Little ideas for a big city

[Aidan]

I agree with all of Norman's ideas, but disagree with Mono - it isn't worth slowing down such a busy bus route for the benefit of so few people. A better solution would be extend to the airport one of the bus services that currently terminate in Victoria Square, giving direct airport access to many thousands of people.

Do many people use the J-series buses east of the City?

Of course. But I'm guessing you mean do many people use the j-series buses between the airport and east of the City? and I don't know the answer to that.

I think the RAH diversion should be removed for that very reason - it adds quite a delay to save a short walk. Why not have a stop on East Tce?

The bus company had originally wanted the J buses to go straight onto Grenfell Street, but gave into public pressure from NE suburbs residents who wanted a direct bus to the RAH.

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Another little idea, stolen from NSW. Paint speed limits on every lane, so there is no question or doubt. It's far too easy in SA to miss a change in limit because of inadequate signs, especially in multiple lanes of traffic. Even if the ACC alone did this, it'd highlight the fact that the CBD is a 50 zone, as almost none of the streets leading into it are.

- revenue SA are banking on us not knowing the limits

That's not a valid objection, because if they are, they're not going to admit it!

- the speed limit in the CBD should be 40, well at least in the streets that are frequented by many pedestrians, eg Rundle, Hindley and the north part of KW

Rundle and Hindley maybe, but not the N part of KW as the layout discourages pedestrians from crossing other than at the crossings, and with the tramway running down the middle, I don't think it would make any sense to change that.

[AtD]

More overhead signage

Heading north on Mann Road... I always end up in the wrong lane!

Of course. But I'm guessing you mean do many people use the j-series buses between the airport and east of the City? and I don't know the answer to that.?

Ah, yeah. I meant "do many people use the J buses west of the city?"

The bus company had originally wanted the J buses to go straight onto Grenfell Street, but gave into public pressure from NE suburbs residents who wanted a direct bus to the RAH.

Didn't the T500 and T501 used to do the RAH detour? Back in the day where all 54* buses went city <-> TTP and before the JetBus existed.

Some street furniture gets in the way of pedestrians and parked car doors *bang*. More attention should be placed on the holistic layout of such items, how they relate to each other and whether they provide unneccesary clutter -- especially on narrow footpaths. In some places this is compounded by sandwich boards put out by local traders.

For example, parking signs are planted along most streets at about 10m intervals meaning that the side of the footpath closest to the gutter is blocked, which means that two pedestrians walking in opposite directions need to avoid each other sometimes (Gawler Place is a good example of this).

Perhaps parking signs could be suspended somehow or avoided all together by some other road markings.

I agree, however with parking signs isn't there's a very strong legal reason for them to be where they are? As far as I'm aware, the placement of sandwich boards is heavily regulated by the ACC.

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Following on from monotone's post, I've been thinking about the 'alfresco space' a lot of streets have, that is, the area on the footpath that is presumably considered surplus to the needs of pedestrians and is turned into commercial space. As far as I'm aware, the use of this space is exclusive to food businesses for provision of chairs and tables and the business pay a (presumably) considerable fee to council for use of the space. As tenants change over time, as they inevitably do, pockets of unused space appear. A clothes shop has little use for a dining area. This leads to unused sections of the streetscape.

Another little idea could be for the council to rethink the way they manage this space, and treat it more like leasable commercial space. This would have two main effects:

• The use of the space need not be restricted to the business with a direct face onto it. It should be possible for a tenant or landlord to sub-lease the space to a third party. This third party could be a neighbour who wishes to have more alfresco dining tables, or a mobile food retailer, similar to the coffee cart that used to hover around the Art Gallery and Hughes Plaza in Adelaide Uni. Or it could be something completely different.
• The use of the space need not be restricted to dining areas. Why can't we have a few little trestle tables of wears, weather permitting? With council approval, of course, and strict rules on permanent structures

Strong consideration would need to be given to the effect of the removal of the space from other uses, but that should already happen with current alfresco areas.

On that note, what do people think of the 'wall' of enclosed areas on Rundle Street, and its barrier effect from the street?

