Source: Western Distributor Authority
Alison Whitten Master in Urban Planning Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering James Whitten Master of Architecture in Urban Design Bachelor of Architecture Bachelor of Planning and Design
West Gate Tunnel panel hearing 15 September 2017 CITYLINK The West Gate Tunnel proposal FOOTSCRAY UNIVERSITY Measuring “urban design excellence” in infrastructure ELEVATED ROAD 6 LANES
CBD TUNNEL 2 ACCESS 4-6 LANES 1 PORT ACCESS
RING ROAD YARRAVILLE WEST GATE FREEWAY WIDENING CBD 8 LANES (EXISTING) + 4 LANES
RAMPS
WEST GATE WEB DOCK BRIDGE ACCESS
WEBB DOCK
2km Source: ESRI
“The urban design vision for the West Gate Tunnel Project is to: achieve urban design excellence through genuinely innovative and high-quality design, responsive and effective urban integration, positive connections within the neighbourhoods through which it passes and a positive contribution for local communities and for greater Melbourne.”
- Urban Design Vision Statement. West Gate Tunnel EES 2017 “Good urban design pursues local identity and sense of place, cultural responsiveness and purposeful environmental innovation. It achieves a high level of quality, comfort, safety, equity, beauty and cohesion in the overall physical outcome of all the development, planning, engineering, architectural and landscape design decisions that contribute to urban change.”
- Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) 2017
“The Project adopts world-class architecture to celebrate its necessary structural components such as portals, river crossings and elevated interchanges ... The Project Design and alignment have been determined having regard to multiple relevant considerations. Those considerations include urban design principles but also include traffic engineering, geotechnical, acoustic and air quality considerations, and whether the Project Design and alignment meets the Project objectives.”
- Opening remarks. Urban design, landscape architecture and visual impact. Counsel for WDA 2017 1. Maribyrnong River crossing WEST GATE Trading benefits and impacts between strategic sites BRIDGE YARRAVILLE GARDENS
PORT OF MELBOURNE DOCKLANDS COTTON MILLS
Source: Western Distributor Authority
Urban design strategy Trade-offs Opportunity costs
• Surface tunnel on west side of river to • Open spaces, river and surrounding • Development of attractive waterfront reduce project complexity and cost development sites compromised for gateway to western metropolitan region • Optimize for port access with sweeping maximally efficient toll-road design • Reduced impetus to rationalize port system of toll-road ramps • Impacts from enhanced port access uses for brownfield redevelopment • Provide wetland and shared pathway shifted to open-space users, property • Extension of waterfront to enhance connections to compensate for impacts owners, the river and wider community access for City of Maribyrnong 2. Footscray Road viaduct and veloway Integration of movement systems would require a fundamental rethink Sources: Western Distributor Authority Cross section
Urban design strategy Trade-offs Opportunity costs
• Utilize opportunity of industrial areas to • Amenity and safety of pedestrians and • Redevelopment of brownfield sites to bypass assessment of amenity impacts cyclists compromised by intensification take advantage of city access • Separate traffic flows along Footscray and vertical separation of traffic flows • Development of Footscray Road into Road to maximise capacity • Safety and health of cyclists gateway/boulevard to west region • Integrate viaduct with veloway to compromised by integration of veloway • Investment in cycling projects that provide alternative to existing bike path into viaduct encourage wider participation Stages 1+2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Post-2014 Election: APR 2015: Detailed due diligence, DEC 2015: Negotiation and Contract expected Prelim assessment; investment case development and assessment of final offer to be awarded so strategic assessment; procurement prep commences. commences. that construction interim due diligence. may commence. Procurement via Market-led Proposal process Possible implications for consultation processes and urban design outcomes OVERSIGHT...
APR 2015: Western Distributor JUL 2016: Victorian FEB 2017: Infrastructure JUL 2017: CPB publicly announced by Victorian Government announces Australia requests additional Contractors are Government. At same time, project short-list of three firms to information from Victorian selected as preferred advances to Stage 3 of Market-led tender for construction of Government to adequately contractor to build the Proposal (MLP) process. Western Distributor. assess Western Distributor West Gate Tunnel. Business Case. Western Distributor bundled with Monash Freeway Upgrade and Independent reviews are PROCESS Webb Dock Access Improvement yet to be submitted to
DEVELOPMENT projects. Infrastructure Australia. WE ARE HERE
2015 2016 2017
CLG PROCESS JUL 2015: Western AUG 2017: More Distributor reference APR 2016: Preliminary than 500 submissions design released. consultation commences via received by Planning Contains limited community ‘liaison’ group Panels Victoria information on project (CLG) process; convening six from individuals, impacts and no urban times between April and ... communities and
PROCESS design analysis. OCT 2016 organizations. CONSULTATION ALTERNATIVES REJECTED EES PROCESS DEC 2015: Redacted Business Case MAY 2017: Formal consultation released as proposal gets “green process commences with release light” from Victorian Government. of Environmental Effects Statement (EES). Community has 30-business Alternatives evaluated by Business days to respond. Proposal re-branded Case in isolation; rejected prior to as West Gate Tunnel Project. community consultation. Perspective of non toll-road users Source: Urban Melbourne
Perspective of toll-road users
Finding 1 Finding 2 Finding 3 Insufficient information is Does not meet its own criteria Unlikely to make a positive provided to prove urban design for urban design quality; fails contribution to the urban quality; additional analytical to effectively integrate with design of Melbourne; diagrams and explanatory texts existing urban and natural experience of toll-road users are required. environments. disproportionately prioritized.
Unrealistic environmental effects
Sources: Western Distributor Authority Many views not useful for determining urban design outcomes