3. upgrade city road east to be safer and easier to get around EE TRE R S Understanding City Road East NS ST COLLI FLINDERS City Road East between Power HAMER N HALL Street and St Kilda Road presents YARRA RIVER E SOUTHGAT opportunities for improving safety and AVENUE access, however signifi cant changes ALEXANDRA AVENUE are not currently possible due to the HWATER FRES E PLAC need to retain the road’s ongoing ARTS ST KILDA ROAD CENTRE arterial function. City Road East carries ENUE STREET AV T OW R G approximately 45,000 vehicles per day, STREET H FANNING IT CITY ROAD L STU IN including trucks that are required to use NATIONAL L GALLERY OF this road as an alternate route to the VICTORIA SOUTHBAN Burnley Tunnel. BOULEVARDK STREET E G ANAGH V D POWE REET Signifi cant upcoming developments will STR A T K S D EE R bring increasing numbers of residents S BRI T N and pedestrians walking along and CITY ROA QUEE B ALSTO across City Road. STREE N T BURNLEY TUNNEL City Road East impedes much of this BOYD pedestrian movement acting as a barrier that divides Southbank residences and KI NGS WA the Arts Precinct from destinations MORAY STREE TE FREEWAY CLARKE Y to the north such as Southbank WEST GA Promenade, Southgate and the Hoddle CLAR S T Grid. EN TR D EET ON Potential short term improvements include removing slip lanes and Figure 3.32: City Road East between Power Street and St Kilda Road reclaiming redundant road space to allow wider footpaths and tree planting. These aim to improve the safety and amenity of the local environment as much as possible within the current “Any options need traffi c constraints. to allow City Road to still be a strong transport link. But any eff ort at noise reduction would be good.” Nathan, resident 66 participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/cityroad Existing Conditions The existing conditions of City Road East are inadequate to meet the needs of the future. Greater detail is contained on the following pages. Some of the key issues are: • The pedestrian environment is unpleasant and unsafe due to dominance of traffi c along City Road. • Pedestrian crossings at large intersections are diffi cult and unsafe due to slip lanes and long wait times. • Signifi cant traffi c fl ows contribute to noise and air pollution. • Very narrow footpaths at the Power Street intersection bring pedestrians very close to large turning trucks. • The pedestrian crossing at Fanning Street is often unseen by drivers who are moving quickly through the St Kilda Road underpass. Figure 3.33: Narrow footpaths expose pedestrians to freight traffi c, creating an unfriendly and unsafe pedestrian environment “Left turn slip lanes have no place in a high density, high pedestrian volume urban area.” Garrath, resident Figure 3.34: Large intersections along City Road (looking east at Southbank Boulevard) create unsafe and inconvenient crossing conditions City Road Draft Master Plan 67 Power Street to Southbank Boulevard Proposed street upgrades Proposed street upgrades include removal of slip lanes and simplifying pedestrian crossings at Southbank Boulevard, central tree planting and some footpath extensions along City Road. Footpath extended to create safer waiting area Red dotted line shows for pedestrian crossing existing kerb Hanover BMW House Melbourne Power Street Power Southbank WRAP Grand Residences Pedestrian Trees planted in central median crossing widened to increase shading and create for safer access consistency along the street Figure 3.35: Proposed upgrade to City Road (between Power Street and Southbank Boulevard) 68 participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/cityroad HAMER HALL YARRA RIVER N SOUTHGATE AVENUE A FRESHWATER PLACE ARTS ST KILDA ROA CENTRE NG D STREET FANNI CITY ROA STURT STREET D NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA SOUTHBANK Figure 3.35 BOULEV H G ARD T POWER ST AVANATREE K S D REE T Redundant road space converted to Slip lanes removed to footpath to improve pedestrian access simplify pedestrian and create opportunities for tree planting crossing paths and improve safety BMW Melbourne Riverside Apartments Southbank Boulevard Australia 108 (future development) N 5m 15m 30m Design and road layout of the Wide existing City Road/Southbank Boulevard footpath with intersection will be subject to mature trees further modifi cations through the Legend Transforming Southbank Boulevard Project. Private property Footpath Existing tree New tree Traffi c signal Existing kerb City Road Draft Master Plan 69 SouthGATE AVENUE to St Kilda Road Proposed street upgrades Proposed street upgrades include removal of a slip lane at Southgate Avenue, simplifying pedestrian crossings, reconfi guring Fanning Street, central tree planting and some footpath extensions. Footpath extended to Slip lane removed to improve improve pedestrian safety and simplify pedestrian Red dotted line shows safety crossing paths existing kerb IBM Eureka Tower Southgate Avenue Southgate Cityview Mantra Apartments Treatment continued to Southbank Boulevard - to be addressed at detailed design phase Figure 3.36: Proposed upgrade to City Road (between Southgate Avenue and St Kilda Road) 70 participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/cityroad HAMER HALL YARRA RIVER N SOUTHGATE AVENUE A Figure 3.36 FRESHWATER PLACE ARTS ST KILDA ROA CENTRE NG D STREET FANNI CITY ROA STURT STREET D NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA SOUTHBANK BOULEV H G ARD T POWER ST AVANATREE K S D REE T Potential to simplify wide Footpath extended to driveways to improve slow left turning traffi c pedestrian access into Southgate Avenue Herald and St John’s Weekly Times Church Testing Grounds Fanning Street Sturt Street N 5m 15m 30m Fanning Street reconfi gured to allow left turn out traffi c only to improve pedestrian safety and create opportunities for tree planting Legend Private property Footpath Existing tree “Cars just fl y through New tree too fast as they don’t Traffi c signal know that there is a Existing kerb crossing (at Fanning Arts Centre Street).” overpass Denise, resident City Road Draft Master Plan 71 Closure of slip lanes can create opportunities for landscaping and improve safety by increasing space available for pedestrians waiting to cross at lights. This example shows the corner of Kings Street and Flinders Street city road east Benefi ts and potential impacts of improvements to City Road Proposed Improvements Potential Impacts In order to upgrade City Road East The improvements to City Road East to be safer and easier to get around, have been tested in the traffi c model this action will result in the following and result in minimal journey time improvements: increases for vehicles travelling between Power Street and Linlithgow Avenue as outlined below (see Figure 3.37). Removal of fi ve slip lanes at Southbank Boulevard and • Power Street to Linlithgow Avenue Southgate Avenue and upgrade of up to: of reclaimed space • 2 seconds in AM peak from 1:54 minutes to 1:56 minutes; • 5 seconds in PM peak from 3:42 Over 45 new street trees minutes to 3:47 minutes. • Linlithgow Avenue to Power Street Footpath upgrades and of up to: extensions outside BMW, St • 1:11 minutes in AM peak from 3:00 John’s Church and Fanning minutes to 4:11 minutes; Street • 27 seconds in PM peak from 4:03 minutes to 4:30 minutes. Improved bicycle access across City Road at Southbank Boulevard 10 mins This increased journey time is experienced predominately east of Fanning Street 5 mins 4:30 4:11 3:47 +0:27 +0:05 +1:11 4:03 3:42 1:56 3:00 +0:02 1:54 0 mins AM PM AM PM Power Street Linlithgow Avenue Power Street Linlithgow Avenue Figure 3.37: Increase in journey times between Power Street and Linlithgow Avenue Source: GHD Traffi c Modelling Report, July 2015 City Road Draft Master Plan 73.