News & Discussion: Adelaide City Council

[ChillyPhilly]

Arghhhhhh. This makes me angry, and I'm not even a cyclist at all!

[urban]

I just signed the petition, "Adelaide City Council: Save the Frome Street Bikeway."

http://www.change.org/p/adelaide-city-c ... et-bikeway

This is one way of voicing your displeasure about the bikeway. Can i also suggest writing emails, letters, tweets, etc to the councillors even if you're not a city resident. Let them know (politely) that the bikeway is essential infrastructure that improves your experience in the city and makes you more likely to spend time there.

[Vee]

Some on the ACC seem determined to strangle / kill off some of our best recent initiatives.
Food trucks? Frome St bikeway? Royal Croquet Club?

ACC is all but destroying the safe Frome St bikeway.
4 lanes during peak hour?!?
Narrowing the bikeway to single file?
Fiasco. Short-sighted. Cars rule thinking!

Cyclists need a safe, protected, decent width cycle lane to encourage and protect them from errant motor vehicles.

And proposing restrictions on the operation of the Royal Croquet Club in Victoria Square during the Fringe?
Too successful?
Opening hours cut, early lockout.
Next?
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... 7410874039

[realstretts]

My conversation via email with Anne Moran just now:

Me:

It concerns me greatly that the progress seen in making Frome st, a place where active transport modes (walking, cycling) can be undertaken safely, is under attack by those who are blind to independent and validated evidence that the bike way and reduction of traffic to one lane has not affected travel times for cars, nor reduced business for local businesses. Given the report found that increasing the road back to two lanes each way would have negligible impact on congestion, I am dumbfounded as to why this is seriously being considered by the ACC (and, mind you, at the cost of $350,000)!

The further claim that the small reduction in car traffic on Frome st is indicative of less people coming into the CBD is laughable - could the Councillors who made this claim support it with an independent review before money is spent reversing the progressive and innovative work that has already been accomplished?

I understand that some Councillors may find it necessary to blind themselves with political ideology before actually accepting facts in front of them. I do not understand why a majority of Councillors find it necessary to accept anecdotal evidence as fact, instead of months of data collection.

There is a big difference between a politician and a leader, likewise a considerable gap separates a group of politicians and a group of leaders. Currently the ACC exhibits the former - a bunch of politicians blinded by anecdotal 'evidence' to suit a preconceived ideology.

I sincerely hope reason prevails in this instance, and somewhere within the ACC a group of leaders can emerge.

Anne:

The bike lane will remain exactly the same as will the footpath. So cycling and walking will be unaffected. Anne

My reply:

Thank you for your response,

Could you please justify the spending of $350,000 to revert back to two lanes during peak hour, even though the independent report found it would make absolutely no difference?

Anne:

Will try to do it for much less The report didn't say don't do anything. It said do roll over curbs instead of the cement barriers and make the painted lane go across the intersection. The street will only get busier as the city grows so we don't need flower beds in usable lanes Cheers Anne

My reply:

"The report didn't say don't do anything"

But it did not say 'return frome st to four lanes" - It said doing so would make no measurable positive impact.

"The street will only get busier as the city grows"

Any well-read, sensible and knowledgeable city planner will tell you that making roads wider does not solve congestion - If I may point you to a few well researched articles that outline this phenomenon urban planners (yes, those with a qualified degree) refer to as 'induced demand':

http://www.wired.com/2014/06/wuwt-traff ... ed-demand/

Here is a recently published article finding that 'increased provision of roads or public transit is unlikely to relieve congestion'

http://www.jstor.org/stable/23045653?se ... b_contents

Have you read these articles before Anne? What are your thoughts? Should we really be widening roads when there is so much evidence that suggests we should actually be decreasing their width and promoting other forms of travel?

[Wayno]

Good job realstretts, but unfortunately Anne has a one-way mind, and you're driving in the other direction.

I too just voted on change.org

460 votes already...

[Honey of a City]

"People forget how important perception is, people perceive that the city is anti-car, anti-parking [but] we want to invite more people to the city," he said. - From the Deputy Lord Mayor. So tell me how $13.00 for 65 minutes parking in a city parking station changes that perception !

[metro]

Signed the petition, hopefully enough people and influential people get together to start a 'Save Frome St' protest. The Adelaide City Council are a joke, and certain councillors are a bunch of hypocrites, who just a few weeks ago were protesting a 6 lane highway through Rymill Park but now have no problem creating a 4 lane highway on a quiet city street, moreover they pretty much just wasted $100k to do a study whose findings they have now just casually rejected. The sooner the State Govt relieve them of traffic and transport responsibilities, the better!

