APPENDIX A: TRAFFIC ENGINEERING ADVICE

GREENWAY CONCEPT DESIGN TECHNICAL REPORT 57 Greenway Macgregor Coxall

Greenway Bike Boulevards

| Revision 1 (draft) 21 December 2018

Gree nway B ike B ouleva rds Macg reg or Cox all Greenway Bike Boulevards

Greenway

Project No: IA174800 Document Title: Greenway Bike Boulevards Document No.: Revision: Revision 1 (draft) Date: 21 December 2018 Client Name: Macgregor Coxall Client No: Project Manager: David Borella Author: Stephen Read File Name: \\Jacobs.com\ANZ\IE\Projects\04_Eastern\IA174800\21 Deliverables\Traffic and Transport\2018-11 - Bike Boulevards Report\2018-12-18 - Bike Boulevard Report Rev 1_final.docx

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© Copyright 2018 Jacobs Group (Australia) Pty Limited. The concepts and information contained in this document are the property of Jacobs. Use or copying of this document in whole or in part without the written permission of Jacobs constitutes an infringement of copyright.

Limitation: This document has been prepared on behalf of, and for the exclusive use of Jacobs’ client, and is subject to, and issued in accordance with, the provisions of the contract between Jacobs and the client. Jacobs accepts no liability or responsibility whatsoever for, or in respect of, any use of, or reliance upon, this document by any third party.

Document history and status

Revision Date Description By Review Approved

0 31/10/18 Draft report S.Read M.Mansour M.Mansour

1 17/12/18 Final report Rev 1 S.Read M.Mansour D Borella

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Contents 1. Introduction ...... 3 1.1 Purpose ...... 3 1.2 Background ...... 3 1.3 Report structure ...... 5 2. Bike Boulevards ...... 6 2.1 Description ...... 6 2.2 International bike boulevards ...... 6 2.3 Western Australia ...... 11 2.4 Victoria 30 km /h speed limits ...... 12 2.5 Existing guidelines for bicycle routes ...... 12 2.6 Benefits of 30km/h speed limits ...... 14 3. NSW 30km/h speed limits ...... 15 3.1 Safe Systems approach ...... 15 3.2 Other measures in NSW...... 15 3.2.1 High Pedestrian Activity Areas ...... 16 3.2.2 Shared Zones ...... 17 4. Weston Street ...... 18 4.1 Measures proposed to achieve the Weston Street bike boulevard ...... 19 5. Ness Ave and Garnet Street ...... 20 5.1 Measured proposed to achieve the Ness Avenue bike boulevard...... 20 5.2 Traffic reduction measures ...... 21 6. Conclusion ...... 24

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1. Introduction

Jacobs has been commissioned to provide traffic and transport advice related to the proposed Greenway cycleway between the Cooks River Cycleway and the Bay Run / Cycleway. As part of this work we have been requested to provide information to support the development of bike boulevards.

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide background information on the bike boulevards to inform discussion about the implementation of works and the trial of a 30kmh speed limit.

1.2 Background

The proposed Greenway Cycleway will be a high quality regional cycle route to cater for all levels of cyclists. Most of the route is off-road following the Hawthorne Canal or the Inner West Light Rail alignments. The cycleway will provide a missing connection between the Cooks River cycleway and the Bays Cycleway as shown in Figure 1.1.

The cycleway will be a combination of off-road shared paths that run parallel to the light rail alignment and on road mixed traffic sections.

The on-road sections of the Greenway Cycleway are proposed as ‘bike boulevards’. The bike boulevard is a concept of a low speed shared streets for cyclists and vehicles. The bike boulevard is the preferred option for the on-road sections on Ness Avenue and Weston Street, Dulwich Hill. The bike boulevard would be achieved using a combination of traffic calming measures and reduced speed limits.

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Figure 1.1: Greenway Overview

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1.3 Report structure

This report is structured as follows: · Section 2 –Background information about bike boulevards and 30km/h speed limits · Section 3 – Current controls in NSW · Section 4 – The proposed Weston Street bike boulevard concept · Section 5 – The proposed Ness Avenue bike boulevard concept · Section 5 – Conclusion.

