Introduction
It is highly likely that both
the proposed Alphington Park (former AMCOR Paper Mills) redevelopment and
Chandler Hwy Upgrade will be highly judged and critically assessed by many
parties whom are not a part of the planning or investment contingent. There will
indeed be the so called NIMBY element. However there is good cause for argument
as both of these major developments are now so intertwined and are to greatly
impact the amenity of the inter region of the Cities of Darebin, Yarra and
Boroondara.
Problems concerning increased MIT (motorised individual transport – single car occupancy) centred on the proposed Alphington Park redevelopment
In the Alphington Park -
Development Plan Fig 32 illustrates consolidated parking facilities for
residents and also visitors to the commercial hub - showing a vast footprint.
This is only part of the problem as the estimated number of town houses in the
Park Precinct, approx 250, will be provisioned with at least two parking spaces
per unit and throughout the entire site there will be additionally be on street
parking included. While it is difficult to estimate how many car parking spaces
there actually will be available in the entire redevelopment it would not be
incorrect to say that this will far exceed perhaps 3000 private spaces alone
and then there is the added inclusion of many hundreds of parking spaces
available for visitors / workers. The paper gives no clear estimate of actual
spaces which will be available for resident and visitor alike. However as
currently all apartments will be provisioned with parking and that there is a
significant commercial precinct in the redevelopment it isn’t so difficult to
extrapolate this fact.
The proposed Alphington Park
redevelopment when completed will house greater than 5000 residents and
additionally it will attract up to 1700 jobs on site. In effect it will become
a new suburb built from scratch! This large site can indeed accommodate all of
the above with good planning principals. However the forecasted daily vehicular
trips made to and from the planned redevelopment’s commercial and community hub
is going to without any doubt impact on the existing road network as well as
local residents well being or amenity. It has been estimated that far greater
than 10,000 vehicular trip movements will be generated daily to and from the
proposed Alphington Park redevelopment alone. Adding to an already at capacity arterial
road network in the surrounding area thus compounding on an evident problem.
It is reasonable to
estimate that up to 90 % of the Alphington Park residents who commute daily to
work / universities etc would do so through the required use of a motor
vehicle. This paints a disappointing picture when concerning MIT and road
congestion for all arterial roads in the inter region of the Cities of Darebin,
Yarra and Boroondara. Conclusively this renders the Alphington Park
redevelopment as planned so far in context to be an unsustainable redevelopment
for the 21st century when concerning transport related issues. This
would also impose prohibitive costs on local government authority of Darebin since
the distant City of Yarra may only be the key beneficiary due to rates sought
by this council.
It is critical for the
proposed Alphington Park redevelopment to address the above issues governing. If
not it is certain to be the crucial factor for the overall precincts success
into being realised. To my knowledge there has been no conclusive evidence to
provide for sustainable planning of residential units with either no car
parking spaces or options towards this better model. This scenario was tested
recently on a smaller scale development in Brunswick where the Hummingbird car free apartments were
taken to VCAT and lost their case. However, and while it failed to win its
case, it is certain that similar such inner city developments will set a new
precedence based on sustainable principals where private car ownership is of
lower priority to growing numbers. As there are numerous car share schemes and
for the very fact that in the not too distant future – on demand automated
vehicles will be taking up the bulk of MIT road share.