[Will]

Light up more of our hertiage listed buildings at night which will improve the streetscape.

I completely agree.

The ACC could lead by example and consider flood lighting the town hall and Queen's chambers. These building,s particularly the town hall would look marvellousif they were illuminated at night.

Furthermore, the GPO and St Francis Xavier Cathedral have had feature lighting installed on their façades, yet it is rarely ever switched on.

[Ben]

Light up more of our hertiage listed buildings at night which will improve the streetscape.

I completely agree.

The ACC could lead by example and consider flood lighting the town hall and Queen's chambers. These building,s particularly the town hall would look marvellousif they were illuminated at night.

Furthermore, the GPO and St Francis Xavier Cathedral have had feature lighting installed on their façades, yet it is rarely ever switched on.

I didn't post this earlier as i thought most would find it of little interest but seems I was wrong.

Type: Development Application Received
Application Number: DA/263/2009
Lodgement Date: 8/04/2009
Location: King William Street, ADELAIDE SA 5000
Description: Install various lighting to State Heritage buildings along King William Street

[Shuz]

"The success of a destination is largely faciliated by the movement of people to, from, and within the destination itself."

A simple re-alignment of some our arterial roads to others might be a good start. Marion/Holbrooks, Portrush/O.G, Springbank/Daws.. just to name a few.

[rhino]

A simple re-alignment of some our arterial roads to others might be a good start. Marion/Holbrooks, Portrush/O.G, Springbank/Daws.. just to name a few.

It would be folly to realign Portrush Road to OG Road. It is currently part of the freight by-pass route (A17) as it flows into Lower Portrush Road, then Ascot Avenue and Taunton Road to Hampstead Road.

I notice that the Regency Road / Muller Road junction has been re-aligned. That's been needed for a long time.
I can remember the days before the Ascot Park railway fly-over, when to reach Daws Road from Brighton, you travelled down Oaklands Road to Marion Road, turned right (south), crossed the railway line at grade, turned left into Adelaide Terrace for a few hundred metres, and then right on to Daws Road. At the other end of Daws Road is that other stupid junction with Springbank Road.
I can also remember when Tapleys Hill Road didn't meet up with Brighton Road.

[Shuz]

A simple re-alignment of some our arterial roads to others might be a good start. Marion/Holbrooks, Portrush/O.G, Springbank/Daws.. just to name a few.

It would be folly to realign Portrush Road to OG Road. It is currently part of the freight by-pass route (A17) as it flows into Lower Portrush Road, then Ascot Avenue and Taunton Road to Hampstead Road.

Whatever road it is, in the Northeast (which I'm not too geographically literate on) whatever the majority of Portrush traffic goes into, needs to be realigned.

I think that bridge in the Port river that opens, not the new one, but the old one, needs to flow on from commercial road (right through where the lighthouse stands)

Colley Terrace should flow into that other street... Partridge? I'm not doing too well today Whatever street it is that all the buses turn from, that has a wendys on the corner.

Raglan avenue and edward street need to realign and flow into the other (would help improve south road traffic as well, not being held up by two sets of lights)

[Norman]

I think that bridge in the Port river that opens, not the new one, but the old one, needs to flow on from commercial road (right through where the lighthouse stands)

I don't concur with that, the Port town area should be bypassed fullstop, and it is already pretty much anyway, thanks mostly to Causeway Road.

[AtD]

Whatever road it is, in the Northeast (which I'm not too geographically literate on) whatever the majority of Portrush traffic goes into, needs to be realigned.

You're right, you're not too geographically literate on the North East. Portrush Road changes name twice and ends on Hampstead Road. Hampstead Road runs in a perfectly straight line to Grand Junction Road. Either way, if the South Road upgrade occurs as promised, a lot of freight traffic will probably take Cross Road then South Road.

I think that bridge in the Port river that opens, not the new one, but the old one, needs to flow on from commercial road (right through where the lighthouse stands)

Colley Terrace should flow into that other street... Partridge? I'm not doing too well today Whatever street it is that all the buses turn from, that has a wendys on the corner.