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2. Bike Boulevards

2.1 Description

Bike boulevards or cycle streets are cycle routes on quiet local streets. The speed limits are reduced to 30km/h or 20 miles per hour to allow for mixed car and bicycle traffic. They typically take on elements of high pedestrian activity zones and shared zones which include pavement treatments, thresholds and reduced speed limits. The following section describes the application of bike boulevards both within Australia and New Zealand and internationally.

2.2 International bike boulevards

Bike boulevards or equivalent treatments have been implemented in several countries around the world. The ‘cycle street’ bike boulevard concept has been implemented in the Netherlands and Germany. These are streets that links dedicated bicycle facilities. Figure 2.1 shows an example of a bike boulevard in the Netherlands.

Figure 2.1: Example bike boulevard in Leidseweg Netherlands

Germany has a number of examples of ‘Cycle Streets’ on low volume streets where cyclists share the road with vehicles as shown in Figure 2.2.

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Figure 2.2: Germany Cycle Streets

In New Zealand, bike boulevards policy has been developed in Auckland under the name of ‘Local Paths’. In New Zealand the design standards are 30km/h and traffic volumes of less than 2,000 vehicles per day with an aim for 1,000 vehicles per day. The posted speed limits are supplemented with physical measures to reduce speeds.

The city of Berkeley in California has implemented a network of bike boulevards. The boulevards comprise treatments at intersections, signage and pavement markings as well traffic calming devices. The design guide from the National Association of City Transportation Officials recommends streets with traffic volumes of less than 1,500 vehicles per day.

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Figure 2.3: Berkley (USA) Bike Boulevard

The City of London has implemented the ‘Quietways’ program which functions in a manner similar to the Bike Boulevard and Cycle Streets in other countries. They feature traffic calming and priority for movements on the Quietway. Sustrans which provides guidance for bicycle infrastructure in the UK also recommends Cycle Streets and provides technical design guidelines in Technical Note 32. Cycle streets are still relatively new in the UK but are currently being trialled.

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Figure 2.4: Quietway 1 London

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A broad range of traffic volumes are recommended for bike boulevards. Table 2.1 shows the recommended maximum daily traffic volumes from various sources including treatments in Australia. The Dutch CROW manual recommends a relatively low upper limiting volume for two-way streets of 500 vehicles per hour while upper limit recommended by the German design recommendation is 3,000 vehicles per hour.

Table 2 1: Suitable Traffic Volumes

Source / Country / State Type Daily Traffic Volume CROW Manual Residential <500 One-way <2000 Two-way <500 Separate direction <500 -1000 Germany ‘Cycle Streets’ <3000 USA (NACTO) Bike Boulevards <1500 England (London) Quietways <3000 England (Sustrans) Cycle Streets <2000 New Zealand Local Paths <2000 South Australia 30km/h Streets <1000 - 3000 Western Australia Safe Active Streets <1500 NSW Bicycle Guidelines Mixed Traffic <5000

The NSW Bicycle Guidelines is based on studies from over 20 years ago and has not been updated to adopt the current best practice.

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2.3 Western Australia

Western Australia has implemented bike boulevards as part of the Safe Active Streets program. An example of this is Shakespeare Street. The Shakespeare Street Bike Boulevard runs from Green Street in Mount Hawthorn and connects to the Scarborough Beach Road separated bike lanes which were installed by the City in early 2015.

It has a very large potential catchment area and provides an alternative to the Principal Shared Path along the Mitchell Freeway. Shakespeare Street was one of several options investigated, and was chosen because it: · Is direct, relatively flat, has low traffic volumes and is the longest route. · Is a local leg of the Perth Bike Network and is already being used by riders. · Connects to the Scarborough Beach Road separated bike lanes. · Offers potential future stages that connect to Aranmore Catholic College, Medibank Stadium, Leederville TAFE, the City of Vincent Library and Loftus Recreation Centre.

The treatment features coloured pavement, pavement signs and slow points to reduce vehicle speeds.

