Northern Busway - Archived Full Documents

[timh]

Inspired by recent discussion about the need for the Northern Busway as an alternative to the NWTC, I think it's worthwhile looking at the full, original plans for the Northern and Eastern Busway. I am a huge proponent of these pieces of infrastructure, and I believe they should be fully completed as (mostly) per their original plans. Over the year's I've tried to archive as much of the original plans as I could find from Wayback Machine, various random transport blogs, etc. Here is a thread of all of the plans for the Northern Busway that I could find. If you have further documents, please add them here.

NOTE: I have many of these in PDF form for higher resolution. For now, if you want to view them in higher res than what you can see in the thread, just right click the image and click "Open Image in New Tab"

1) Herston to Kedron Newsletter 2006



2) Kedron to Bracken Ridge Newsletter 2010



3) Kedron to Bracken Ridge Newsletter 2011









4) Map 00 - RBWH to Federation Street


4a) Map 00 - RBWH to Federation Street (alternate)


5) Map 01 - Federation Street to Windsor


6) Map 02 - Windsor to Truro Street


7) Map 03 - Truro Street to Lutwyche


Map 04 - Lutwyche to Kedron Brook


9) Fact Sheet 01 - Somerset Road to Lawley Street



10) Fact Sheet 02 - Lawley Street to Prince Charles Hospital



11) Fact Sheet 03 - Prince Charles Hospital to Hamilton Road



12) Fact Sheet 04 - Hamilton Road to Murphy Road



13) Fact Sheet 05 - Murphy Road to Nevin Street



14) Fact Sheet 06 - Nevin Street to Dorville Road



15) Fact Sheet 07 - Dorville Road to Telegraph Road



15a) Carseldine Urban Village Busway Alignment


15b) Carseldine to Bracken Ridge Busway Alignment


15c) Bracken Ridge Busway Station Alignment



DISCUSSION:
- There are some notable differences in the RBWH to Federation Street Section which makes tunneling beyond Federation Street difficult. Notably, the AirportLink offramp into the middle of Bowen Bridge road is missing. Since that offramp has been built, that tunnel from Federation Street into the middle of Lutwyche Road may be difficult
- There is also an additional busway bridge over Enoggera Creek for local bus access which was never built
- The busway station at Windsor features an elevated pedestrian link over Lutwyche Road between the busway station and Windsor train station (big win)
- I think having a busway station at Albion Road AND a local bus stop at Truro street is redundant. Do one or the other. For me, I would just tunnel straight from Truro street to Windsor and just upgrade Truro Street to a full on Busway station (along with Federation Street)
- The northern tunnel portal at Kedron is different to what has been built. The original design had a southbound entrance to the tunnel on the eastern side of Gympie Road which would have been WAY better for connection to the Northern transitway
- The section between Somerset Road to Lawley Street is mostly surface running, resuming the caryards. A big win if built
- I am uncertain whether the deviation to Prince Charles Hospital is worth it. It seems to be the most complex part of the project, and severely slows down the travel times from Chermside to the city. This is also a part of the project that was most opposed to from the local community if I recall correctly. Just go straight along Gympie Road
- I am a strong believer that the busway should continue past Chermside to meet up with the railway line. It adds another layer of connectivity between the trunk routes and opens up a lot of opportunities for pax.
- The alignment from Aspley to Bracken Ridge is actually probably the easiest and cheapest section to build, considering it includes median running, regular bus lanes, and a protected corridor. So considering going from Chermside to Bracken Ridge is arguably the cheapest bit to do, I see no reason why you shouldn't do that section if you've spent all the money to build to Chermside.

[#Metro]

- I am uncertain whether the deviation to Prince Charles Hospital is worth it. It seems to be the most complex part of the project, and severely slows down the travel times from Chermside to the city. This is also a part of the project that was most opposed to from the local community if I recall correctly. Just go straight along Gympie Road

I don't think diversion to PCH is a good idea. You can create a branch of the busway to service that, similar to how UQ is offset from the main busway or Woolloongabba is offset. You can originate and terminate buses at PCH. Busways are flexible like that. Major trip generators such as Sunnybank etc are off the main SE busway alignment and this is similar to that.

