Integrated Transport and Access Review Arden Macaulay Amendment C190
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Integrated Transport and Access Review Arden Macaulay Amendment C190 28/06/13 13M1028000 Integrated Transport and Access Review Arden Macaulay Amendment C190 Issue: A 28/06/13 Client: Melbourne City Council Reference: 13M1028000 GTA Consultants Office: VIC Quality Record Issue Date Description Prepared By Checked By Approved By Cameron Martyn / Tom A 28/06/13 Final Nathan Moresi Courtice / Rory Rathborne © GTA Consultants (GTA Consultants (VIC) Pty Ltd) 2012 The information contained in this document is confidential and intended solely for the use of the client for the purpose for which it has been prepared and no representation is made or is to be implied as being made to any third party. Use or copying of this document in whole or in part without the written permission of GTA Consultants constitutes an infringement of copyright. The intellectual property contained in this document remains the property of GTA Consultants. Executive Summary Executive Summary GTA Consultants (GTA) has undertaken a review of the existing and future transport and access conditions for the Arden-Macaulay Structure Plan area, as shown in the figure below, to support Melbourne City Council’s C190 Amendment. Arden-Macaulay Structure Plan Area and C190 Amendment Area The review has been based on the land use and transport change envisaged in the Arden-Macaulay structure plan. The following summary sets out the key findings of the review. Future Land Uses i Based on the land use and development assumptions agreed with Council, the following growth estimates have been adopted across the Arden-Macaulay Structure Plan area for the purpose of this study: an additional 9,328 residential dwellings an additional 467,000 sq.m of office/commercial area an additional 73,000 sq.m of retail area. 13M1028000 28/06/13 Integrated Transport and Access Review, Arden Macaulay Issue: A Amendment C190 Executive Summary ii The above land use estimates are considered to represent a highly conservative assessment and further consideration of these figures may be beneficial. Existing Issues The following existing issues have been identified and will need to be considered further in assessing the viability of the proposed Structure Plan. The pedestrian environment in the precinct offers opportunity for improvement. The existing network is not at ‘human scale’ (predominantly industrial scale streets) and this poses a challenge to pedestrian movement and activity e.g. lack of passive surveillance and perceptions of safety, poor surface quality, lack of DDA treatments. This will present an ongoing challenge to provide an improved public realm to support land use change and activity in the precinct. It is anticipated that Development Contribution Plans (DCPs) will have a strong role to play in providing public realm improvements. CityLink, the Upfield railway line and Moonee Ponds creek present a barrier with limited crossing points and poor surveillance, lighting and safety. This also represents an opportunity due to the north-south accessibility afforded by the Capital City Trail alignment. A high proportion of traffic in the precinct is through traffic, which does not promote local amenity or land uses. As the precinct develops, this through traffic is likely to be displaced to other routes and / or modes as local traffic increases, which will further impact on the congestion on surrounding arterial roads. Significant traffic volumes on roads at the edge of the precinct (Racecourse Rd / Flemington Rd) form barriers to local access. Freight traffic interface with sensitive land uses will need to be increasingly considered and carefully managed as the precinct transitions. In order to maintain a good public transport level of service, there is a need to relieve existing congestion, provide additional connectivity, cater for external growth and through trips (for example to growth areas) as well as growth within the study area . A key challenge for the future will be ensuring that public transport in the precinct (which will be carrying through trips) has sufficient capacity to cater for both existing and future local needs. Accessibility upgrades are required at local railway stations and tram stops to be consistent with Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport (DSAPT). The main on-road cycling routes do not comply with the relevant Austroads guidelines, and should be upgraded to separated routes to encourage new cyclists to use them (part of a wider network issue). Future Transport Network Operation Traffic i GTA undertook an assessment of the likely additional traffic generated by future development as envisaged in the Structure Plan (based on agreed land uses) and its impacts on the surrounding road network. ii This assessment indicated that traffic generated by additional development in the precinct will be less than the existing through traffic (or within the capacity of the existing road network). This will likely result in a displacement of through traffic to accommodate locally generated traffic once the network reaches capacity. This displacement of traffic will occur gradually as local traffic demands on the network increase due to ongoing development activity. 