News & Discussion: Roads & Traffic

[rhino]

The comments coming from Mr Hamilton-Smith are somewhat contradictory with the official Liberal party line.

Last week the shadow, transport spokesperson, Duncan McFetridge was quoted in the Advertiser as saying that the only reason why the Liberal party opposed the tramline extension was because it did not go further. However I ask, if they wanted it to go further why is the potential premier saying that further tramline extensions will congest the city?

So how do we know what is the official party line? Probably they don't know themselves - their leader can't even make up his mind on whether his surname should be Hamilton or Smith.

[toby1]

no one way streets for major thoroughfares in the city, or the suburbs - even Bank st is difficult enough for a lot of drivers (who of us hasn't seen someone driving the wrong way down there?)

if congestion is a problem then get the cars OUT of the city some other way, or (heaven forbid) lose some parking along the streets! Forcing traffic to move in one direction only is just making more problems and not helping.

encourage pedestrians and cyclists, improve PT, create better traffic flows through proper planning and not through arbitrary legislation on direction of travel.

car free CBD FTW!

[Will]

The comments coming from Mr Hamilton-Smith are somewhat contradictory with the official Liberal party line.

Last week the shadow, transport spokesperson, Duncan McFetridge was quoted in the Advertiser as saying that the only reason why the Liberal party opposed the tramline extension was because it did not go further. However I ask, if they wanted it to go further why is the potential premier saying that further tramline extensions will congest the city?

So how do we know what is the official party line? Probably they don't know themselves - their leader can't even make up his mind on whether his surname should be Hamilton or Smith.

Good point!

[AtD]

I'm keen on the idea. I think three roads particularly could benefit from this. Hindley Street, Rundle Street and Gouger Street...

I'd like to see them closed to traffic!

[Bulldozer]

One-way streets work well in Brisbane and they'd work well in Adelaide thanks to the grid layout. Not that Adelaide really has traffic anyone can complain about, but some of the smaller streets like Pirie St get pretty crowded at times. One way streets are also safer for pedestrians - only one way to look before you cross and there's less waiting for both sides to be clear before you do cross.

[rhino]

The fact that Adelaide has mainly wide streets as well as a few narrow ones allows people to use the wider streets as through streets, and the narrow ones only for local access. The fact that the narrow streets are being used as through streets and clogging up is only due to the ridiculous driving mentality of so many Adelaidians. Brisbane's city streets are generally much narrower than Adelaide's, and the one-way twinning of streets works well there. Same goes for Hobart, where the city streets are generally 3 lanes wide. In Adelaide they are either 2 lanes (the few narrow streets) or 4 lanes (the many wider streets).

[jimmy_2486]

This is a tough call, you could argue soo many points on this issue.....

Firstly we already do have a fair few small one way streets in the city so adding a few more to the smaller clogged streets wouldn't hurt I guess.

Wider streets definitely do not need to be made 1 way.

To add to the point, I reckon some small roads outside the cbd could be made one way. Possible lists of suspects include...

goodwood rd duthy road and unley road between south tce and cross roads in alternating directions.

king william rd between south tce and its end at unley park

Richmond road between south road and anzac hwy.

Parade and kensington road betwen fullarton rd and portrush road in alternating directions.

Churchill road between torrens road and grand junction road.

Prospect road between Fitzroy tce and grand junction and running the opposite direction as prospect rd.

Other ideas I've heard that are also really good is to appoint only 1 lane to non peak hour directions and more lanes to peak hour directions.

[Shuz]

Goodwood Road and Unley Roads without any doubts needs some serious overhaul for its traffic management.

An effective system is to implement suicide lanes, favouring 3 lanes traffic into the city, 1 lane out for the mornings, and the same apply for afternoons, 3 lanes out, 1 lane in. The hours of 5-11 for morning flow, 1130-130 for standard flow (2+2) and 2-8 for afternoon flow, which it reverts to standard flow between 830pm-430am.

[crawf]

Glen Osmond Road needs a major overhaul aswell.

Traffic was shocking yesterday morning, it was literally like a carpark after Cross/Portrush Roads.

[Norman]

If anything, car parking on Glen Osmond Road, Unley Road and Goodwood Road should be banned immediately... then think about the rest.

[AtD]

For a moment I thought I was in a different thread...