Figure 2.5: Shakespeare Street Bike Boulevard

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2.4 Victoria 30 km /h speed limits

A 30km/h speed zone has been trialled in the historic town of Walhalla in Victoria. The 30km/h speed trial section has been clearly defined with a contrasting pavement. The funding for the pavement was made available from the Victorian Government’s Building Our Regions fund which supports projects that enhance community and pedestrian safety.

VicRoads is also trialling 30km/h speed limits in inner city areas that are part of the Yarra City Council in September 2018 and will be trialled for 12 months. This is an area wide application and not just a corridor.

30 km/h speed limits have also been in use in South Australia near high pedestrian areas.

2.5 Existing guidelines for bicycle routes

In addition to speed zones the NSW Bicycle guidelines provides guidance on the type treatment for the roads based on the volume of traffic and speed of the road. The guidelines for treatments are summarised in Figure 2.4 from the NSW Bicycle guidelines. Although these guidelines are still current it is noted that they are based on data that is more than 20 years old and no longer represents the current best practice.

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Figure 2.6: NSW Bicycle Guidelines

The guidelines recommend mixed traffic for volumes less than 5,000 vehicles per day provided speeds are lower than 40km/h. As speeds increase above 40km/h the acceptable volume of traffic decreases so that mixed traffic is not recommended for speeds greater than 60km/h.

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2.6 Benefits of 30km/h speed limits

There has been significant research around the world that demonstrates that 30km/h is a safer speed for pedestrians and cyclists. Yarra City Council and the Victorian Accident Commission have compiled a selection of research on a website to compliment the current 30km/h trial https://thanksfor30.com.au/why-30kmh.

The ‘Speed Limit Guideline for South Australian’ states that ‘biomechanical research into the capacity of the human body to absorb crash energy without significant harm suggest that safe travel speeds would ideally be less than 30 km/h in areas where conflict with people walking and cycling is possible.’ Figure 2.5 from the South Australian speed limit guidelines shows that risk of fatality increases as speed increases with the risk of fatalities below 30km/h are very low. Research shows that a fatal injury to a pedestrian is at least twice as likely to occur in a crash at 40km/h than at 30km/h.

Figure 2.7: Impact on pedestrians

Source: Speed Limit Guideline of South Australia

It can be seen that the reduction of speeds from 50km/h to 30 km/h would substantially reduce the severity of collisions between cyclists and cars.

Reduction in speeds also results in an increased feeling of safety for pedestrians and cyclists and has numerous social benefits including reduced noise and better social connection between neighbours (Van den Dool, Tranter and Boss 2017).

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3. NSW 30km/h speed limits

3.1 Safe Systems approach

Austroads has adopted the Safe Systems approach to road safety (Austroads, AP-R509-16, Appendix A). The Safe Systems approach recognises that road users will inevitably make errors that may lead to a crash. Therefore, roads should be designed so that people can avoid serious injury in the event of a crash. The four elements of Safe Systems are: · Safe roads and roadsides · Safe speeds · Safe vehicles · Alert and compliant road users (safe road use)

National Road Safety Strategy Action Plan 2018-2020 that supports the implementation of the National Road Safety Stategy 2011-2020 and details nine actions for the government over the final three years of the NRSS. There are 9 actions recommended. One of the recommendations (6) was reducing speed limits in local streets to 30km/h with the aim of reducing the severity of crashes on local streets from pedestrians and cyclists.

3.2 Other measures in NSW

In NSW 30km/h speed limits have not been implemented on gazetted roads. However, 30km/h speed limits have been implemented within the Centennial Parklands. This represents the type of environment that provides for cars, cyclists as well as horses.

Figure 3.1: Centennial Park 30km/h

The NSW Centre for Road Safety, ‘NSW Speed Zoning Guidelines’ 2009 sets out the Roads and Maritime Services (Roads and Maritime) policy regarding the implementation of speed limits. Within the guidelines, there is currently no description for the application of 30km/h speed limits. The special speed limits that are described include 10km/h shared zones, 40km/h high pedestrian activity and school zones as well as roadwork speed zones which can be reduced to 40km/h.

