Source: www.smh.com.au
An ongoing proposal has again made the spotlight which involves blocking off one of the busiest roads in Sydney’s CBD to only allow pedestrian access. The Sydney Morning Herald has picked up on this proposal and you can read it below.
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Plan to close Sydney’s George Street to traffic
Paul Tatnell
6 May 2010
Radical plans have been developed to close parts of one of Sydney’s busiest streets to cars and buses.
ABC Radio is reporting that City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore wants to make more of the CBD open only to pedestrians by banning vehicles from parts of George Street.
The ABC reported that details to make the city pedestrian friendly were contained in a draft memorandum of understanding between the NSW government and the council.
See the attached link about the successes and failures of closing off car traffic: http://americancity.org/columns/entry/2272/
To quote: “New York is spending millions to expand its use of pedestrian malls and plazas … Some cities, including Charlottesville and Denver, have thriving walking-only downtown streets that weathered the post-war decline in inner cities. In other words, it isn’t necessarily the pedestrian mall that caused the fall-off in patronage for stores in Sacramento, but rather that the city wasn’t “ready” for this type of street.”
Is George Street ready? As a piece of logistics; George Street is an RTA street and it may have to get their approval first? Anyone confirm this?
its not radical..its been talked about for atleast a decade, a bit like light rail. Thats all the gov and the industry is good for..talking