It would be a progressive strategy
for perhaps a 10% quota of apartments / townhouses in this redevelopment to be built,
marketed and restricted to genuine car free households as a definitive pathway
for sustainable urban planning. The developers should be right now pitching
their sales strategy for this kind of resident to buy into their dream home as already
exists a housing market for this resident and it’s only going to be on the
increase. With this in mind it may present a good case for the redevelopments
overall desirability – this has been done before in other new developments
worldwide. Recent developments in the City of London stipulate for approx 35 %
of all new houses to be car free. While at this point in time Melbourne is only
a vague model to compare, the longer term projections for the Greater Melbourne
(2050) is that it will be comparable in population to only a little less where
London is at today – some 8 million. With the developer’s point of view in mind
this could actually account for a meaningful cost saving – approx AU$15,000 to
AU$30,000 in cost value per car parking space during construction. More
importantly this would also promote a sincere direction towards carbon
reduction, may even free up more public open space and allow for bicycle
storage facilities – for those car free houses and provision for a dedicated public
transit corridor reaching into the precinct its self. And this is where
transport amenity should be high on the agenda. An ultimate and quite
achievable strategy should be in place now in the planning stages for the
Alphington Park redevelopment to be product placed as indeed a visionary
project proud for offering an alternative inner city environment for a growing
market of car free households and environmentally conscious medium income
earners.
In the Alphington Park -
Development Plan: Fig 26 illustrates that both the Chandler Highway and
Heidelberg Rd will provision for new routes into the proposed precinct.
Heidelberg Rd and the
Chandler Hwy, major arterial roads, are now both heavily congested most hours
of the day and particularly during peak traffic periods. This will increase to
even higher volumes once the project is under development and on its
completion. It comes at a state of urgency now when concerning particularly the
Chandler Hwy Upgrade. While technically the world’s shortest designated highway
it’s certainly not the least visited by road traffic. As an arterial road
giving access to either Grange Rd, the Eastern Fwy and Princess Street Kew the
Chandler Hwy has become badly congested with motorised traffic as the four-lane
highway is funnelled into two lanes over the Yarra River crossing. In the past
few years the existing iron truss bridge on the Chandler Highway has regularly
featured highly in the RACV Redspot survey of Melbourne's worst points of
traffic congestion.
The Chandler Highway also
provides the only Principal Bicycle Network crossing of the Yarra River between
Studley Park Road and Burke Road in Kew. It is a highly dangerous route to take
even for the most experienced road cyclists. While the existing two lanes iron truss
bridge is ageing the Victorian Government in 2015 committed $110 million
towards a new Chandler Highway Bridge. However completion of the project may
not be until after 2018 since Vic Roads are still in the planning process. In
2010 Bicycle Network Victoria preferred a similar option to that below which
indeed involved a new purposed built road bridge to the west of the existing
iron truss structure that would become a shared bicycle and pedestrian pathway.
A win for all – well not entirely!
In 2016 Vic Roads has
announced that they will proceed with this 6 lanes / west of the old Chandler
Bridge option (above). This proposal has surprised and mostly outraged the
local community who were anticipating for a new 4 lanes only road bridge and one
which they advocated to be ideally situated on the east side of the existing
iron girder river crossing.
In the Vic Roads November
2015 Chandler Hwy Upgrade – Traffic Modelling Summary there are numerous flaws
and a gross injustice when concerning sustainable transport integration. For a
start, and they do actually admit this, that their modelling was based on the existing
arterial road network where for instance the Grange Rd level rail crossing not being
grade separated – which in fact is to proceed. However one principal flaw in
their design parameters was that they totally neglected the 2009 Victorian
Government Transport Integration Act and how such implementation of high
capacity public transport systems (light rail transit) can indeed assist in
road traffic congestion mitigation. While telecommuting is already transforming
the work place environment Vic Roads modelling also ignored technological
change rapidly approaching ie: driverless cars and other advents in automation
which are highly probable and due to these events are likely to significantly
reduce queue lengths on arterial roads. The Vic Roads 6 Lanes Chandler Hwy
Upgrade while being spruiked as future proofing this arterial is in fact, when concerning
other transport options, a bad strategy and is destined to only make things
worse for the inter region – particularly for all the new residents who will
call the Alphington Park redevelopment home.