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There are treatments that are used in in NSW that aim to improve road safety these include High Pedestrian Activity Areas and Shared zones. The follow describes each of these treatments.

3.2.1 High Pedestrian Activity Areas

High pedestrian activity areas are designed for areas of high pedestrian areas near shopping strips, railway stations, bus interchanges and medical centres and schools. They apply an area wide 40km/h speed limits. Typically, the speed limits are complemented with physical traffic calming devices and threshold treatments.

High pedestrian activity areas are implemented by the Roads and Maritime in conjunction with Councils and Transport for NSW. The 40km/h speed limits are also applied to local area traffic management schemes. They typically involve signage, threshold treatments and traffic calming devices to maintain the 40km/h speed limit.

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3.2.2 Shared Zones

Shared zones are applied to streets with low traffic volumes and where pedestrian access is required. They are typically applied to streets or access lanes where pedestrians walk along the carriageway. The shared zones have a 10km/h speed limit. On new streets shared zones are characterised by a different road pavement, lack of kerb and guttering and may be supplemented by traffic calming devices. Bollards are sometimes used to prevent vehicles from accessing other exclusive pedestrian areas.

Shared zones can be applied to existing roads without the need to remove kerb and gutters if the existing footpaths are substandard. Information for this application is found in the Roads and Maritime Technical direction TTD 2016 / 001.

Warrants for shared zones are provided in the Transport for NSW Shared Zones Safer Speeds Policy and Guidelines (SS/12/01).

Table 3 1: Shared Zone Warrants

Features Shared Zone

Existing traffic flows < 100 vehicles an hour and < 1000 vehicles per day Existing speed limit < 50 km/h Proposed length < 400m Speed limit of adjoining roads < 50 km/h Current carriageway width 2.8m Route access Must not be along a bus route or heavy vehicle route Streets with narrow or no footpaths Where pedestrians are forced to use the road Kerbs Kerbs must be removed unless excepted by Roads and Maritime

It is noted that the shared zone is applicable to streets with volumes of less than 100 vehicles per hour.

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4. Weston Street

Weston Street is a local road that connects Old Canterbury Road to Windsor Road. It is characterised by low density residential houses. The southern end of Weston Street provides connections to the Waratah Mills light rail stop.

Figure 4.1: Weston Street Location

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Weston Street has low traffic volumes. Surveys undertaken in Weston Street at Old Canterbury Road show that the peak hour traffic volumes are less than 50 vehicles per hour. This roughly equates to 500 vehicles per day assuming the peak hour traffic volumes are 10% of the daily traffic.

The existing traffic volumes are low and would be conducive to mixed on-road cycling as described in the bicycle guidelines.

4.1 Measures proposed to achieve the Weston Street bike boulevard

The measures proposed to achieve a bike boulevard on Weston Street include: · Signalising the Old Canterbury Road / Weston Street. · Closure of Weston Street at Old Canterbury Road. · Traffic Calming measures such as speed humps. · Pavement treatments such as painted logos · Introduction of a central median · 40km/h speed limits and speed limit signs, and pending support from Roads and Maritime, a 30 km/h speed limit trial.

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5. Ness Ave and Garnet Street

Ness Avenue is a local street that connects Garnet Street to Ewart Street. The connection at Ewart Street has been closed to vehicular traffic as part of traffic calming measures in the area. As a result of the closure at the northern end, Ness Avenue is used by traffic wishing to travel north of the rail line. Traffic volumes in Ness Avenue are relatively low, in the order of 1,100 vehicles per day.

Figure 2: Road network

5.1 Measured proposed to achieve the Ness Avenue bike boulevard

It is proposed to convert Ness Avenue to a bike boulevard to allow for cars and bicycles to share the road way more safely. The proposed measures along Ness Avenue include: · Traffic Calming measures such as speed humps. · Pavement treatments such as painted logos · Central median · 40km/h speed limits and speed limit signs and pending support from Roads and Maritime a 30 km/h speed limit trial.

