Kingborough Councillors voted on 4 April to implement a hybrid of Design Option 1 for the major upgrade of Kingston’s CBD. View news story.
See consultation report developed from public survey.
CBD Upgrade Consultation
The Transform Kingston CBD consultation CLOSED on 19 January 2022. Feedback from the community, local businesses and other stakeholders will play a vital role in Council’s final decision on the vision for the main street. All feedback will now be reviewed.
Kingston’s CBD (Channel Hwy) is getting a makeover. The proposed upgrade will create a CBD that is accessible, attractive, greener, and a more engaging place to visit. Below are our current design ideas.
Design Descriptions:
We have two concept designs for the upgrade of Channel Hwy between Hutchins Street and Freeman Street. Both plans include improvements for people travelling via foot, bike, bus and cars.
The main features include:
- A permanent roundabout installed at the intersection of Hutchins Street with Channel Hwy with pedestrian refuges
- Improved pedestrian crossing facilities at the intersection of John Street and the Channel Highway
- A Zebra crossing on Channel Hwy – from Liveat to Denison Dental (link to picture)
- An uphill bike lane on Channel Hwy (link to picture)
- Upgraded bus facilities, including an off-street Bus Interchange at 40 Channel Hwy
- Upgraded street lighting and CCTV
- Wider footpaths (link to picture), including additional space for potential alfresco dining
- Street trees, vegetation and street furniture (link to picture)
- Improved safety and traffic flow in and out of John Street – left in and left out (link to picture)
- The current carpark at 3 John Street (Fantail Pde) removed to create a new public open space (link to picture)
Design Options
Differences between the Design Concepts:
The main differences in the two concept designs involve the location of bicycle lanes and parking. They are listed below and visually displayed.
Concept 1
- The uphill bike lane is located on the outside of the allocated parking space and bus zone
- 19 on-street parking spaces
Concept 2
- The uphill bike lane is protected, running on the inside of the bus stop.
- 10 on-street parking spaces
Background:
In May 2020, Council endorsed the Kingston Place Strategy. The Strategy provides a vision for the CBD for the next 20–30 years. It was developed following extensive community engagement that expressed a desire for central Kingston to become a self-sustaining regional centre, offering a walkable environment with a green, attractive and engaging public realm. The State Government has provided support for the first stage through a $7.9m grant as part of the City Deal program.
Council’s initial focus has been developing design options for the main street of Kingston, with the aim of incorporating as many of the recommendations from the Place Strategy as possible.
One of our main constraints is the width of the street, which limits space to provide street trees, wide footpaths, on-street dining, bike lanes and carparking. As reflected in the design options, it is not possible to include all elements and so we need to decide what is most important and feasible.