While a 4 lanes option can
be easily placed on either side of the existing heritage listed iron trust bridge
Alphington residents have for some time now been campaigning for the new road
bridge to cross the Yarra River on the east side (of existing iron truss road
bridge) for improved environmental and social amenity in their community. This can
involved the arterial road mainly taking its existing route south of Heidelberg
Rd and passing some established houses. However well before reaching a certain Yarra
River crossing point it can indeed arch eastwards via up 4400sqm of land
located at the SW boundary and owned by the developers of proposed Alphington
Park redevelopment site. In fact there is already a need for the government to
acquire up to 5700sqm of privately owned land from the same developers along
its western boundary for either of the 4 or 6 lanes road options / east or west
of the existing heritage iron truss bridge. If a 4 lanes only / east option
were to proceed less than 4400sqm would be required from the redevelopments SW
boundary. Adding to this argument and in the 4 lanes only option, with the
inclusion of 1.5m northbound and southbound bicycle lanes it would require a
max width of 23m for the new road bridge structure(s) including its north and
south approaches. Therefore privately owned land would need to be acquired when
regarding the local residents (WARI – West Alphington Residents Inc) preferred
east option or the Vic Roads preferred west option.
South of the Yarra River
crossing point and in close vicinity to Guide Dogs Victoria there were concerns
from their part when regarding an east option for the Chandler Hwy Upgrade.
However if the 4 lanes only option / east of the existing heritage bridge does
not go beyond 23m in width and is placed with a 1m clearance of the existing
bridge pediment structure this new arterial roadway can indeed pass immediately
beyond their property boundary. As the 6 lanes Chandler Hwy bridge will have a
width of up to 28m there would the needs to acquire additional property.
Due to above the Alphington
Park redevelopment plan needs going back to the drawing board regardless. And
here is where it is crucial that all parties – Vic Roads, Alphington Mills
partners, PTV and last by not least local community (WARI etc) have a once in a
generation opportunity to make the best outcomes for the inter region as a
whole.
Building new roads is not
entirely the solution towards addressing the problems of road congestion in
Melbourne or in any of our cities for that fact. When concerning the Chandler
Hwy Upgrade and its close association with the redevelopment of the former
AMCOR site (Alphington Park) it is indeed necessary for the construction of an
improved arterial road corridor. However the 2016 plans for a new 6 lanes
arterial is not the right strategy for future proofing and is by far not
sustainable practice. By merely constructing more roads is not at all
addressing the route cause to the problem. It is a known fact that some 44,000
plus vehicular trips are taken daily over the existing two lanes only iron
truss bridge and it will increase as the population increases. This said a new
4 lanes only road bridge, with high priority engineering guidelines, should all
but be required along with the addition of realisable transport integration via
the Chandler Hwy corridor. A new 4 lanes only Chandler Hwy road bridge will
indeed allow for traffic flows greater than a 200 percent increased capacity
from the current number of contemporary internal combustion engine vehicles per
day which use the existing iron truss 2 lanes crossing point.
A new 6 lanes river
crossing for the Chandler Hwy will have a negative impact on the surrounding
area if engineered primarily for motor vehicular traffic only. Firstly it will
encourage greater motorist complacency and as it has been planned to be some
28m in width it will have a negative impact on the tranquillity of the Yarra
River valley. This is particularly so in its planned location west of the
existing iron truss bridge. It may indeed even have a negative impact on the
value of properties in the surrounding area, including the vouched for
Alphington Park redevelopment. Therefore in its business as usual agenda this Vic
Roads preferred arterial road development will indeed have a negative flow on
effect for existing road network. Even before the build up period when this
arterial road nears capacity there will inevitably be impacts greatly felt at
the already congested roadways of the inner core area of Melbourne.
Lastly but most alarming
and due to the confines of the Chandler Hwy corridor and being so intertwined
with the proposed Alphington Park redevelopment the municipalities of Darebin, Yarra
and Boroondara are destined to miss out on that once in a generation
opportunity for a multimodal transport corridor to be put forward via their
inter region.
Alphington Park precinct as a Transit Oriented Development (TOD):
The proposed Alphington Park (former AMCOR site) redevelopment has some promising agenda when concerning EDS Design Response and
overall housing types for those who are able to purchase a home there. However when
it comes to public transport amenity as means for mitigation against high car
dependency it is of great a concern.