I'm also curious to why they feel 1 lane each direction isn't enough for the quietest North South Street in the CBD, when the much busier Churchill Rd and Prospect Rds carry a lot more traffic everyday but somehow manage just fine with only 1 lane each direction

[jk1237]

what a complete fucking joke. I am so angry. I cant believe how backwards this current city council is. Please sign that petition and if anyone knows of any protests, please post on here. I fucking hate this old Adelaide establishment keeping our city a car infested shithole while every other city is progressing into the future

[Waewick]

So do we know anyone who lives in North Adelaide?

Perhaps time to start a campaign against Moran and co now?

[Brucetiki]

How can someone actually be that much of an idiot?

Just remember who we're talking about - Anne Moron. An idiot through and through.

[jk1237]

is there anyway the state govt can override these ACC hillbillies?

Even the most right wing US cities are investing in these types of bikeways, not to mention every other Aust city. Frome St is not even a through road for car traffic

Anne Moran, you are the scum of our city, please go, or annexe North Adelaide to the City of Prospect immediately

[SouthAussie94]

Would contacting the state government and voicing out dissatisfaction be of any use? Planning approvals have already been taken away from the ACC, surely the state government would have the power to take road/traffic management away from them as well?

[Vee]

In this InDaily report, Stephen Yarwood hits out at the ACC ... after it voted to redesign the Frome Street bikeway, against the recommendations of its own independent expert report.

Not only backwards thinking and a waste of valuable funds, but the recently announced new city high school, to serve students from within the city and surrounds, will be built further along this street!

Deputy Lord Mayor Houssam Abiad’s motion to redesign the street with two driving lanes in each direction during peak times was passed by the council’s Economic and Community Development committee by seven votes to five.

The motion includes “the retention of the separated bike lanes”. However, council staff said the redesign would likely involve removing the concrete kerbs which separate bike riders from the driving lane and replacing them with flexible bollards, at a cost of between $350,000 and $520,000.

An independent report on the bikeway, commissioned by the council last year and released last week, found that returning the street to two driving lanes at peak times would have a “negligible” impact on congestion, which was mainly affected by intersections rather than by mid-block capacity, and would be a poor use of public funds.

The Frome Street bikeway was implemented under the administration of former lord mayor Stephen Yarwood. Contacted by InDaily for comment this morning, he said he was disappointed that “members would ignore their own $90,000 independent expert report” by voting to redesign the bikeway.

“When we start not believing data provided by experts because we’ve walked down the street a couple of times, we’re not providing leadership,” he said. “Data collected by an expert who’s been paid to do their job will always trump anecdotal evidence.”

Last night, Abiad argued that the council was losing the debate on Frome Street bikeway, and that “if we get this template right, this is a win for bike riders and for commuters”.

However, Yarwood said: “It’s important to bring as many people along on this journey as possible, but the haters will always hate.

"People will always think that because they live in the city, they’re an expert on cities.

Ouch!!

“Any additional capacity they create by providing an additional lane will only get filled up in a matter of months, if not weeks, because vehicle behaviour is like water. It will fill the cracks until it’s full, and then, only then, will alternative transport actually be viable.

“Council may as well look at three, four, five additional lanes moving north-south through the city, but that’s only going to fill up within two to three years and then they’ll be back exactly where they started, and having exactly the same conversation about providing more alternative transport to move more people more efficiently.

“There is a public high school going in on this street, and any sane person would think it would be a good idea to spend money providing a safe bicycle route for those children over providing another lane that will only be filled up within 12 months because that’s how traffic works.”

The report on Frome Street bikeway .... found there had been a 23 per cent increase in cyclists and a 20 per cent drop in traffic on the road since the installation of the separated bikeway.

However, Abiad, Area Councillor Anne Moran and South Ward Councillor Alex Antic said yesterday that they disagreed with some of the report’s findings because of feedback from residents and businesses, and their own personal experiences of Frome Street.

As well as designing two peak-hour driving lanes each way for Frome Street, last night’s motion instructs council staff to plan, design and cost improvements to landscaping in the area, the replacement to bike racks at Ifould Street and an awareness campaign about using the road safely, as well as extending a green bike lane surface through intersections and reshaping some traffic islands.

And who on the ACC committee voted for and against....?

The motion was supported by Abiad, Lord Mayor Martin Haese and councillors Natasha Malani, Alex Antic, Anne Moran, Phillip Martin and Sandy Wilkinson.

Against were councillors Robert Simms, Prescilla Corbell, Megan Hender, Susan Clearihan and David Slama.

InDaily:
http://indaily.com.au/news/2015/06/24/y ... -backdown/

[[Shuz]]

I think we (Sensational-Adelaide) ought to create our own oppurtunity, and stage a protest against this decision. I'd go.

Is the Facebook page still around? Howie - if you created an event and get some momentum going?

[Nathan]

If we did, I'd suggest doing it before next Tuesday, when it will go before the full council.