13M1028000 28/06/13 Integrated Transport and Access Review, Arden Macaulay Issue: A Amendment C190 Executive Summary iii Boundary Road is a key north-south link through the precinct and is likely to carry in the order of 20,000vpd (in comparison to the estimated existing daily volume of 6,000vpd). Whilst at the upper limit of a 2 lane road, with appropriate intersection upgrades this is considered to be acceptable. Furthermore, introduction of bus priority measures could be considered to improve operation. iv Macaulay Road traffic capacity is currently restricted by the existing at-grade rail crossings. This situation may be exacerbated by additional train services on the Upfield and Craigieburn Lines. Traffic volumes on Macaulay Road are not predicted to increase although through trips are likely to be redistributed to other arterial routes. Direct access (crossovers) to major traffic routes should be avoided where practical or otherwise treated appropriately. v Stubbs Street is expected to carry in the order of 12,000vpd (in comparison to the estimated existing daily volume of 3,900vpd) and is an important route for traffic avoiding congestion in the vicinity of the Macaulay Road level crossing of the Craigieburn Line. The existing road configuration is considered appropriate to support this level of traffic. Direct access (crossovers) should be avoided where practical. vi The remaining local road network is expected to carry less than 3,000vpd (i.e. no significant increase on the existing daily volumes that will result in the re-classification of the roads) reflective of their local road status and could support pedestrian and cycle activity. vii More broadly, traffic demands on the surrounding arterial network are anticipated to increase significantly in the next 20 years resulting in increased pressure on the existing road network. In order to maintain good amenity to the future residents and encourage active transport take up, appropriate Local Area Traffic Management (LATM) measures should be implemented to restrict the intrusion of external traffic. viii The proposed East-West Link has minimal impact on the predicted traffic volumes within this precinct, but results in a decrease in the traffic demands on a number of surrounding arterial roads (Racecourse Road, Flemington Road). Cycling i Key cycle routes through the precinct are Macaulay Road and Boundary Road. Given that both these routes are expected to carry significant levels of traffic, bicycle segregation along these routes is required. ii Given the other demands on Boundary Road, it is likely that in order to provide segregated cycle lanes a decrease in on-street car parking capacity would be required. A potential future cross section for Boundary Road is shown at Appendix C. iii Local roads are anticipated to carry levels of traffic that would support shared use by both bicycles and private vehicles, if appropriate speed limits are in place. Walking i The existing pedestrian network provides adequate access but poor amenity within the structure plan area with low levels of priority at arterial road crossings. In addition, the Moonee Ponds Creek is a significant barrier to pedestrians. ii Improvements to walkability and the pedestrian network can usually be undertaken relatively simply with low cost when compared to new public transport or road infrastructure. iii The development of future land uses and built form changes envisaged by C190 are likely to improve the amenity for pedestrians. 13M1028000 28/06/13 Integrated Transport and Access Review, Arden Macaulay Issue: A Amendment C190 Executive Summary iv The proposed Smith Street crossing of Moonee Ponds Creek will increase the ability for pedestrians to cross the creek and responds to a key gap in the network between Racecourse Road and Macaulay Road. v The proposed network of roads generally provides for good connectivity for pedestrians linking them to key destinations such as transport nodes. vi Improvements to pedestrian priority and safety around key transport nodes will be required to support the take up and efficient operation of the future public transport network. Public Transport i Significant increases to the existing public transport frequencies (such as a train every 10 minutes on the Upfield line) are anticipated in the modelling used for this report and result in a greater take up of public transport. ii The introduction of the Arden Station as part of the Melbourne Metro rail project will improve access to a broad range of employment and services in the area, in particular for commuters from southern and eastern suburbs. iii Implementation of a bus route on Boundary Road will provide an important north-south link with a direct connection via the Boundary Road extension to the future Arden Station. iv Improvements to bus priority on key links such as Macaulay Road and Boundary Road are required to encourage the take up of public transport.