House of Assembly Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3) 51 3 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Parliamentary Committees Public Works Committee: Tramline Extension—City West to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE: TRAMLINE EXTENSION—CITY WEST TO THE ADELAIDE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE Ms CICCARELLO House of Assembly Norwood Ms CICCARELLO (Norwood) (11:57): I move: That the 318^th report of the committee, entitled Tramline Extension—City West to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, be noted. In June 2008 the government announced a $2 billion plan to revitalise the public transport network over the next 10 years. This includes a number of major upgrades to the light rail system. The project will construct 2.8 kilometres of double tram track, with substation, overhead catenary system and associated structures, necessary road and bridge works and traffic management measures, an additional four tram stops and a new park-and-ride facility at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. The service will run along North Terrace and Port Road in a dedicated right of way. No building demolition is necessary. Tramline features will take account of and complement the existing urban form in the same way as the earlier tramline extension. This project will provide a high quality rail service, linking the Adelaide Entertainment Centre precinct and new park-and-ride facility with the Adelaide Railway Station, the main CBD and Glenelg. The central tram corridor allows the trams to cross the three major intersections, with the existing through-cycle causing minimal impact and delay to the other road users. The tramline extension will continue west along North Terrace from University SA's City West Campus and north along Port Road to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. The trams will run in the centre of the road within their own corridor. The positioning of the tram stops will serve existing and future residential public and commercial activities situated in the vicinity of the north-west quadrant of the city (including the new hospital), the Thebarton area (including events at Bonython Park) the Hindmarsh area and the Bowden area (including a future transit-orientated development based around the Clipsal site). Existing pedestrian movement will not be impacted, and additional pedestrian crossings will be installed at the tram sites where required. Importantly, all existing traffic lanes will be maintained in each direction. Allowance has been made for future access to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and these access points will also serve construction traffic during decommissioning of the railyards and the construction of the new hospital. A shuttle service will operate between the new hospital and the South Terrace stop on Peacock Road, in addition to the through-service from Glenelg to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. This service will be free. The impact of the tramline on existing kerbside activities comprises some minor relocation of bus stops to suit the road widening, potential loss of parking on Port Road between James Congdon Drive and Park Terrace, loss of parking on the north side of North Terrace, and a change from angle to parallel parking on the southern side of North Terrace. Bicycle lanes will be included along the entire alignment. It is proposed to develop a daytime park-and-ride facility at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, using the existing carpark. There are currently around 950 parking bays located within nine parking sectors. There may be up to 12 days a year when the carpark would not be available for park-and-ride use due to large all day events, but sufficient capacity exists for the vast majority of the year to accommodate approximately 400 spaces in the carpark located between Adam Street and Port Road. This would make it one of the larger park-and-ride facilities in Adelaide. A vehicle sample indicated that city bound traffic will experience slightly longer travel times as a result of the introduction of the tram—primarily due to increased delays at the Gaol Road intersection—due to the signalisation of right turns into Gaol Road and signalised pedestrian crossings on North Terrace and Light Terrace. Improved signal coordination will be able to limit these delays. Overall, current modelling shows that vehicle delays will increase slightly in the AM peak, with no change in the PM peak. The tramline extension to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre is expected to play a positive role in stimulating urban regeneration in the City West, Thebarton and Bowden areas, thus contributing to future uplift and development. The tramline to the Entertainment Centre has two main objectives: to influence the regeneration of City West, Thebarton and Bowden area; and to facilitate the future connection of the tramway to the Outer Harbor rail line so that trains can operate coast to coast and influence major population growth along selected transport corridors and within activity centres. Extending the tramline along Port Road requires a connection back to the rail corridor in a location somewhere near the Entertainment Centre. This would not occur until around 2014, after the Outer Harbor line has been electrified. Debate adjourned.