A good solution to this
problem of high car dependency and increasing road congestion can be through
the creation of incentives set by local authorities and state governments to
enact a realisable strategy for the mandate to establish TODs – transport
oriented developments. This should begin with the placement of rail based
transit protection corridors similar to those applied to motorways in place now
since the 1969 Melbourne Transport Plan. The Melbourne Metro rail tunnel and
Rowville Rail corridor are only but a few which currently exist. Through this
measure and by abiding by the 2009 Transport Integration Act future proofing is
more definitive.
These measures could be
city transforming projects that usually only happen once in a generation.
Affirmative action into tackling road congestion and car dependency must be met
– dealing with the root cause and approaching technological solutions into road
congestion mitigation. New protection corridors for future rail based and or
bus rapid transit systems in particular should be in place right now to help
reduce urban sprawl and high car dependency. Additionally carefully positioned higher
housing densities in our suburbs would assist in this process as well as
address the ever pressing housing affordability crisis. This cannot be solved
under the same old business as usual system we have in place now. With the
forecasted population increases Melbourne is to experience troubling times are ahead.
Unless there is adopted a good model for genuinely sustainable urban development
these issues of today will become more problematic in the not too distant
future.
It is important to note
that on the site of the former AMCOR Paper Mills there is at this point in time
(2016) a potential transport corridor existing. This was part of the old Outer
Circle Rail Line and has been planned to be built over by the current
developers of the Alphington Park redevelopment. Therefore it would be crucial
now that state government authorities establish a transport protection corridor
before works commence on this redevelopment of the former Amcor site. If this
is not met than it may in the longer term prohibit a viable orbital transit
network for Melbourne’s eastern suburbs as given below. Not fulfilling this
would come at a great cost to the liveability and amenity for the Cities of
Yarra, Darebin and Boroondara.
When concerning the proposed
Alphington Park redevelopment and further possibilities for the Chandler Hwy
corridor to be integrated there is potentially a good model for and a trial
test case to establish a genuinely sustainable TOD in the City of Yarra. This
unfortunately isn’t the case when investigating the Development Plan 01 paper.
The worst enemy to the Alphington Park redevelopment is certain to be a biased
against it by populist opinion due to housing types and population density, as
well as its business as usual policy towards and impacts associated to
increased motor car traffic. It would be crucial in the development plan to
have a serious rethink in its structural agenda to genuinely improve the
liveability of the suburb it will have an impact on. It is not entirely in the
numbers of people who will inhabit the redevelopment, but more so how they are
provisioned within the context of an already existing suburb. It would be wise
for the developers to not only carefully plan for building heights and
placements, publicly accessible open spaces etc but also to enhance the liveability
and amenity of the surrounding area through a better visionary approach for their
proposed redevelopment.
When concerning the
Alphington Park precinct as a Transit Oriented Development it can involve LRT (light
rail transit). In one given option below an LRT line could be constructed via the
precinct with public / private investment. In the first phase this line would commence
from a street level terminus on the eastern side of Station Street above the new
Fairfield Stn intermodal change, after grade separation of Grange Road and
Station Street has been met and in readiness to the precincts completion. Therefore
it is now possible for an LRT alignment to follow the existing Outer Circle
Rail corridor, before running in cut and cover beneath the Heidelberg Rd /
Chandler Hwy intersection with a seamless bicycle and pedestrian way possibly
included, into and / or via the new Alphington Park precinct. Here in one
scenario there can be placed approx 11.5 m beneath the Main Street a 45 m long central
isle tram stop with accessible ramp, stairs and lift close to the western
boundary of the redevelopment. Taking into context an ambitious target for up
to 10 % car free houses and due to the fact that major earth excavations works
will be required into site preparation soon it would only add minimal overall cost,
with added state government infrastructure funding, for the developers through
the inclusion of a grade separated and seamless LRT tunnel beneath the
redevelopment zone. From here the fully ROW LRT line would continue further south
and emerge at the west side of the 4 lanes arterial roadway – in context to the
east of the existing bridge option. Here this LRT alignment can continue south
on its own ROW crossing the existing heritage truss rail bridge spanning the
Yarra River.
