Article: Plans for light rail on Northbourne Ave raised again

[colinw]

The Canberra Times -> click here

A century after it was first proposed, a planning expert has urged the ACT Government to seriously consider light rail along Northbourne Avenue.

The call follows the launch of a national design competition to transform the public housing complexes along Canberra's main boulevard.

University of Canberra's chair of urban and regional planning, Barbara Norman, said the gateway into the nation's capital should be a showcase for sustainable urban design and any discussion about sustainable development would have to include a transport plan.

''I advocate an integrated transport plan so there will still be cars in the future but we should also seriously consider light rail,'' Professor Norman said.

The national design competition consists of two sites, one in Turner of 23,350sqm and one in Braddon, on the other side of Northbourne Avenue, of 15,660sqm. Prospective project architects will be able to design buildings up to 25m tall, observing a strict 10m setback from Northbourne Avenue.

''The gateway [into Canberra] should have a presence and should reflect the best in sustainable development in design. It will need to be low carbon and sustainable development ... it should focus on not just the housing component but also public transport,'' Professor Norman said.

The ACT Greens support the construction of light rail but have called on the Government to guarantee comparable public housing on the redeveloped Northbourne sites.

According to the cross-bench party, the ABC flats had about 400 public housing dwellings and the ACT Government was proposing that in the future redevelopment, only 135 of the total 1350 units would be public housing.

Greens MLA Amanda Bresnan said Northbourne Flats should not face the same fate.

''The proposed redevelopment of the Allawah, Bega and Currong flats will see a diminished number of public housing dwellings on that site,'' Ms Bresnan said.

''The community will lose out further if the same happens with Northbourne Flats.''

Ms Bresnan said the ACT Government should ensure a mix of private and public housing, as well as green spaces for recreation including parks, playgrounds and community gardens on the two sites.

''It's important as we develop and increase density around the city, and that the Government continues to own inner-city public housing stock,'' she said. ''The Government must use this opportunity to reinvigorate the area and design a mixed community which incorporates social inclusion and sustainability.''

But Professor Norman said the Government should have a more flexible approach to avoid social housing enclaves.

Canberra architect Colin Stewart said higher density along Northbourne Avenue would increase the likelihood of light rail.

''I think it's a good idea to build up all the boulevards in Canberra, they were all designed as grand boulevards and the more people that can live on or near transport corridors the better because you can live a walking lifestyle,'' Mr Stewart said.

[#Metro]

Light Rail would integrate well, BRT would be very frequent and make the road quite busy.

The problem in Canberra will be that the service ABSOLUTELY MUST BE FAST.
The main arterial roads in Canberra are about ~ 80km/hour speeds, public transport, regardless of mode, is not going to get patronage unless it can at least match that.

[colinw]

My experience of Canberra public transport is that the inter-town high frequency routes are fantastic, but the rest of the system is horrible.

I could now believe just how infrequent the buses serving the war memorial are.  Every two hours on weekends & public holidays, and the bus stop is several hundred metres down the road.

[colinw]

The Canberra Times -> End of the line

DELAYS in handing over the blueprint for Canberra's transport future are stymieing the planning of light rail, a prominent lobby group has said.

The ACT Government was due to hand over its Transport for Canberra plan for public inspection nearly 18 months ago, but has still not released it.

Chairman for ACT Light Rail Damien Haas said the business case for a light rail system had been proven but it was difficult to push forward while the ACT Government sat on documents.

''It was due in the first quarter of 2010. What is lacking is the political will,'' Mr Haas said.

Calls for light rail have been growing louder this week, with planning expert Barbara Norman publicly calling for it to be installed on Northbourne Avenue.

She said the gateway into the nation's capital should be a showcase for sustainable urban design.

The Tuggeranong Community Council has also added its voice, with president Darryl Johnston warning that the ACT could wind up with Sydney's western suburbs-style congestion if it did not plan ahead.

''It might not be viable to link all our town centres at the moment,'' he said.

''We could do it in stages linking Civic to just one and then as time goes by extend it.

''If we don't start laying it down now we are going to end up facing up to gridlock on our roads.''

Mr Johnston said the writing was on the wall with the predicted population boom.

''If we reach a massive population of half a million people and with Queanbeyan, we will be congested with cars and buses. We need to get people off the road and onto rail.''

Mr Haas said there was an important difference between traditional trams and the light rail that had been envisioned for the ACT.

''I don't use the word tram. It tends to make people think of places like Melbourne where the tram runs down the middle of the road,'' he said.

''It means cars stopping to allow people to get on and off.

[colinw]

The Canberra Times -> Light-rail link cheaper option than parkway: Greens

A Victorian Government watchdog's scathing report on road construction is a warning to Canberrans to avoid the same mistakes, the Greens say.

The party's transport spokeswoman, Amanda Bresnan, also said yesterday the proposed Majura Parkway would cost far more than a new light-rail link from Gungahlin to Civic and an ACT Government analysis backs her case.

However, Planning Minister Simon Corbell said the parkway would be an important way of keeping freight traffic out of Canberra's suburbs.

Victorian Auditor-General Des Pearson issued his findings last week on six roads that cost a total of $2billion.

He said government agencies failed to realise that building large new roads had, in most cases, added to congestion, and they therefore underestimated the roads' net costs.

''These shortcomings create a risk of overestimating the benefits and giving decision-makers false confidence about the capacity of the project and the surrounding road network, to cope with future traffic ... These weaknesses need to be addressed so that decision-makers can make a fully informed decision about whether to proceed with a project,'' the audit found.

