Sth bank

[Nik Dow]

I met today with Simon Shiel from Urban design (approximate name) to look at their plans for renovation of the riverfront on south bank from the Evan Walker Bridge up to St Kilda Rd.

It's very early in the project and no concepts are developed yet, but the idea will be to reduce clutter to make more space for people walking and cycling but at the same time design it so someone on a bike won't see it as a way to go fast.

The plane trees are end-of-life and the paving also. Hopefully the irritating plane trees will be replaced with something friendlier.

I was mainly concerned to lobby for continued access for bikes along the river, and learned this is CoM thinking as well. While high-speed riders will prefer on-road routes, we want people to be able to finish a leisurely river ride with a coffee, or get the last 100m to their workplace along the river by bike.

We discussed the alternative on-road route via Sth bank bvd and Linlithgow ave, and this was recognised as a prerequisite for lowering the volume and speed of bike traffic along the river. Simon was aware that the engineers are looking at the Linlithgow bicycle corridor (from St Kilda Rd to Alexandra Gardens and thence to the Yarra path). Current thinking is that the riverfront renovation wouldn't start until the onroad alternative is finished.

The Linlithgow Ave route is at the northern end of the area subject to the master plan for Kings Domain, which is currently under development.

They are also looking at ways to nudge bikes not to go too fast, e.g. a screen that flashes up to advise you if your speed is too high. They are planning to do some quantitative surveys of cyclist speed over the next few months, using the pneumatic tubes layed along the ground at right-angles to direction of travel. 

[Nik Dow]

In addition to the planning for renovations on South Bank Promenade (walk along the river), the City has published a draft plan for the river generally: https://participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/city-river-strategy/draft-strategy-overview

Our draft response is at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h5zVUg7N5hgs8Te1Ts6qxiI8xucGHcvSEF5rV9YGhw0/edit?usp=sharing, please comment!