Safer streets are coming

A broad coalition of West Hobart residents and community representatives made strong  presentations to the West Hobart Residents Traffic Committee on 23 February and also to the City Infrastructure Committee (CIC) on 24 February.  The Residents Traffic Committee and the residents who made representations to the CIC strongly supported the recommendations of the recent external consultants' report (see details here).   In addition, Cate Sumner (representing the schools community) noted that installation of an "unstaffed" children's crossing could be endorsed by the Commissioner Transport in the vicinity of the train park, where the speed limit is 40 kph.

The Aldermen of the CIC were generally sympathetic to the concerns of the residents, but several  had some concerns about installing traffic lights at the proposed locations.  The CIC's recommendation to the full Council was (in a nutshell) to accept the recommendations made by Council staff and to bring forward the proposed extra median lanes and improvements to existing crossing points along Hill St to the next financial year, and also to progress the installation of the children's crossing near the train park.

Example of a more pedestrian-oriented crossing.

 These recommendations went to the full Council last Monday 7 March for further discussion and a decision.  Alderman Anna Reynolds strongly advocated for the installation of traffic lights at the corner of Hill and Arthur Streets in order to provide safe crossing points for our older and younger residents, and was successful in getting approval for this.

The final approved motion was as follows:

13. WEST HOBART LOCAL AREA TRAFFIC INVESTIGATION

That:

1. The recommendations of the consultant report titled West Hobart Local Area Traffic Investigation – Final Report, marked as Attachment A to item 5 of the Open City Infrastructure Committee agenda of 24 February 2016, be supported in-principle and the following actions be undertaken:

(i) A workshop be convened with stakeholders in relation to the West Hobart pedestrian environment.

(ii) The Department of State Growth be requested to establish Statewide warrants for the installation of pedestrian crossings within Tasmania.

(iii) The Council write to the Department of State Growth requesting that consideration be given to the installation of an unsupervised children’s crossing in Hill Street in the 40km/h zone near Caldew Park.

(iv) Median lanes and median islands be installed in Hill Street between Allison Street and Patrick Street and between Hamilton Street and Warwick Street, in 2016/2017 following the development of concept designs and community engagement.

 (v) A review be undertaken following the installation of the median islands and pedestrian crossings in Hill Street.

(vi) Concept design development and consultation be undertaken with directly affected residents in 2016/2017 to provide more generous pedestrian crossings in Hill Street where refuge islands are already provided.

(vii) Approach the State Government to install traffic signals at the intersection of Arthur & Hill Streets and consider submitting a Blackspot Program application in 2016 to support the installation of signals at this location.

(viii) That temporary treatments be used in the short-term to test the pedestrian crossing and median island measures (ie tactical urbanism).

2. The West Hobart Resident Traffic Committee, Lansdowne Crescent Primary School, The Friends School, Taroona High School, Lawrenny Court, businesses along Hill Street and those people who participated in the consultation conducted by MRCagney, be advised of the Council’s decision.

The garden in March

Here are Greg's March planting notes - can't believe it is time to plant broad beans already!  Might wait a bit for mine. 

 

My tomatoes are still going; they are yummy though there are not enough to bottle. I'll buy some local tomatoes for that - it's a point of honour for me to use my bottled local tomatoes in soups and pasta sauces over winter. The basil is going to seed so I'll save some and try growing from seed next year. 

 

Greg is selling yum toms for $3.50 /kg and slightly blemished ones for sauce etc for $2.50 /kg.

Contact him on email sumbodyelse@bigpond.com  or phone 62310707

And don't forget Elizabeth Lelong's wonderful seedling and plant sales every Sunday, in Petty Street, in Eve's Garden.

If Greg sells out, you can also get sauce and heirloom tomatoes from Anne-Marie Mobbs, a market gardener at Cambridge.  Contact her on  0428 444247.

 

Have you had a good summer in your garden?

Cynthia from Lawrenny Court is keen to organise a West Hobart Spring garden competition for some community gardening fun. She needs some help so if you would like to join a planning team, email me at the WHEN GAF address with your phone number and I will pass that on to Cynthia.

Best wishes

Margaret

MARCH Week 1 Week 2 Week 3      Week 4

Broad Beans (1st planting) x

Spinach x

West Hobart Local Area Traffic Investigation (take 2)

We shared some info about the report by MRCagney in our last blog post.

As an update, the report is coming back to the Council's Infrastructure Committee this coming Wednesday 25 Feb (5.30pm, Lady Osborne Room, Town Hall).

WHEN's submission to Council in respect of the report, in summary is:

The West Hobart Environment Network represents West Hobartians who love their quiet, attractive, friendly community.  People love the quiet pace, the views, the proximity to local schools and popular corner stores, the proximity (easy walking and cycling distance) to the CBD for work and shopping.  We have celebrated West Hobart as a walking precinct in our map “Walking West Hobart’.

However the combination of a relatively high speed limit on the roads (50 kph) and the slow but steady entrenchment of a “rat-run” through the middle of the community from the northern suburbs to the CBD is starting to fray the integrity of the community, creating stress for parents of school age children and inducing fear for older and less agile residents.  

On Tuesday 16 February WHEN members made a manual count at one location on this route, to get a better sense of the nature of the problem.   This was on the south side of the roundabout at Lansdowne Cres/Hill St/Patrick St.  These are the results:

	All vehicles passing	Pedestrians crossing
Morning commuter peak hour 0800-0900	1228	60
After school period 1430-1330	855	47

We didn’t count the evening commuter peak (1630-1730) but would assume that it is similar to the morning commuter peak.   