Raglan avenue and edward street need to realign and flow into the other (would help improve south road traffic as well, not being held up by two sets of lights)

Politically unrealistic! Be gone with your big ideas! I created this thread for a place that won't be overrun by ideas about flattening suburbs and relocating Parlaiment House.

Also: you have an unsettling obsession with straight lines...

[shaun]

I would like to see the entrances into our CBD improved, including replacing ugly 1980s street lights/ stobie poles and beautifying the roadstrips.

While northern King William Street makes a very grand entrance into the city, rest of them aren't that impressive. Stobie poles need to be removed from Peacock Road ASAP, while Sir Donald Bradman Drive needs a tidy up, cause at the moment it looks terrible made worse by the ugly buildings on the corner of SDBD and West Terrace. Not a good impression for visitors

I would include Port Road though its set to get a major revamp thanks to the $100m tramline extension project. Other road entrances that could do with a makeover are Glen Osmond Road, Anzac Highway and Wakefield Road.

Even Main North Road, Jeffcott Road and the upper end of Hackney Road in North Adelaide could do with a minor makeover.

Some might see as a waste of money in these tough times, but it will help make Adelaide look like an attractive place to invest and make a good first impression for visitors.

[Shuz]

I agree Crawf. I am mesmerised by the charm of Melbourne's grand boulevards into the city. Our streets should do the same. Beautiful plane trees, wide medians, wide footpaths. It would make good use of the parklands

[ricecrackers]

plane trees clog up the gutters and sewers during Autumn

a few cities in Australia use palm trees for their entrance roads. they wouldnt be the worst idea.

[fabricator]

For the CBD, lets get rid off all the overhead power lines, have heritage look lighting pole with normal street lights on the top.

I agree with all of Norman's ideas, but disagree with Mono - it isn't worth slowing down such a busy bus route for the benefit of so few people. A better solution would be extend to the airport one of the bus services that currently terminate in Victoria Square, giving direct airport access to many thousands of people.

Do many people use the J-series buses east of the City? I think the RAH diversion should be removed for that very reason - it adds quite a delay to save a short walk. Why not have a stop on East Tce?

The J1 is stupid though, especially the non 'a' version. An express bus from Elizabeth to the Airport via Golden Grove, then Modbury, then Adelaide.
Wrenched thing was hard to use from the Northern end when it was just the T530. Now its never on time, due to traffic in Adelaide, traffic around the Airport, and the huge distances involved. Forget trying to catch it from Elizabeth, if it does meet the train it doesn't wait for the passengers

Plus they have to run Articulated buses on this route when for most of the trip the bus is empty, and Obahn ones at that which are in limited supply.

Make the C1,C2 busses run to the Airport instead, those at least only go as far as Golden Grove. Put the T530 back the way it was, or better still have it and the T500 meet somewhere to exchange passengers.

[Will]

Light up more of our hertiage listed buildings at night which will improve the streetscape.

I completely agree.

The ACC could lead by example and consider flood lighting the town hall and Queen's chambers. These building,s particularly the town hall would look marvellousif they were illuminated at night.

Furthermore, the GPO and St Francis Xavier Cathedral have had feature lighting installed on their façades, yet it is rarely ever switched on.

I didn't post this earlier as i thought most would find it of little interest but seems I was wrong.

Type: Development Application Received
Application Number: DA/263/2009
Lodgement Date: 8/04/2009
Location: King William Street, ADELAIDE SA 5000
Description: Install various lighting to State Heritage buildings along King William Street

Great news!

Ben, promise me that you will never withold such information from us again!

:dancingbanana:

[Prince George]

I'd love to see people take the al fresco lifestyle to the next level with street food carts. They could be like the push-carts of NYC, or the taco trucks of California, or the huge variety of other trailers across the country - and, of course, right around the world. I think that places like the playing fields in the parklands that have so much Saturday morning sport, or the large business/industrial areas that lack meal options, would be good situations for these vendors: good customer base for them, they add some good atmosphere to the events/areas in return.