CockburnCoast - Western Australian Planning Commission

CockburnCoast
2.6.4.3 Public transport alignment
In determining the desirable alignment of the public transport
network, both within and surrounding the project area, the following
factors were considered:
• Requirement for a northern terminus at Fremantle station;
• The location of existing trip generators and attractors;
• Potential future changes to land uses;
• The creation of “full” and “active” catchments for
stops/stations (opportunities for catchments that have a
high density of residential development or intensity of
commercial use and do not contain large amounts of
public open space, water etc.);
• The ability to maximise the use of existing infrastructure;
• Constructability and operability of future services (beyond
the district structure plan area); and
• Integration with existing Transperth services.
Two public transport alignments were identified, the first being the
coastal alignment primarily using the freight rail reserve, and an
eastern route centred on Cockburn Road.
The preferred, and therefore proposed, alignment for bus rapid
transit is the Cockburn Road-Hampton Road corridor, including
three transit stops at regular intervals through the project area, for
the following reasons:
• It is a direct route through the project area and to
Fremantle Station, which also provides opportunities for
further expansion to the south or east in the future;
• It creates the ability to achieve priority for transit vehicles
along Cockburn Road for the entire length of the route
within the structure plan area;
• It allows utilisation of existing bus priority lanes on
Hampton Road, north of Douro Road;
• It creates increased justification for the provision of transit
priority on Hampton Road benefiting services from the
wider region;
• The capacity to extend supplementary public transport
services along the coastal corridor is not precluded in the
future; and
• The alignment assists in creating a highly legible public
transport spine, around which urban development can be
concentrated.
Two kerbside transit lanes will be provided on Cockburn Road
through the project area. The need to establish transit priority on
Hampton Road linking the project area north to Fremantle is a matter
of urgency to allow the Cockburn coast to function effectively as a
transit oriented development.
The decision on how to provide priority for BRT on Hampton Road is
not an easy one. The reallocation of kerbside lanes is likely to cause
complications in terms of community perception, as it is often
difficult to communicate the long-term benefits of such projects. The
recent creation of bus lanes on South Street, however, sets a strong
precedent for this type of project and demonstrates outcomes
achieved while successfully managing negative impacts. The
reallocation of lanes on Hampton Road, north of Douro Road, also
sets an important precedent. The impacts of this reallocation have
been carefully monitored by the City of Fremantle, and indicate that
negative impacts can be managed successfully in a local context.
Analysis of intersections on Hampton Road undertaken as part of
this project (and described in detail in the Transport Analysis Report
– see Appendix) has indicated that the opportunity does exist to
reallocate the existing kerbside lanes with limited impacts to general
traffic. This option would provide priority for buses in the short term
(which is required to support development of the structure plan
area) while preserving the option for widening Hampton Road in the
future through the acquisition or additional road reserve, should this
be deemed necessary.
It is recommended, based on the various investigations undertaken
as part of this study, that reallocation of the kerbside lanes on
Hampton Road between Douro Road and Rockingham Road should
occur in the short term (five years), in order to provide priority for
existing services and future services from the structure plan area.
Further studies are required to determine the preferred route for the
connection of the BRT system with the Fremantle Train Station and
the desired terminus, with Port Coogee and Cockburn Central
identified as potential end points for the transit service.
Although not directly related to this project, the opportunity for
extending priority lanes south along Rockingham Road should also
be examined in the short to medium term, in effect creating the
Hampton Road, Rockingham Road/Cockburn Road location as a
‘transit hub’.
2.6.5 Pedestrian and cyclists
Existing pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure within the structure
plan is limited to a shared use path located along the coast
extending south from Fremantle. This path ceases at the northern
end of Robb Road and then commences again to the south of Robb
Road. A second shared use path runs parallel to the existing freight
railway from its existing level crossing at Cockburn Road east
connecting to Spearwood Avenue. There are currently no Perth
bicycle network routes within the structure plan area.
It will be important to improve this infrastructure as part of the
redevelopment of the Cockburn coast, to ensure that pedestrians
and cyclists are well catered for in terms of local trips and longer
regional trips.
The future detailed urban design and planning must ensure that
pedestrian movement and localised bicycle transport are given the
highest priority in the design of the traffic networks and public open
spaces.
22 district structure plan