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5.2 Traffic reduction measures

One of the measures that has been proposed is the banning of left turns from Wardell Road to Riverside Crescent. The purpose of the left turn ban is to reduce the amount of traffic using Riverside Crescent, Tennyson Street and Ness Avenue, and create an environment more suitable for cycling and the provision of a bike boulevard at Ness Avenue.

Traffic surveys were undertaken on Wardell Road at Riverside Crescent and Ewart street on the 19 June 2018. The existing peak hour traffic volumes are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 3: Existing Traffic volumes

Morning peak hour Evening peak hour t t n n e e c c s s e e r r C C e e d d i i s s r r e e v v 292 i 43 13 94 i 71 12 R R 727 386

Wardell Road Wardell Road 6 9 478 944 t t e e e e r r t t S S t 12 19 t r r a a w 559 62 309 119 w

E 333 91 169 49 E 1 1

Wardell Road Wardell Road 51 71 45 181 26 297 105 244 25 636 28 31

The volume of traffic turning left into Riverside Crescent is highest in the morning peak hour with 292 vehicles per hour turning left. The volume of traffic in the corresponding period turning left into Ewart Street is lower at 12 vehicles per hour. The assessment has assumed that these trips would be displaced to Ewart Street.

Sidra intersection modelling was undertaken to assess the potential impacts of the left turn ban. The results of the traffic modelling are shown in Table 1

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Table 5 1: Operational performance of the intersction of Wardell Road / Ewart Street

Average Delay Level of Scenario Peak period Degree of Saturation (second) service

Before the introduction of the scheme Morning peak 0.69 15 B

Evening peak 0.82 17 B

After the introduction of the scheme Morning peak 0.79 17 B

Evening peak 0.84 17 B

The modelling indicates that only a minor difference in intersection performance would result from the additional traffic volumes.

There is a perception that vehicles use Riverside Crescent, and Ness Avenue to access Garnet Street as an alternative route to Ewart Street. Traffic surveys of Ness Avenue indicate that the two-way traffic volumes of Ness Avenue on an average weekday are 105 vehicles per hour in the morning peak and 107 per hour in the evening peak. Banning the left turn may have some reduction traffic volumes on Ness Avenue. 100 vehicles per hour is considered a low volume of traffic consistent with a local access street in accordance with the environmental capacities recommended in the RTA Guide to Traffic Generating Developments 2002.

Traffic volumes were recorded at midblock locations in June 2018. The results for the morning peak hour are shown in Figure 4. It shows that only a small proportion of trips turning left into Riverside Crescent are using Tennyson Street and Ness Avenue. Some of these trips would have a destination within the local area. It is estimated that 20-40 trips would be removed on Tennyson Avenue in the morning peak hour by closing the left turn. The rest of the trips may have destinations in the area and would therefore use the same street even with the left turn ban.

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Figure 4: Traffic Volumes in Morning Peak Hour

Ness Avenue is considered suitable for the proposed bike boulevard given its existing traffic volumes. Any additional reduction in traffic volumes would further improve safety. Traffic surveys indicated that Ness Avenue has daily traffic volumes in the order of 1,100 vehicles per day.

By way of comparison the peak hour traffic volumes below 1000 vehicles per day would make this street suitable for a shared zone (shared pedestrian and vehicles).

Implementing the left turn ban is likely to require both the provision of signage and physical kerbs to discourage left turns from Wardell Road.

A further option has been proposed to close Tennyson Street south of Ness Avenue. This may decrease traffic on Ness Avenue however, it may increase traffic volumes on Balfour Street and possibly also on Ness Avenue between Balfour and Ness Avenue. These streets already have low traffic volumes at or below 100 vehicles per hour in the peak periods. This proposed closure may not be warranted. It would also make circuitous routes for residents in the area. Good planning practice (see AMCORD 1995) for local roads is not to have excessive number of turns at intersections from a collector road to dwellings. Closure of the Tennyson Road may increase the number of intersections that need to be negotiated to reach a collector road.

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6. Conclusion

Jacobs has been commissioned to provide advice for the Greenway Cycleway. The Greenway Cycleway will provide bicycle and pedestrian links between the Cooks River Cycleway and the Bay Run largely off-road, although it will include some on-road sections. This traffic assessment demonstrates the suitability of providing bike boulevards on the on-road sections along Weston Street and Ness Avenue.

