02/23/09
Brisbane CBD to go to 40kph
Speed limits in Brisbane's CBD are to be reduced from 50km/h to 40 km/h
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said Cabinet voted unanimously to the 10km/h reduction after a survey of key transport stakeholders and the public found two-thirds (68 percent of respondents) supported it. There were just 27 per cent were against the proposal.
The biggest single reason given by the public in support of the reduction was safety.
Cr Newman said the move was prompted by 524 accidents in the CBD from 2001-2006 (the most recent statistics), including four deaths.
Brisbane was also set for a huge increase in CBD employment figures by 2026 – from 140,000 at present to 215,000 then – an increase of over 50 per cent.
“Our vision for Brisbane’s CBD is a safer, quieter city heart where cyclists can ride bicycles and pedestrians push prams without traffic racing through the streets,” he said.
“We already know that much of traffic passing through the CBD does not want to go to the CBD. Our TransApex tunnel and bridge projects will divert that traffic away from the CBD and leave the area for those people who want to be here.”
Cr Newman said Ann and Turbot Streets would remain at 60km/h due to their status as busy through-traffic streets, with State Government support.
He said further negotiation with the State was underway, however it was envisaged that the changes would come into play around Easter, at which the following streets would become 40km/h zones:
· all streets in the CBD between Ann and Alice Streets, including Alice Street
· all streets in the CBD between North Quay and Boundary Street, including North Quay
· all of George Street including the section between Roma Street and Ann Street
· Roma Street, Tank Street, Herschel Street and Makerston Street.
Infrastructure chair Cr Graham Quirk said slower speeds in the CBD would also benefit the Lord Mayor’s bike hire scheme, an Australian first plan to put about 2000 bikes on inner-city streets from St Lucia to Newstead.
“With the Lord Mayor spending a record $100 million on bicycle infrastructure this term this is a necessary step if we are to cement Brisbane as Australia’s most bike-friendly city,” he said. Community consultation was undertaken from late-November 2008 to mid-January 2009 through a range of methods, including the distribution of some 30,000 flyers in the CBD alone.
The biggest single reason given by the public in support of the reduction was safety.
Cr Newman said the move was prompted by 524 accidents in the CBD from 2001-2006 (the most recent statistics), including four deaths.
Brisbane was also set for a huge increase in CBD employment figures by 2026 – from 140,000 at present to 215,000 then – an increase of over 50 per cent.
“Our vision for Brisbane’s CBD is a safer, quieter city heart where cyclists can ride bicycles and pedestrians push prams without traffic racing through the streets,” he said.
“We already know that much of traffic passing through the CBD does not want to go to the CBD. Our TransApex tunnel and bridge projects will divert that traffic away from the CBD and leave the area for those people who want to be here.”
Cr Newman said Ann and Turbot Streets would remain at 60km/h due to their status as busy through-traffic streets, with State Government support.
He said further negotiation with the State was underway, however it was envisaged that the changes would come into play around Easter, at which the following streets would become 40km/h zones:
· all streets in the CBD between Ann and Alice Streets, including Alice Street
· all streets in the CBD between North Quay and Boundary Street, including North Quay
· all of George Street including the section between Roma Street and Ann Street
· Roma Street, Tank Street, Herschel Street and Makerston Street.
Infrastructure chair Cr Graham Quirk said slower speeds in the CBD would also benefit the Lord Mayor’s bike hire scheme, an Australian first plan to put about 2000 bikes on inner-city streets from St Lucia to Newstead.
“With the Lord Mayor spending a record $100 million on bicycle infrastructure this term this is a necessary step if we are to cement Brisbane as Australia’s most bike-friendly city,” he said. Community consultation was undertaken from late-November 2008 to mid-January 2009 through a range of methods, including the distribution of some 30,000 flyers in the CBD alone.
advertisement
advertisement