News & Discussion: Height Limits

[Ho Really]

...Adelaide will need a proper ring road setup at freeway/tollway standard, it will need a north/south corridor (at freeway/tollway standard) and it will need an east/west corridor (at freeway/tollway standard)...

Adelaide dosn't need an east-west freeway. The important issue here is if they intend to close off those main east-west streets through the city. If the Adelaide CBD were to be pedestrian and public transport only then there would be a problem and traffic would have to circle half the city.

Cheers

[Pistol]

Okay you probably all know that I live in Bent Street (Adelaide) by now. Mid year exams and I had a 6pm exam at Wayville on a Wednesday night. I thought that I would drive considering it wasn't that far and the last thing I want to do is catch a bus that could be late for an exam. It took me 30 minutes from when I left my building to when I arrived at Wayville. That is unacceptable especially in a city of Adelaide's size. We should be looking at Perth and take a leaf out of their book when it comes to public transport for the masses. They add spur lines into their train network not to get to a certain destination (ie a shopping centre) but just to include that suburb and surrounding area into the network.
The tram is a good start and will change the way that Adelaideians view public transport but SO much more needs to be done. Trains are the way of the future in regards to public transport and yet there is so little emphasis on our network by successive governments.

[Pistol]

I disagree with you Ho Really in regards to keeping city thoroughfares open only for the reason it makes it convenient for people to travel through the city to reach their destination. We should be discouraging this behaviour as it just adds to the congestion of traffic within the city mile. Block off major thoroughfares, maybe even go as far as introducing a tax to every car that enters the city square (except for city residents). That would do a lot to persuade people to use public transport to enter the city.
Adelaide has two reasonably decent ring routes that people can use to circle the city to reach their destination. It seems that these large boulevards that have become such a significant design feature of our city are now working against us as people see them as an easy way to get from A to B and these are the people that complain about congestion in the city.

[rhino]

I do agree with Ho, there should be a few roads (and I agree with the ones he named) that are open for traffic to get through the city. There a re a few reasons for this. One is that Adelaide is a big city, spatially speaking. The distance from West Tce to Fullarton Rd (they form the western and eastern sides of the ring route) is 2 miles (3.2km). Therefore, if you are on Unley Road and want to head out on Prospect Road, you would be required to detour a mile to the east or west, then back again, to do this. And the traffic on the ring road does not flow smoothly, there are still many holdups, and they will remain until the ring route becomes a controlled access road ("tell him he's dreamin'!"). If you happen to be heading to the airport from the eastern suburbs, you will have to detour even further because the northern and southern sides of the ring route are even further apart than the eastern and western sides. What a pain! Of course the trouble is that if the roads are open for through traffic, they will be used by traffic terminating in the city too. The way to change this thinking, of course, is to offer a stellar public transport system. We need to make people want to take public transport into the city even if they don't have to. That way, instead of resenting the fact that they have to use public transport, they will take pride in the fact that they can use it.

[jimmy_2486]

...Adelaide will need a proper ring road setup at freeway/tollway standard, it will need a north/south corridor (at freeway/tollway standard) and it will need an east/west corridor (at freeway/tollway standard)...

Adelaide dosn't need an east-west freeway. The important issue here is if they intend to close off those main east-west streets through the city. If the Adelaide CBD were to be pedestrian and public transport only then there would be a problem and traffic would have to circle half the city.

Cheers

Well of course we don't need one now, however if we want to increase our states population by 25% to 2 million then how about then??

Takes me on average 50min to an hour to drive home 7km to the south-western suburbs (which i never do) in peak hour. I am usually standing still on anzac hwy and Marion road and I could probably name a lot more roads in the same state. If we were to increase the amount of cars by 25% on these roads then I could seriously see gridlock happening on the right occasion. If we want to put an extra half a million people into our state and double our cbd's population then we DO need to think about if our infrastructure (including PT and road) can handle it?? and what can we do now so that it will be able to!!

[jimmy_2486]

Besides we cant have an attitude of "We don't need this" if we are predicted to be entering state boom now can we?? If we get a boom, it will change our state, and we will need to upgrade our state accordingly.

[rhino]

Takes me on average 50min to an hour to drive home 7km to the south-western suburbs (which i never do) in peak hour.

Wow! Takes me that long to get from the city (where I work)to the back blocks of Oakbonk in peak hour, and that includes a 20-minute walk to my car, seriously! Man, am I glad I don't live in one of those hi-rise, medium-density burbs like you guys!

[SRW]

The city shouldn't be planned to cater for through-traffic; it should plan to be the destination itself. If east-west traffic cannot be successfully diverted to ring routes, and if the traffic substantially increases, then I'm all for a cross-city tunnel.

[AtD]

Just like to point out, without including the Hills towns along the SE Freeway, Adelaide is, at most, 20km wide (East-West), and 70km tall (North-South). It's a linear city. An east-west freeway isn't needed.

[Shuz]

All this talk about South Road becoming our N/S corridor, if we continue population growth at current rates (or higher possibly) to reach 2 million statewide population by 2030 (assuming that Adelaide will hit 1.4/1.5mill by then) I would believe, that with our current road network, we may just need another N/S route, utilising Portrush Road, from the SE Fwy to the NE suburbs. I know its recently been upgraded to accomodate the expansion of frieght and traffic movements, but again if you add the demands of another 250/300 thousand people and freight movements to the Port - surely this route would need be upgraded again (somehow). Glen Osmond Road, and perhaps a cross city tunnel from GO Road to Port Road may just be needed as well.

[AtD]

Well if South Road does ever become non-stop, I'd suspect more freight will use Cross Road and less use Port Rush.

[Ho Really]

Double post...see my post below.

Cheers

[Ho Really]

I disagree with you Ho Really in regards to keeping city thoroughfares open only for the reason it makes it convenient for people to travel through the city to reach their destination. We should be discouraging this behaviour as it just adds to the congestion of traffic within the city mile.

Most of those ending up in the city for work, shopping, education, entertainment, etc., should use public transport or park their cars in car parks on the periphery and use shuttles (council operated).

Block off major thoroughfares, maybe even go as far as introducing a tax to every car that enters the city square (except for city residents). That would do a lot to persuade people to use public transport to enter the city.

I know the tax is an option, but it will be unpopular for sure.

Adelaide has two reasonably decent ring routes that people can use to circle the city to reach their destination. It seems that these large boulevards that have become such a significant design feature of our city are now working against us as people see them as an easy way to get from A to B and these are the people that complain about congestion in the city.

I've considered these. Maybe the outer one should include a new section between Greenhill, Richmond Roads and ANZAC Highway above the railway to James Congdon/East Terrace at Mile End. These roads will also get congested if there are no roads through the city, unfortunately.

Cheers

[skyliner]

I may be a little slow here but what has all this got to do with CBD height limits?

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

[Ho Really]

I may be a little slow here but what has all this got to do with CBD height limits?

Nothing, just got off track. Promise next post will be on CBD Height Limits!

Cheers