Bike Boulevards have been implemented in many countries around the world and in Western Australia. They involve creating a slow traffic environment to enable mixed bicycle and car traffic within the roadway. Bike boulevards have a speed limit of 30km/h to limit the risk of injury caused by collisions between cars and cyclists.

International guidelines for bike boulevards recommend this treatment on streets with daily traffic volumes of less than 2,000 to 3,000 vehicles per day depending on the country.

Existing traffic volumes on Weston Street and Ness Avenue are relatively low with Ness Avenue conveying about 1,100 vehicles per day and Weston Street fewer than 500 vehicles per day. Additional measures have been proposed to reduce further traffic volumes on these streets and thereby increase safety for walkers and riders eg. the banning of the left turn into Riverside Crescent, and the closure of Weston Street at Old Canterbury Road.

The 30km/h speed limits have been used in Western Australia and South Australia and are being trialled in Victoria but have not been applied to public roads in NSW. This report recommends the trialling of a 30km/h speed limit on Weston Street and Ness Avenue as part of this project to improve safety for cyclists. The bike boulevard would adopt measures that are commensurate with a pedestrian activity area including: · Reduced speed limits of 40km/h with the aim of trialling a 30km/h speed limits. · Physical measures to limit speeds such as speed humps. · Pavement treatments. · Median treatments. · Threshold treatments on side streets.

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Level 7, 177 Pacific Highway North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia PO Box 632 North Sydney NSW 2059 Australia

T +61 2 9928 2100 F +61 2 9928 2500

Subject Road Crossing Options on the Project Name The Greenway Cycleway GreenWay

Project No. IA174800

From Stephen Read Stephen Read

Date 21 December 2018

1. Introduction

Jacobs has been commissioned to provide traffic engineering advice for the design of the GreenWay Cycleway. This document provides advice with regards to cycleway’s crossing of Hercules Street and Ewart Street in Dulwich Hill.

1.1 Background information and examples

There are locations along the proposed Greenway Cycleway route where road crossings will be required. Two significant locations are the crossing of Ewart Street at Terrace Road and Hercules Street near Consett Street in Dulwich Hill.

Figure 1.1: Crossing locations

Hercules Street

Ewart Street

Jacobs Group (Australia) Pty Limited ABN 37 001 024 095 Memorandum

Road Crossing Options on the GreenWay

In NSW it is illegal to ride a bike across a zebra crossing. At signalised pedestrian crossing bikes may only ride across the crossing if there is a bike lantern.

There have been various treatments to address this in NSW. A common treatment has been to provide bicycle lanes adjacent to the zebra crossing. In these circumstances the priority for the bicycle crossing may be unclear. Technically the adjacent bicycle lane does not have priority over cars unless ‘Give Way’ Signs are provided. An example of this type of crossing treatment has been implemented by the City of Sydney at the intersection of Dank Street and Crystal Street, Waterloo (see Figure 1.2).

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Figure 1.2: Dank Street near Crystal Street

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This is an example on a one-way street where priority is given to the bike lane through ‘Give Way’ signs.

Another example of a bicycle crossing implementation is located in Central Park,Chippendale (see Figure 1.3). In this example there is no clear signage as to which movements have priority. This is a local street with low traffic volumes. City of Sydney have sort to minimise the amount of signage in these locations.

Figure 1.3: Central Park Chippendale

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Another option that has been used is a parallel marked zebra crossing with green and white stripes as indicated in Figure 1.4. This treatment has been used on Hawkesbury Road, Westmead near Westmead Hospital. The parallel bicycle crossing features no signage.