[Ho Really]

One-way streets work well in Brisbane and they'd work well in Adelaide thanks to the grid layout. Not that Adelaide really has traffic anyone can complain about, but some of the smaller streets like Pirie St get pretty crowded at times.

The narrower streets such as Pirie-Waymouth only get congested in peak-hour on working days, but it is also because Grenfell is clogged by buses and Franklin-Flinders Streets are used less. Maybe we should take some of these buses off our streets, the O-bahn articulated buses in particular.

One way streets are also safer for pedestrians - only one way to look before you cross and there's less waiting for both sides to be clear before you do cross.

True, if they know they are one-way. Better still, as toby1 posted, we need to get cars out of the city. Those working and spending time in the city should be able (encouraged) to park their vehicles in car parks at the edge of the CBD and given free public transport (shuttles) to the centre. Most traffic would be then left to those passing through. Public transport (obviously), walking and cycling should also be encouraged.

Cheers

[Tyler_Durden]

I'm keen on the idea. I think three roads particularly could benefit from this. Hindley Street, Rundle Street and Gouger Street...

I'd like to see them closed to traffic!

That would be a bold plan. I like the idea. I even like the idea of closing them to general traffic but still allowing service vehicles and taxis to have access. But realistically I don't think Adelaideans would allow it. Politically it would be a nightmare. I heard Harbison comment on the radio on the one-way street idea and he dismissed it saying that it would hurt businesses as it would reduce the number of people that would go to these streets. I personally don't see why that would happen. Yet on the other side of the ledger one-way streets could allow roads to be narrowed and footpaths widened. It also gives more room to increase the number of street side parking spots if that's what they are worried about.

Besides, surely good pedestrian access is the most important aspect to a thriving retail or food business. People don't drive down Rundle Mall. People don't drive through Westfield shopping centres. And look at the foot traffic they get. Then look at Wakefield Street in the city which can cater to lots of traffic and you can find a park where and when ever you wish along it. Where would people rather locate your business?

[Ho Really]

I'm keen on the idea. I think three roads particularly could benefit from this. Hindley Street, Rundle Street and Gouger Street...

I'd like to see them closed to traffic!

That would be a bold plan. I like the idea. I even like the idea of closing them to general traffic but still allowing service vehicles and taxis to have access. But realistically I don't think Adelaideans would allow it. Politically it would be a nightmare. I heard Harbison comment on the radio on the one-way street idea and he dismissed it saying that it would hurt businesses as it would reduce the number of people that would go to these streets. I personally don't see why that would happen. Yet on the other side of the ledger one-way streets could allow roads to be narrowed and footpaths widened. It also gives more room to increase the number of street side parking spots if that's what they are worried about.

Besides, surely good pedestrian access is the most important aspect to a thriving retail or food business. People don't drive down Rundle Mall. People don't drive through Westfield shopping centres. And look at the foot traffic they get. Then look at Wakefield Street in the city which can cater to lots of traffic and you can find a park where and when ever you wish along it. Where would people rather locate your business?

Would be nice to have market, restaurant and entertainment precincts open only to pedestrian traffic. If there are off-street car parks in those streets (which there are) it would be hard to close them to traffic completely. Widening footpaths is nice, but it won't add any extra parking to one-way streets. Also that would suggest one lane instead of two in the same direction, no improvement on traffic flow there. I would rather enjoy food on a wide footpath where there's no car traffic at all, just like in most European cities. Good suggestions though.

Cheers

[jimmy_2486]

True, if they know they are one-way. Better still, as toby1 posted, we need to get cars out of the city. Those working and spending time in the city should be able (encouraged) to park their vehicles in car parks at the edge of the CBD and given free public transport (shuttles) to the centre. Most traffic would be then left to those passing through. Public transport (obviously), walking and cycling should also be encouraged.

Yes and id say the best way to get people out of the city is to make it as frustrating as possible to drive into the city. Possibilities could be 40km zones in all inner metro arterial roads. One way roads to piss people off as they will have to take longer routes etc. Basically making the trip to city and back, by car, take much longer and to give priority of our roads to buses trams etc will help as well.

Once this happens my predictions will be that our PT vehicles will be flooded up with people and our PT system will hit total capacity. Then the government will come to our rescue and pump money in to improve services.

The reason why we are a car reliant city is that because it is still relatively easy to get around. Making it a lot harder will make us change our minds and think of other means of travel.