How many boardings would PCH generate per day? I would say about 550 boardings perhaps, assuming 10% of staff took PT and add in a bit more for visitors. The GCL running at 15 minute frequency all day could handle that.

A quick estimate of the total number of Expected boardings for Chermside Shopping Centre would be:
15.5 million visitors/year x 0.1 PT market share x (1/365) = 4246 boardings per day.

(and if you followed along in the other NWTC thread, would be more than enough to justify its own rail station  )

This is about 7x greater than what would be generated at PCH. This is more evidence that RAIL 2 is probably the right alignment for Regional Rapid Rail. It suggests that one train stop at Chermside could potentially generate the same patronage as 7 "Local Stop" stations along a local NWTC rail line following the Trouts Rd corridor.

Would RRR stations at Everton Park and Bridgeman Downs on the RAIL 1 alignment even come anywhere close to that?

- I am a strong believer that the busway should continue past Chermside to meet up with the railway line. It adds another layer of connectivity between the trunk routes and opens up a lot of opportunities for pax.

Running things in the median of Gympie Road is cheaper but it also sacrifices quality. There is no getting around that. It is cheaper because it is worse - lower capacity and slower due to it being Class B ROW.

Priority B row gives a maximum capacity of 6000 pphd if Brisbane Metro buses are used in the median of Gympie Road. A busway proper would be closer to 10,000 pphd+ and faster. I know which one is better for the long haul - not the median one.

I think there is a decent case for just continuing the busway to Chermside in Priority A ROW and then running Brisbane Metro along that. Maybe put big bike lanes down the shoulder of Gympie Road and remove the car parking. That would also get rid of the argument for a "compensatory motorway" that BCC wants.

[timh]

I think there is a decent case for just continuing the busway to Chermside in Priority A ROW and then running Brisbane Metro along that. Maybe put big bike lanes down the shoulder of Gympie Road and remove the car parking. That would also get rid of the argument for a "compensatory motorway" that BCC wants.

Busway should be Class A to Chermside, I'm saying that it should be class B BEYOND Chermside (IE between Chermside at Carseldine).

[300LA]

Thanks for compiling timh.

- I am a strong believer that the busway should continue past Chermside to meet up with the railway line. It adds another layer of connectivity between the trunk routes and opens up a lot of opportunities for pax.

One thing I've never understood about the Northern Busway alignment is the need to parallel the railway between Carseldine and Fitzgibbon?

It's one of the few places where ample room exists to support a quad railway line. Yet adding in a busway would likely prevent that, for the relatively small net gain of 1x suburban station.

I'm all for an interchange at Carseldine station

[Jonno]

Never understood it myself

Busway should just continue on Gympie road and interchange at Bald Hills thus any from the north rail line changes there to come down Gympie Rd. 

Any BRT route east of Fitzgibbon needs to be on Hanford Rd plus an East-west route on Beams Rd.

[SurfRail]

The alignment is in recognition that Fitzgibbon and the surrounding area (including the former QUT site) is a Priority Development Area administered by MEDQ.  There's little if any development potential for Bald Hills by way of comparison.  These lines on maps have to be interpreted in context.

[Jonno]

The alignment is in recognition that Fitzgibbon and the surrounding area (including the former QUT site) is a Priority Development Area administered by MEDQ.  There's little if any development potential for Bald Hills by way of comparison.  These lines on maps have to be interpreted in context.

Fitzgibbon already has a rail line/station. I was involved in the original TOD proposal before the land was sold off by Government.

Further east needs BRT more than Fitzgibbon as does East-west - Beams Rd and Telegraph Rd.

Agree Bald Hills is limited It just more of a logical intersect point!