Figure 1.4: Hawkesbury Road, Westmead

In a meeting with Roads and Maritime Services it was indicated that the Warrants are required to be met to install a zebra crossing. The warrants for a zebra crossing are: i) In each of three separate one hour periods in a typical day. a) the pedestrian flow per hour (P) crossing the road is greater than or equal to 30 AND b) the vehicular flow per hour (V) through the site is greater than or equal to 500 AND c) the product PV is greater than or equal to 60,000 ii) Reduced warrant for sites used predominantly by children and by aged or impaired pedestrians. If the crossing is used predominantly by school children, is not suitable site for a children’s crossing and in two counts of one hour duration immediately before and after school hours: a) P ≥ 30 AND b) V ≥ 200 a pedestrian (zebra) crossing may be installed.

If at least 50% of pedestrians using the crossing are aged or impaired and for each three one hour periods in a typical day a) P ≥ 30 AND b) V ≥ 200 AND c) PV ≥ 60,000 a pedestrian (zebra) crossing may be installed. iii) Special Warrant: In certain circumstances where:

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Road Crossing Options on the GreenWay

a) PV ≥ 45,000 (but less than 60,000) AND b) P ≥ 30 AND c) V ≥ 500

The NSW Bicycle Guidelines also suggest treatments for off-road bicycle lanes at intersections. One of the options is the ‘bent’ out treatment where, if space permits, storage space for one car is provided between the bike lane and the intersection. An example is shown in Figure 1.5. In this case two ‘Give Way’ signs are provided for vehicles approaching from the side street.

Figure 1.5: Bent out bike lanes

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3. Road crossing option proposed for Hercules Street

The road crossing option proposed for the Greenway Cycleway is shown in Figure 3.1. It shows a bicycle crossing adjacent to the existing raised pedestrian crossing.

Figure 3.1: Hercules Street Option

The treatment proposed is similar to the two crossings option that was used near Westmead Hospital (as shown in Figure 4.1). There would be no signage for the bike crossing but it would be marked with green and white stripes.

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4. Road crossing options proposed for Ewart Street

Two options for the crossing at Ewart Street have been developed. The first option incorporates parallel zebra and bike crossings. The second option for signalising the intersection has been considered should the ‘Sydenham to Bankstown active travel corridor’ become a reality . These options are discussed in the following section.

4.1 Option 1 – Zebra crossing

The first option is the provision of a zebra crossing and adjacent bike lanes as shown in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1: Proposed zebra crossing

Zebra crossings are also subject to warrants that need to be exceeded for vehicle volumes, pedestrian volumes and the product of the two.

The Ewart Street crossing can be considered for reduced warrants based on being a route to school also as it provides the only crossing point from areas south of the rail line to Dulwich Hill Public School.

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The traffic surveys indicate that the traffic flows would exceed the 500 vehicles per hour for three (3) hours with two-way traffic volumes in the order of 800 vehicles per hour for at least three hours. The existing pedestrian volume meets the warrants for 30 pedestrians in two hours. Further, the proposed GreenWay will very likely increase both pedestrian and cyclist demand for crossing.

Table 4 1: Peak three hour volumes

Time Pedestrians Vehicles (two way) Product

8:00am – 9:00am 31 908 28,148 3:00pm – 4:00pm 32 707 22,624

The proposed crossing would therefore meet the warrant for a pedestrian crossing under the school warrants.

4.2 Option 2 – Traffic Signals

Signalisation of the intersection would provide better and safer control of all movements, and particularly for pedestrian and cyclist crossings of Ewart St. The proposed traffic signal option is shown in Figure 4.2. The site is located near a rail underpass for the Bankstown rail line rail line. There is also a disused rail bridge further north of the intersection.

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Road Crossing Options on the GreenWay

Figure 4.2: Proposed signalised intersection

Table 4.2 shows the recommended warrants for traffic signals.

Table 4.2 : Warrants for intersection signalisation

Basis for Criteria warrant

Traffic demand For each of four one-hour periods on an average day: The major road flow exceeds 600 vehicles per hour in each direction; and The minor road flow exceeds 200 vehicles per hour in one direction.

Continuous traffic For each of four one-hour periods on an average day: The major road flow exceeds 900 vehicles per hour in each direction; and The minor road flow exceeds 100 vehicles per hour in one direction; and The speed of traffic on the major road or limited sight distance from the minor road causes undue delay or hazard to the minor road vehicles; and

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Basis for Criteria warrant There is no other nearby traffic signal site easily accessible to the minor road vehicles.

