Design Work Completed
Council’s Consultant has developed a draft design to
improve the safety for motorists and pedestrians at the Tincogan Street
intersections with Stuart and Dalley Streets, Mullumbimby.
These works were initially proposed to be completed in two
stages (refer attachment 3):
Stage 1 works included pedestrian refuge installation,
lines, signs and landscaping and will be funded by the ECG. Stage 1
works has previously been supported by the Local Traffic Committee.
Stage 2 works formalise the parking arrangement in line
with the Australian On Road Parking Standard. Stage 2 works are
currently unfunded at this stage.
Our Mullumbimby Masterplan
The Our Mullumbimby Masterplan highlights the need to
promote active transport instead of car usage in the Mullumbimby Town
Centre. The goal of the Masterplan is to formalise alternative routes
for vehicles in order to minimise congestion in the town centre. These
alternative routes are defined as using Station, Fern Streets to connect from
the Highway to Federal and using Station and Tincogan Streets to connect the
Highway and Main Arm. Therefore, it can be reasonably expected that
traffic volumes in Tincogan Street will increase over time.
It must be noted that the Our Mullumbimby Masterplan
appears to be silent on the movement of heavy vehicles through the town
centre.
Mullumbimby Movement Strategy
In 2018, Council’s Consultant MRCagney completed the
Mullumbimby Movement Strategy. The strategy included a discussion on
how to manage the heavy vehicle movements through the town. The goal of
this strategy aligns with the Our Mullumbimby Masterplan which is to activate
and pedestrianise Burringbar Street and find alternate routes around the town
centre for the heavy vehicles. The plan identified that the presence of
heavy vehicles in the town centre as an issue that warrants further assessment
and attention.
Parking Considerations Tincogan Street (between Dalley
and Stuart Streets)
Currently an informal parking arrangement exists along
Tincogan Street which does not meet current designs standards.
Compliant parking is proposed in Stage 2 of the project to reduce the risk to
cars when they are accessing and egressing the carpark space so that they do
not enter the oncoming traffic lane and create a collision risk. In a
relatively high traffic environment, it is not recommended from a safety
perspective to have vehicles digressing into the opposite traffic lane to
access or egress a parking bay.
Certain offsets from the intersections and pedestrian
crossings are also required to minimise the risk of a collision between a
vehicle or pedestrian at the intersection and to ensure compliance with the
relevant design standards.
By formalising the carpark spaces and achieving compliance
with Australian Design Standards for on street parking, the number of
available carparking spaces will be significantly reduced from the current
informal arrangement of approximately 45 parks to 20 car parks in order to comply
with the relevant on Street carparking standard.
Tincogan Street Pedestrian Crossing
At the August
Council Planning Meeting Council resolved (Res 21-043) that:-
1. Support
the installation of a pedestrian (Zebra) crossing in Tincogan Street Mullumbimby
between Dalley Street and Stuart Street, Mullumbimby and that:
a) Staff
commence planning and design for the crossing and seek urgent approval from
the LTC for the works.
b) The
design and layouts for the mid-block Zebra crossing and associated footpaths
be presented to Council’s next available Strategic Planning Workshop.
2. That
the Tincogan Street/Dalley Street intersection pedestrian safety upgrades
approved by LTC are implemented as per res 21-043 with the priority change
deferred until an approved midblock Zebra Crossing has been installed between
Dalley Street and Stuart Street.
To commence addressing the Council Resolution, Council
staff have developed two alternative concept plans showing a midblock
pedestrian crossing on Tincogan Street between Dalley and Stuart
Streets.
The installation of a mid-block pedestrian crossing on
Tincogan Street further reduces the available parking on Tincogan Street from
20 as per the compliant design to 12 carparking spaces for Design Option 1
(refer attachment 1) and 14 spaces for Design Option 2 (refer attachment 2).
Limited consultation has been undertaken in regard to the
proposed formalised carparking layout, the proposed pedestrian crossing
arrangements and the impact on car park spaces.
Heavy Vehicle Data
A high-level review of heavy vehicle data for Mullumbimby
identified that the following % of heavy vehicles per day at the locations
shown.
If Tincogan Street was to become the preferred heavy
vehicle route then this would result in a greater than 5 fold increase in
heavy vehicle traffic i.e. 143 vehicles to 561 vehicle per day based on the
data above. It must be highlighted that the geometric layout of
Tincogan/Station Street intersection is significantly undersized to cater for
heavy vehicle movements, refer attachment 4 drawing HV-04. Therefore,
without land acquisition and significant upgrade to the Station and Tincogan
Streets intersection, the Station and Tincogan Street alternate route for
heavy vehicles is not considered feasible from a traffic safety perspective.
If Burringbar Street was to become the preferred heavy
vehicle route approximately 231 trips would be added along the road.
This could be considered a big increased in heavy vehicles numbers being
diverted down Burringbar Street which may not be well received by the
community. This route essentially opposes the intent of the Mullumbimby
Masterplan.
If Fern and Station Streets were to become the preferred
heavy vehicle route then this would result in a greater than 6 fold increase
in heavy vehicle traffic i.e. 100 vehicles to 649 vehicle per day based on
the data above.
Fuel Station Access – Dalley and Tincogan
Intersection
The fuel truck which services the fuel station at the
intersection of Dalley and Tincogan Streets, must also be considered in terms
of the Tincogan Street design. The fuel truck is a 19m articulated general
use B Double. According to the fuel station manager, the fuel truck
services the station a few times a week via Dalley Street, right turn onto
Tincogan Street and then a right turn into the services station, refer
attachment 4 drawing HV-15.
When considering current fuel truck access to the fuel
station, it can be seen in drawing HV-15 that the fuel truck will conflict
with the proposed garden beds and pedestrian refuge on the eastern leg of the
Dalley and Tincogan intersection. If this truck movement was to be
facilitated the pedestrian refuge which has been indicated in the Pedestrian
Access and Mobility Plan would be required to be omitted for the Tincogan
Street design.
An alternative option for the fuel truck to service the
station would be to turn right onto Stuart Street from Burringbar Street,
turn left onto Tincogan Street and then left into the fuel station. It
can be seen in attachment 4 drawing HV-21 in which the Stuart and Burringbar
Streets intersection has been “tightened up” due to the Talking
Streets Project that there is possible conflict between queuing vehicles on
the northern leg of the intersection and the fuel truck turning right on
Stuart Street. It appears that this possible conflict could potentially
be avoided by relocating the giveway hold line back to its original position
prior to Talking Streets.
The left turn movement from Stuart Street into Tincogan
Street (refer attachment 4 drawing HV-12) also represents a conflict point in
terms of the proposed pedestrian refuge on the western leg of the
intersection. Modifications to the design would be required to be
investigated to determine whether or not the pedestrian refuge could be
retained.
The feasibility of the left turn movement for the fuel
truck from Tincogan Street into the fuel station (refer attachment 4 drawing
HV-15) would best be determined by observing the fuel tanker attempting the
manoeuvre. Any proposed infrastructure footprints would need to be
spray painted on the ground in order to identify conflicts in terms of the
awing structure, pedestrian blister and retaining wall on the fuel station
property.
Council seeks technical advice on the final Tincogan
Street design in light of the design work completed to date, the proposed
pedestrian crossing locations and heavy vehicle movements through
Mullumbimby. Comment is also sought in regards to suitable locations to
rationalise the number of north south crossing points on Tincogan Street for
pedestrians.
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