Immediately over on the
south side of the existing heritage truss bridge there can be placed another
transit stop for easy access to passengers wishing to alight for Royal Talbot
Hospital, Guide Dogs Victoria and the Yarra River trails. When concerning the
needs for a shared pedestrian and bicycle way with its own ROW (off the new
Chandler Hwy bridge) there is possibility to upgrade the existing narrow walkway
on the west side of the heritage bridge – planned to be removed. This I have
called the Sunset Walkway in my
scenario above and could be a non slip surface 3 m width cantilevered addition
with the use of recycled iron work facing still present on the heritage bridge.
A network of pathways from the new Alphington Park redevelopment and existing
residences west of the Chandler Hwy would link up with the Sunset Walkway / Yarra Bend Park LRT stop and other existing paths
and cycle ways. This new transit stop and shared pathway would allow uninterrupted
views of the tranquil Yarra Bend Park only if the Chandler Upgrade is built on
the east side. Importantly this amenity would enhance the safety and
accessibility to a generally remote corner of Yarra Bend Park.
The line would then run in
a grade separated 7.4m slot south to allow for the Chandler Hwy arterial to realigns
and interfaces with firstly Yarra Blv and then the Eastern Fwy access ramps.
From here it would only require a 6.3m median, with the exception of given
elongated accessible transit stops and a modified Princess Street median
created eventually reaching Kew Junction to be integrated with the existing
Yarra Trams network. In this first construction phase the LRT alignment from
Fairfield Stn to Kew Junction via Alphington Park (former AMCOR site) would
have a route distance of 3.8 km, offer 8 new accessible transit stops and be
provisioned with both / and or ROW / traffic light control. If such an LRT
network were to be realised Alphington Park residents would have a reliable
transport system available within 220m of their homes with direct access to
firstly Fairfield Stn or Kew Junction and beyond to such locations at
Glenferrie Stn (Swinburne University), St Kilda Beach and eventually Knox City.
The line in further phases could be extended out to meet with the 86 tram route
/ La Trobe University via Station Street Fairfield. There is also the
possibility to run an additional branch via Earl Street to Kew East joining up
with the 48 tram route to as far as Doncaster East. In the longer term the Earl
Street route could also follow the Outer Circle Rail corridor via East
Camberwell and the Alamein rail alignment to as far as Chadstone and a terminus
at Monash University. There are numerous possibilities that an Eastern Suburbs
LRT Network can provision for if the Alphington Park redevelopment / Chandler
Hwy Upgrade are planned cohesively and are integrated into better transport
operations.
With the inclusion of this
ambitious transit orientated component to the overall redevelopment there would
be added passenger attraction and less cars on the road. It is on the agenda to
transform Melbourne’s tram network into a modernised LRT system. While some of
the existing roadways would require a median for this LRT corridor there are
areas where widening can take place and importantly when considering that one E
class Bombardier tram has a capacity to carry 214 passengers that equates to up
to 214 single occupancy vehicles off the road. With frequencies as high as
every 5 minutes there would be the possibility to move up to 2568 passengers
per hour via the new Alphington Park precinct’s LRT node. If for instance in
context that the new precinct at Alphington Park is to generate some 10,000
plus vehicular trips per day than this gives further argument for the placement
of a high capacity LRT node on site.
Alphington
Park as TOD - LRT Stn footprint and new Chandler Hwy Bridge Structures.
Alphington Park LRT Stn – Indicative Design Looking North
Fact sheet for the First Phase alignment of the: Orbital and Eastern Suburbs LRT Network
Indicative route for the Orbital and Eastern Suburbs LRT Network showing all tram route numbers and railways stations it would allow for interchange with. Open in other tab for greater detail.
