The future of Unley’s streets: Greer Street ‘Accessible Street’ redesign
Many of our local streets have a space problem: between the driving lanes and parked cars, there is hardly any room for a reasonable footpath. The meagre footpath space that exists is shared with trees. It can be unpleasant, unsafe and downright inaccessible to anyone who needs a wheelchair or has to push a pram. People end up walking on the road, which has been designed for cars to travel quickly.
What if there was a better way? What if our streets were reimagined as shared spaces, for people first and where cars were guests? Where you were safe to walk anywhere on the street, not confined to a narrow and obstacle-prone footpath? Well, that is exactly what will be happening at Greer Street in Hyde Park!
At last month’s council election, council voted to proceed with a radical reimagining of Greer St. The street was at the end of its usable life and had to be replaced – but the residents did not want the status quo (see image above). They wanted a street that was safe to walk on and they wanted all the existing mature trees to be retained. A concept design for the redesign was overwhelmingly supported by the local community, despite it meaning that 40% of the carparking would be ‘lost’ – the benefits were worth the tradeoff. In fact, the main changes to come after consultation were that residents wanted council to go FURTHER in reducing car speeds and prioritising pedestrian safety!
We’re excited about Greer Street. A lot of work went into the design of this new type of space, yes, but that work will not be wasted: every street in our city has a lifespan and needs to be rebuilt from time to time. And each time that happens, it’s an opportunity to reimagine the street as a place for people, not cars. We can’t wait to see it become a reality.
You can read more about the concept design from p.194 here.
Unley a winner in this year’s State Bicycle Fund grants
Excellent news – two Unley cycling projects that have detailed designs ready for construction have received state government funding!
That’s right – both the Wood Weller Stage 5 and Rugby Porter Bikeway – Haslop Reserve projects have received a significant cash boost of $200,000 each to become reality.
Reading the agenda for next Tuesday’s council meeting, we can see that the funding received will completely fund the Haslop Reserve Project and fund the following sections of Wood Weller Stage 5:
- Installation of a priority ‘wombat’ crossing at the Northgate St / King William Rd Junciton
- Realignment of the Wood St / Northgate St junction
- Entry treatment at Heywood Park
- Whistler St Streetscape Improvements
- Council to seek funding for the remainder of the project in the 26/27 financial year.
Both projects are scheduled for completion by June 2026.
This funding is in addition to the six cycling projects in and around Unley that received funding earlier this year.
More to come on the Young St Bikeway
Following community consultation, council has made several positive changes to the Stage 2 & 3 concept design:
- Better wayfinding with street print and sharrow markings
- Added bike lane approaching Glen Osmond Road
- Reduced traffic calming points from 5 to 3
- Smaller landscaped kerbs to address community concerns
- Improved junction at George St/Young St
The consultation showed strong community support overall, and council has clearly been listening to feedback and making compromises where necessary to ensure the project proceeds. A renewed concept design is being prepared to address the community’s feedback and is currently being discussed with local residents. We expect this to be brought back before council for a final decision in November – stay tuned!
Wattle Street… with a separated Bikeway?!
Unley BUG committee member Taj attended a council member workshop on Wattle Street last month. Wattle St is a priority project in the council’s 2022-2027 Walking and Cycling Plan, so it’s encouraging to see concrete actions being undertaken to progress the design.
Wattle Street is a busy collector road (4000-6600 vehicles/day) that currently has advisory bike lanes in the parked-car-door zone – not ideal for safety!
At the workshop, we heard that council is exploring three options for the future bikeway:
Option 1: Short-term minimum bike lanes (~$450k, 2-3 years)
Similar to Pirie St – not perfect but encourages more cycling. Would cover Windsor Trail to Fullarton, possibly to Nelson. Combined with reducing speed limit to 40km/h.
Option 2: Separated bike lanes ($20m, 5-10+ years)
The gold standard but requires removing some trees and complete road reconstruction.
Option 3: Split route system ($3m, 5-10+ years)
Creative solution where each street gets just one bike lane instead of two – Wattle St would have a single westbound bike lane, Fisher St would have a single eastbound bike lane. Cars would still travel both directions on each street as normal. Lower cost with good facilities, but may require additional wayfinding work to ensure cyclists know which road takes them where.
It’s early days as yet but we look forward to hearing more as the designs progress.
40 km/hr on Goodwood Rd!
There’s been a HUGE WIN for community safety in our area announced in late September. The State Government has announced that a stretch of Goodwood Road between the tram lines and Clifton St will be the first road in the state to have a 40km/hr speed limit during school times. This is a massive deal for the safety of school children, their families, and everyone in the community as slowing down car traffic saves lives.
This didn’t happen by accident: I know this is something that was fought for by the Goodwood community, particularly Goodwood and St Thomas schools. Well done everyone. Great to see Unley leading the way for safer streets again!
Other roads/schools in Unley that will see a change:
- Glen Osmond Rd (Parkside Primary School)
- Unley Rd (Walford)
Yes, these changes are near the schools only and are only for a handful of hours a day. We’ll take the win though, and the increasing recognition that slower speeds on our streets save lives and are just better for everyone.
Unley BUG x Unley Spring Fling
Unley BUG is teaming up with the council to host a social ride as part of next weekend’s Spring Fling event! We’ll be showing off some of Unley’s best and safest cycling paths on a short (10km) loop, departing from the Fullarton Community Centre at 10am, Sunday 2nd November. See you there!
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