For comparison, our manual one-off count on an ordinary week day is of the same order as the count quoted in the MRCagney Report and based on data provided by the Council (i.e. 1308 AM peak hour, 1335 PM peak hour).   

Our views on this are:

-         This volume and speed of traffic is totally inappropriate for a quiet residential area, where we would like to be able to encourage children to walk and cycle to school and where older residents with declining acuities need to cross the road to get to the shops and back.

-         The noise, smell and sense of tension around this fast moving stream of traffic creates an undesirable environment in a residential area.

-         Many of these trips by car could be eliminated if commuters had better options via public transport, bike paths, and if parents could safely let their children walk or ride to school on their own.

It was these issues that Steve Burgess was asked to consider and propose some solutions for.  Of the recommendations of the MR Cagney report “West Hobart Local Area Traffic Investigation”, we support:

1.       The main recommendation i.e. the installation of traffic signals at the corner of Hill and Arthur Streets, and at the corner of Lansdowne Cres, Hill St and Patrick St.  Because:

o   These will create clearly visible and attractive safe crossing points for pedestrians both old and young at two important and busy crossing points on Hill Street.

o   The resultant “platooning” effect on cars traversing Hill Street will create regular quiet traffic patches along the route so it will be easier and safer for children, parents with prams, and older citizens to pick their opportunities to cross the road.

o   Controlled traffic lights provide a safer intersection experience for cyclists, who are intimidated and squeezed off the road by faster moving vehicles at roundabouts.

o   The “subjective safety” experience for pedestrians and cyclists will be improved all the way along Hill Street.

o   The proposed lights will also improve the safety for car drivers at each of these locations, given the difficult sight lines down Arthur St at the Hill/Arthur St intersection and the propensity of drivers at the Hill/Patrick intersection to maintain high speeds through the current roundabout.

2.       The installation of improved, safer pedestrian crossings at other points along Hill Street, which create a stronger invitation for pedestrians to cross and signal more strongly to drivers that people have a right to cross at this point.  The design to be as described in the Local Retail Precincts Project report. 

3.       The development of local guidelines on the installation of Zebra and raised Zebra (or Wombat) crossings.

4.       Increased mixed use in residential areas such as West Hobart, to create local employment and more destinations for people to walk and ride to.

5.       Increased residential density in residential areas such as West Hobart, to reduce urban sprawl and make active transport (walking & cycling) and public transport more viable.

It would be great if other residents could make written submissions to the Committee members about the MRCagney report and its recommendations. If you would like to, and need any assistance, pls contact Di at whenvnet@gmail.com.  

If you would like to come to the Committee meeting and make a verbal presentation to the Committee, we strongly encourage you to do so, as these personal representations can be very powerful. You will need to seek the permission of the Chair of the Committee in advance.  Once again, contact Di for assistance with how to do this.

West Hobart Local Area Traffic Investigation

Regular blog readers may remember our last update on traffic and road safety issues in West Hobart (10 November).  Council asked consultants MRCagney to investigate the issues the residents were raising and to provide a report.

The MRCagney report “West Hobart Local Area Traffic Investigation” [22 December 2015] was included in the agenda for the City Infrastructure Committee meeting of Wednesday 27 January, together with some recommendations in response from Council staff.  

You can find the agenda and print out the report (pp41-69 of the full agenda) from this link.  We strongly encourage you to take a close look at the analysis and recommendations of these Melbourne-based urban planning and transport consultants.  There are some important findings and recommendations made. If you have trouble printing the report, contact us as we may have some hard copies available.

Following approaches from WH residents, the City Infrastructure Committee agreed to defer consideration of this report until the next meeting of the Committee, which will be on Wednesday 24 February.  Between then and now, they will seek to have the principal consultant involved, Steven Burgess, present and explain his findings to all Aldermen.

The report’s main recommendation aimed at making it safer for residents of all ages to cross  busy Hill St is to install traffic signals at two points:  at the Hill and Arthur St intersection, and at the Hill and Patrick St intersection (currently a roundabout). Importantly, the signals will provide inviting, formalised crossings at the signalised intersections themselves, “where current pedestrian outcomes are poor”.

In addition, establishing these two sets of signals would break up the flow of traffic into “platoons” along both major and minor roads.  Breaking up the continual flow of traffic would offer quiet periods in which pedestrians could cross Hill St more easily, especially during peak times.  The mid block crossing points could also be improved to become more attractive and feel a lot safer than the current “pedestrian refuge” crossing points.

Installation of the traffic signals would also create a safer environment for cyclists in West Hobart.

The consultants provided guidelines used in Victoria and Queensland for installation of zebra crossings.  Interestingly, the report identifies that there are intersections along Hill St that approach the pedestrian demand levels required for a zebra crossing at peak periods (MRCagney Report 3.3.2). This issue deserves greater consideration as an interim solution during peak hour traffic.

Strangely, the consultants do not appear to agree with the residents’ view that West Hobart is a residential area and should not have a connector route running through it and a general speed limit of 50kph. Given that Council has undertaken to look at reducing speed limits in residential communities across Hobart, in line with regular practice in communities in Melbourne for example, this advice should cause some concern.  

It is also of concern that the report does not agree with the Council’s decision to reduce speed limits in the vicinity of Caldew Park.   We are a little alarmed that this decision may be reviewed and retracted.

Another disappointment was the failure to support the inclusion of a bikelane around the relatively level transit line through Cavell/Hill/Lansdowne/Hill Streets.  Similarly, there is no advice that improvements to the pedestrian crossing points should not be to the detriment of bike riders by forcing them into pinch points with the faster moving traffic.

If you have some concerns when you read this report, please share them as comments here or be prepared to contact your Aldermen to make representations.  You can also get in touch with WHEN via whenvnet@gmail.com.