Council Minutes - Town of Cambridge

COUNCIL MINUTES
TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2012
The concept design proposed that the median in Cambridge Street (to facilitate the right
turn pocket entry into West Leederville (Coles) shopping centre would cause Lesser
Street to become a left in left out only street.
18% of submissions specifically objected to this concept primarily from a loss of amenity
perspective for full flow into and out of Lesser Street (whereas 44% of submissions had
no opinion on the matter)
The traffic consultants have produced two further options to allow full flow into and out of
Lesser Street whilst still providing a right turn pocket into Coles.
This issue is discussed as an attachment to this report. It is recommended to take
resident concerns into account and that the concept design be amended to include a
section of painted median to allow turns into and out of Lesser Street with monitoring of
the situation after construction to ascertain impacts.
3. Shopping Centre Access and Egress
A significant number of community submissions (71%) supported the proposed
concepts for the shopping centre. Some concerns were raised that the only eastbound
exit from the Shopping Centre would be from the upper level car park and that this may
be a movement leading directly to the signalised pedestrian crossing. This could be
monitored after implementation to determine if further actions are necessary.
4. Traffic Flow By Reducing Cambridge Street to one lane
Approximately 15% of submissions were concerned as to the rationale and impacts of
changing Cambridge Street to one lane in this area. Whilst this was a decision made by
Council in adopting the West Leederville Planning and Urban Design Study (WLPUDS)
in 2010, it may be useful to discuss that matter in this report for the benefit of the
community.
This matter was the subject of some considerable attention at the time Council adopted
the WLPUDS. The study was widely advertised to the community and 179 submissions
received. 36% of submissions raised concerns on various aspects of the study, with the
majority of these relating to traffic.
Submissions from the Department of Planning (DoP) and Department of Transport
(DoT) supported the embayed parking proposal. The DoT's support is conditional on
various measures being included in the design (primarily the bus lane) to accommodate
the ~6 bus routes through this section of Cambridge Street. Main Roads, however, did
not support the proposal and suggested that a Strategic Traffic Impact Assessment be
undertaken requiring a wider regional traffic modelling exercise. The traffic consultants
engaged for the WLPUDS did not agree with Main Roads' opinion on this matter. They
argued that existing capacity of external major roads already determined travel patterns
and that the (costly) assessment suggested by Main Roads would be little benefit.
In contrast, the DoP submission stated that the short length of Cambridge Street at
single lane would be unlikely to cause significant redistribution of traffic such that
impacts would be manageable in the macroscopic view of inner city traffic congestion.
They believed that no major traffic impacts would be foreseen, vehicle speeds would
reduce thus reducing the impacts upon pedestrians.
In considering the impact on traffic of embayed parking, a comparison was made with
Cambridge Street through the Wembley Town Centre. The mid week peak periods (7 to
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