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Summary
Council has received an event application and Traffic
Management Plan (TMP) and Traffic Control Plan (TCP) from Ingen Consulting for
Byron Bay Writers Festival to be held between Friday 3rd August
and Sunday 5th August 2018.
OFFICER RECOMMENDATION
That Council endorse the Byron Bay Writers Festival 2018
to be held 3-5 August 2018
BACKGROUND
N/A
KEY ISSUES
In 2016 collecting
donations from motorists on Bayshore Drive caused congestion that directly impacted
a Regional Road – Ewingsdale Road. This was resolved in 2017, however,
other traffic congestion occurred during the event. The following
information is provided to explain what measures have changed in this years
TMP.
Council's post-event report describes significant
congestion on the southbound lane of the Pacific Highway on Friday 4 August
2017, between 7:30am and 10:30 and ascribes this congestion to the following
factors:
· Writers Festival start at 8:30 with no VMS to advice
motorists of the event
· An athletics carnival and AFL event at the Cavanbah
Centre starting at 8:30
· 40 km/h Road Works zone at Sunrise Roundabout
· The single lane Byron Bay Hospital Roundabout
· Buses leaving the festival and parking in the
Cavanbah Centre.
Council's post event report suggests the following
alterations to the TMP:
Thursday to Sunday traffic control.
Pedestrian:
· Keep pedestrian movements separate to all vehicle
traffic
· Relocate the pedestrian crossing from the chock hold
point
· Ensure adequate lighting
· Assist pedestrians to follow signage and not use the
road way
· Educate pedestrians
· Bus/Taxi movement plan for arrivals, parking and
pick up
Parking:
· Request the Council's Traffic Engineer and Signs
Crew review Bayshore Drive one week before the event with enforcement to make
sure signs are enforceable and correct
· Enforcement required to ensure no parking on road
way
With respect to the TCP, Council makes the following
recommendations:
· Document who can change and approve the TCP on the
day for unforeseen circumstances
· Reduce speed to 40 km/h
· Reduce speed to 10 km/h near pedestrians. lf they
walk up to the road like a shared zone could be an option
· How will the Sunrise RAB and Bayshore RAB affect
traffic to this event?
ln Council's post-event report it was suggested to
retain pedestrian traffic within the parking area as much as possible and
provide a pedestrian road crossing over the existing drain opposite the site
entry. lt was requested that this crossing is traffic controlled. Pedestrian
fencing will also need to be placed to stop pedestrians crossing Bayshore
Drive until they reach the traffic-controlled crossing point.
Based on the above recommendations an overview of
changes to the TMP is provided below.
Pacific Motorway
Given that congestion in the southbound lane of the
Pacific Motorway leading up to the Byron Bay exit is a daily occurrence, the
Byron Writers Festival is only a contributor of traffic on the Pacific
Motorway. The writer’s festival propose to liaise with Council
and RMS to include the Writers Festival in the existing VMS sign messaging on
the Motorway and on Ewingsdale Road adjacent The Farm to give motorists a
heads up of the upcoming event a week before the event.
This will occur through liaison rather than
formalising in the TCP's, as the VMS's are controlled by RMS, not Council. Placement
of additional mobile VMS's on the Pacific Motorway would not be justified and
resulting decentralisation of VMS messaging would likely add to confusion
amongst motorists. lt would be most effective if the Writers Festival
is incorporated into RMS's messaging schedules.
Bayshore Drive roundabout
During a meeting with Council's Project Engineer, it
was concluded that it would be most beneficial to both festival patrons and
the works on the Bayshore Drive roundabout, if festival traffic were directed
as follows:
· Arriving traffic from Pacific Motorway direction
turn left at Bayshore Drive and travel to site along Bayshore Drive.
· Arriving traffic from Byron Bay town centre
direction turn right at Sunrise Roundabout and travel to site along Sunrise
Boulevard.
· All traffic leaving the site to be directed to turn
left into Sunrise Boulevard from Bayshore Drive and access Ewingsdale Road at
the Sunrise Boulevard roundabout. This will increase the travel distance for
westbound traffic, but significantly reduce congestion at the Bayshore
Roundabout construction works and thus improve travel time for all motorists.
This arrangement is reflected on the directional signage
plan that is part of the attached set of Traffic Control Plans.
Speed zones
Following Council's recommendations, a 40km/h speed
zone from the rail crossing to the car park entrance on Bayshore Drive, and
10km/h from the car park entry to the end of Bayshore Drive will be
implemented.
The latter would improve the safety of any
pedestrian-vehicle interactions that may occur on Bayshore Drive. These
speed zones are depicted on the attached Traffic Control Plans.
Pedestrian crossing
Retention of the pedestrian crossing (from the car
park to the footpath) at the same location as last year. Moving the
crossing to the location suggested in the post-event report would require a
temporary pedestrian bridge over the existing drain, and require interrupting
the existing brifen wire safety fence along the drain, which would be
cost-ineffective and introduce other safety and accessibility issues.
As the suggestion to move the crossing location was
made in order to reduce the 'random' and uncontrolled crossing of Bayshore
Drive by pedestrians, a 10 km/h speed zone north of the car parking entry and
pedestrian fencing along the western side of the swale will be
implemented. This will result in a significant increase in pedestrian
safety, as the likelihood of crossing is reduced due to the fencing, and the
consequence of an unwanted pedestrian-vehicle interaction is reduced due to
the low vehicle speed.
Bus and taxi movement plan
As requested by staff, a bus and taxi movement plan
is included in the set of drawings. With the increased use of drop offs by
services such as Uber, a suitable and efficient drop off zone is allocated
within the car parking area close to the entrance. The design and
placement of internal signage to facilitate the vehicle flows as indicated in
the bus and taxi movement plan is not included in the TMP (which is intended
to describe signage in the public road only) and will be included in the
festival's internal management documentation.
Traffic Control Plans
The attached traffic control plans reflect the above
discussions.
COUNCIL IMPLICATIONS
§ Budget/Financial
The event organisers
have a Council Memorandum of Understanding (Item 2.1 Councils role and
responsibilities) which waives fees for the relevant Approval of Road Events
pursuant to s144 of the Roads Act fee as per the Fees & Charges 2017/18.
§ Asset Management
Not applicable.
§ Policy or Regulation
Delegated to council for
authorisation in conjunction with:
- Actions
required to control traffic- Part 8 (Sections 114 to 124) Roads Act, 1993.
- Prescribed
traffic control devices - division 1 of Part 4 (Sections 50 to 55) Road
Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act, 1999.
- R5-1-3
Parking (Disable) – NSW Road Rules 203, $541 fine
- R5-400
No Stopping - NSW Road Rules 167, $253 fine
- R5-41
No Parking (specified times) - NSW Road Rules 168, $108 fine.
§ Consultation
A condition of the
endorsement of this event is that appropriate consultation is undertaken,
including:
1. Advertising
the impact of the event in the local newspaper and on the Council website.
2. Informing
community and business that are directly impacted.
3. Liaising
with bus and taxi operators.
4. Consulting
with emergency services.
§ Legal and Risk Management
If vehicles cause
congestion on Bayshore Drive then this could directly impact a Regional Road
– Ewingsdale Road. RMS Traffic Engineering Department requires separate
approval of the TMP and TCP.
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