Pedestrian safety For each of four one-hour periods on an average day: The pedestrian flow crossing the major road exceeds 150 persons per hour; and The major road flow exceeds 600 vehicles per hour in each direction or, where there is a central median of at least 1.2 metres wide, 1,000 vehicles per hour in each direction.

Pedestrian safety For each of four one-hour periods on an average day: – high speed road The pedestrian flow crossing the major road exceeds 150 persons per hour; and The major road flow exceeds 450 vehicles per hour in each direction or, where there is a central median of at least 1.2 metres wide, 750 vehicles per hour in each direction; and The 85th percentile speed on the major road exceeds 75 kilometres per hour.

Crashes The intersection has been the site of an average of three or more reported tow-away or casualty traffic accidents per year over a three-year period, where the traffic accidents could have been prevented by traffic signals; and The traffic flows are at least 80 per cent of the appropriate flow warrants.

Source: Traffic signal design, section 2 – warrants (Roads and Maritime, 2008)

Existing volumes

Figure 4.3 and Figure 4.4 show the average weekday traffic profile of Ewart Street east of Terrace Road and Terrace Road north of Ewart Street, respectively. Indicated in each figure is a horizontal dashed line that indicates the traffic volume thresholds required to trigger warrants.

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Figure 4.3 : Average weekday traffic profile of Ewart Street east of Terrace Road

Figure 4.4 : Average weekday traffic profile of Terrace Road north of Ewart Street

Traffic volumes on Ewart Street (the intersection’s major road) does not have traffic volumes greater than 600 vehicles per hour in either direction. Terrace Road (the minor road) experiences traffic volumes greater than 200 vehicles per hour in the northbound direction between 8am and 9am and in the southbound direction between 3pm and 4pm. Warrants to signalise the intersection based on traffic demand are not met given the low volumes of traffic on both the major and minor road.

For the warrant based on continuous traffic, Terrace Road volumes exceed 100 vehicles per hour in one direction over a four-hour period while traffic volumes on Ewart Street are substantially lower than the 900 vehicles per hour threshold. Therefore, the continuous traffic warrant is not met.

Sight distance restrictions due to the railway overbridge have been considered and adequate Stopping Sight Distance (SSD) of 60m for a 60km/h design speed can be achieved. Further, provision of Wig–Wag warning signs could be incorporated into the design to reduce the risk of a car driving into the rear of a queued vehicle. A similar treatment has been adopted by Georges River Council – see Figure 4.5.

The option to provide traffic signals at the intersection of Ewart Street and Terrace Road was modelled in Sidra.

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Road Crossing Options on the GreenWay

Figure 4.5 : Wig-wag warning sign (King Georges Road near Hurstville South Public School, Hurstville)

Source: Google Street View (2018)

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Road Crossing Options on the GreenWay

1.1.1 Intersection performance

Table 4.3 shows a comparison of the intersection performance without and with Option 2

Table 4.3 : Option 1 modelling results

Time period / approach Existing Option 1

DoS Average LoS Queue DoS Average LoS Queue delay length delay length (sec) (m) (sec) (m)

Morning peak hour

Ewart Street east approach 0.27 7 A 15 0.44 12 A 50

Terrace Road north approach 0.18 9 A <10 0.44 52 D 55

Ewart Street west approach 0.38 6 A 15 0.28 7 A 60

Overall intersection 0.38 9 A 15 0.44 17 B 60

Evening peak hour

Ewart Street east approach 0.26 7 A 10 0.27 17 B 55

Terrace Road north approach 0.17 8 A <10 0.27 35 C 45

Ewart Street west approach 0.19 5 A <10 0.20 14 A 45

Overall intersection 0.26 8 A 10 0.27 20 B 55

The intersection as a roundabout currently operates at LoS A during the morning and evening peak hour. Signalisation of the intersection and provision of right turn bays on Terrace Road and the Ewart Street east approach would result in the intersection performing at LoS B and with acceptable queue lengths during the morning and evening peak hour.

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