Stops would be approximately 450 m apart and the line would have an operational speed of greater than 30 km/ph – the anticipated average speed for the Melbourne tram system (currently only at 19km/ph). Importantly this integrated LRT Network in later phases would allow passenger interchange from one single route number to all other radial rail, tram and bus lines in Melbourne’s northern and eastern suburbs. For instance the line may eventually be extended to La Trobe University and Melbourne Airport with a terminate at St Kilda Beach, while other branches could take the line to Doncaster Hill and Knox City – with all routes via the Alphington Park TOD.
Stops would be approximately 450 m apart and the line would have an operational speed of greater than 30 km/ph – the anticipated average speed for the Melbourne tram system (currently only at 19km/ph). Importantly this integrated LRT Network in later phases would allow passenger interchange from one single route number to all other radial rail, tram and bus lines in Melbourne’s northern and eastern suburbs. For instance the line may eventually be extended to La Trobe University and Melbourne Airport with a terminate at St Kilda Beach, while other branches could take the line to Doncaster Hill and Knox City – with all routes via the Alphington Park TOD.
0022.5
m – Fairfield Stn / LRT Stop (Is Platform / east of Station
St. Intermodal at street level and in Civic Square above new grade separated
station in cut)
LRT alignment follows Outer
Circle Rail corridor (ROW / existing power sub-station repositioned)
0460
m - The Grange LRT Stop (Side Platforms / Outer Circle / Perry
Street, Alphington)
0482.5m / AHD33m – VRG:
1.23% - 0670m / AHD27.5m
LRT alignment enters NW Portal
and passes beneath the intersection of Heidelberg Rd / Chandler Hwy though 7.4m
width cut and cover box tunnel with the optional addition of a 3m width shared
pathway to the Alphington Park precinct for cyclist and pedestrians using the
Outer Circle Trail.
0670m / AHD27.5m – VRG:
5.04% - 0927.5m / AHD14.5m
0950
m – Alphington Park LRT Stop (Sub-surface Is Platform beneath
Main St with north and south egress. Optional underpass linking west side of
Chandler Hwy)
0972.5m / AHD14.5m – VRG:
3.59% - 1140m / AHD20.5m
LRT alignment exits South Portal
immediately south of Rex Ave with ROW on the west boundary of Chandler Hwy. LRT
alignment crosses over the restored heritage truss bridge on its own ROW.
Existing kerbs removed for Yarra Trams compliancy allowing for a 7.4m corridor.
Outer Circle Rail Line bridge heritage retained with installation of modern
compliance overhead wire system.
1140m / AHD20.5m – VRG:
0.5% - 1240m / AHD20m
1400
m – Yarra Bend Park LRT Stop (Side Platforms immediately
south of heritage truss bridge structure / separated from new Chandler Hwy 4
lanes / east option)
LRT alignment runs via 7.4m
slot to the realigned Chandler Hwy median. Chandler Hwy to Yarra Blv and Guide
Dogs Victoria access roads realigned further south and grade separated from LRT
alignment. Traffic light control at Eastern Fwy access ramps
1425m / AHD20m – VRG: 1.86%
- 1640m / AHD24m
1900
m – Willsmere LRT Stop (Elongated side platforms / intermodal
above proposed Doncaster Rail Line / Eastern Fwy)
Traffic light control at
intersection of Chandler Hwy and Princess Street
2390
m – Hutchinson Dr LRT Stop (Elongated side platforms in new Princess
Street median Kew)
2880
m – Willsmere Road LRT Stop (Elongated side platforms in new
Princess Street median Kew)
3380
m – A’Beckett Street LRT Stop (Elongated side platforms
in new Princess Street median Kew)
3930
m – Kew Junction LRT Stop (Elongated side platforms in High St –
tram # 48, 109 routes)
No comments:
Post a Comment