on the freeway being used to fund bus services.

Not only would it destroy any character left along Glen Osmond Road,

Is there any character left along Glen Osmond Road? And even if there is now, is there likely to be any left after another couple of decades of leaving Glen Osmond Road as it is?

it'll simply encourage more city-bound traffic from far flung hills towns-come-sprawl. It'll exacerbate all the problems associated with low density sprawl, traffic in the CBD and car dependence that modern cities are trying to address.

Adelaide will sprawl, and the sensible response is to let it do so! People like to live where they can easily access the City when they want to. Some work in the City, but housing costs around there are high, and many people would rather avoid living in a flat, especially if they've got young families. Anyway, most people in the sprawl work locally - they don't go to the City every day, but it's still nice for them to know they can if the need arises.

You are correct in saying that we shouldn't encourage car dependence, but the plan I mentioned for tolls and buses should ensure that the sprawl reduces its car dependence from the current level.

Honestly, i am dead set against turning Glen Osmond road into freeway.

Building one directly above it is very different from turning it into one.

It is not a high priority freight route.

The map you linked to shows it as carrying more freight than Cross Road.

[Norman]

Long term solution: build an expressway directly above Glen Osmond Road. This would be somewhat disruptive, but far less so than one alongside it, and it should make it less of a barrier to pedestrians as without the need to move so much traffic along the road, they could be given greater priority. To minimize blight, land alongside the road could be rezoned commercial (as much of it already is). The left lanes of Glen Osmond Road could be devoted to buses and turning traffic (giving the advantages of bus lanes without adversely affecting the businesses alongside the road) and as the freeway would no longer need to be so wide at the Glen Osmond end, a major bus interchange could be built there, with extra ramps for buses between it and the expressway.

A big cost for a small city... is it really worth it? It would also come under too much public scrutiny to actually go ahead.

[AtD]

I don't understand your logic. You suggest building an expressway, which would cost in order of hundreds of millions of dollars, to place a toll, to fund a bus route, to reduce car dependence.

[Aidan]

A big cost for a small city... is it really worth it? It would also come under too much public scrutiny to actually go ahead.

By the time it becomes practical to build it, Adelaide may not be such a small city any more! Consider what's happened to Perth in the last couple of decades...

I don't understand your logic. You suggest building an expressway, which would cost in order of hundreds of millions of dollars, to place a toll, to fund a bus route, to reduce car dependence.

No I'm not. I'm suggesting a toll to fund some bus services to reduce car dependence with existing infrastructure, then eventually building some new infrastructure but keeping the toll in place.

[Splashmo]

Honestly, i am dead set against turning Glen Osmond road into freeway.

Building one directly above it is very different from turning it into one.

I think building an expressway is a terrible idea - building one above Glen Osmond Road is probably even worse. What an awful disruption to the people living in the suburbs along the road, and all the businesses placed along the road. There's a heap of commercial offices nowadays - you could never get rid of those.

When you look at all the traffic snarls in Adelaide, Glen Osmond Road would rank nowhere near the top. I wouldn't even build an expressway on a busier road like Port Road or Main North Road, it's just not the solution we need in the inner suburbs.

[Aidan]

Honestly, i am dead set against turning Glen Osmond road into freeway.

Building one directly above it is very different from turning it into one.

I think building an expressway is a terrible idea - building one above Glen Osmond Road is probably even worse. What an awful disruption to the people living in the suburbs along the road, and all the businesses placed along the road. There's a heap of commercial offices nowadays - you could never get rid of those.

I wouldn't want to get rid of them - they'd form a buffer between the road and the residential areas. In fact I'd do the opposite - encourage offices, shops and possibly some light industry to take over the remaining 20% or so of Glen Osmond Road that's still residential. Although those businesses would lose some trade from passing traffic, they'd become easier to get to when Glen Osmond Road is no longer snarled up.

When you look at all the traffic snarls in Adelaide, Glen Osmond Road would rank nowhere near the top.

That is true at the moment, but I'm not suggesting we build it at the moment or even in the next 20 years. As I said, this is a long term solution. I supplied a short term solution too, getting more people onto buses, but the amount of traffic is growing rapidly, and the buses are caught up in the same traffic jams as everyone else!

I wouldn't even build an expressway on a busier road like Port Road or Main North Road,

Nor would I - both those roads have railways parallelling them, giving a time competitive alternative to traffic from the outer suburbs. Glen Osmond Road doesn't.

it's just not the solution we need in the inner suburbs.

So what's your solution?