Ms Bresnan said the same lack of awareness was behind the decision to build the parkway which will replace the existing Majura Road which the ACT Government expects to cost $288million.

Treasurer Katy Gallagher committed half of that amount in last month's budget, but hopes the Commonwealth will pay the rest.

However, Ms Bresnan said the ACT's yet-to-be-appointed auditor-general should investigate the assumptions behind the parkway before it was built.

She also said it was time to make ''the difficult decision to stay building a rapid-transit network'', or light-rail system, instead.

''The people of north Canberra need good transport options that get them to work quickly, and they don't want to deal with major congestion. But the parkway won't deliver.''

An ACT government study of light-rail options, conducted by Kellogg Brown Root in 2004 and reassessed by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2008, found a Gungahlin-to-Civic route would cost about $260million in today's prices.

However, if the route was part of an ACT-wide network, a Gungahlin-to-Civic plus a Civic-to-Kingston route could be built even more cheaply, for just $246million in today's prices.

Mr Corbell's spokesman said last night the Government had relied on traffic forecasts for 2021 and 2031, and expected 40,000 vehicles a day to use the parkway.

But he said most of that traffic would ease congestion on ACT roads ''such as the residential streets in north Canberra during peak periods''.

The spokesman also said it was wrong to compare national freight networks, of which the parkway would be part, with commuter networks such as light rail.

''Movement of people has a completely different set of priorities to moving freight.''

The Liberals' transport spokesman, Alistair Coe, said the parkway was crucial for the ACT region.

[Jonno]

The old "this freeway is need to keep freight moving" argument. Love this arguement bring used despite the National Freight Study showing freight accounts for only 15-20% of all trips and study after study showing more roads never reduces congestion.  

I assume they believe if they say it often enough it MUST be true!!

[colinw]

The Canberra Times -> Light rail back on the agenda

Light rail for Canberra is back on the ACT Government's radar, but in a radically stripped-down form.

The Government has ordered a new study into the concept, but any new plans will be much more modest than the ambitious, citywide system covering 54km of track that was ruled out two years ago because of the estimated $2 billion cost.

Instead, Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services Simon Corbell have told transport planners to look at options for a 13km route between Civic and Gungahlin with an initial study of the 8km between the city and Exhibition Park, to be known as Route A1.

The designers will then move on to planning a route between the showgrounds and Gungahlin Town Centre, to be known as Route A2.

But Ms Gallagher has indicated that federal money would still be needed to build even the beginnings of a system.

She has confirmed that the $2.5million Northbourne Avenue transit study, which was designing vehicular, bus and cycle routes along the thoroughfare, will be expanded to include plans for a light rail route to link the growing northern suburbs to Civic.

Light rail has been off the ACT Government's agenda since 2008 when a feasibility study for a system linking Belconnen, Tuggeranong, Gungahlin, Kingston, Manuka and Civic flopped with Federal Government infrastructure planners.

The $200,000 PriceWaterhouse Coopers submission to the Building Australia fund indicated that the environmental and congestion relief benefits may not justify the cost of light rail and the idea did not make the list of Infrastructure Australia's priority projects.

But the new study will look at a more modest beginning of a system for the city, as favoured by the ACT Greens who want to divert roads funding to build a light rail network for Canberra, one route at a time.

The Chief Minister told The Canberra Times that the results of a feasibility study might be different if it was focused on a narrow route along one of the capital's most congested roadways.

''Then original work done around costing for light rail by infrastructure Australia was done around 54km,'' Ms Gallagher said. ''This piece of work is being done only around part of this puzzle.''

Ms Gallagher said the the new study would be an expansion of work that was already under way to design dedicated transit lanes on Northbourne Avenue.

''In the 2010-2011 budget, we put in some feasibility money, about $300,000 for designated transit lanes on Northbourne Avenue and in the last budget we put in $2.5million for design of whatever comes out of that feasibility study,'' she said. ''Most of the work has looked at buses but we just think it's sensible if the designers look at the possibility of light rail in this and not exclude it.''

Ms Gallagher indicated the territory may make submissions to Infrastructure Australia.

Light Rail ACT spokesman Damian Haas said his group would welcome the approach if it was ''fair dinkum.''

$2 billion for a 54km system seems quite reasonable to me, when compared to the cost of a much smaller system on the Gold Coast.

[SurfRail]

$2 billion for a 54km system seems quite reasonable to me, when compared to the cost of a much smaller system on the Gold Coast.

Canberra's property requirements would be quite minimal compared to ours given the parkways and wide boulevards - likewise comparisons to Mandurah generally do not obtain because the route is extremely flat and located in large part on public land.

Southern Southport is currently in the process of being flattened to accommodate ours, and the tunnel at Griffith Uni is nearly complete, in case anybody is in doubt about ours proceeding... 

[#Metro]

Tunnel?

[SurfRail]

Tunnel?

Yup!  A shallow one, under the western end of Parklands Drive.  The terminus (University Hospital Station) is in an open-air cavern underneath what is currently shown on Google Maps as the signalised intersection at University Drive.

It continues a little further west and snakes to the north where there will be an open air shunting area parallel to Olsen Avenue, opposite the Parkwood Tavern.

http://goldcoastrapidtransit.qld.gov.au/the-route/precincts/university/ - have a look at the timelapse.

[colinw]

Nice video.

I'm really looking forward to the GCRT opening.  I hope it will "raise the bar" for the standard of public transport in QLD.

[SurfRail]

Tunnel?

And while on the subject (albeit not the subject of this topic):

http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=546.msg60112#msg60112