Beaufort Street 2 way traffic project

[nachoman]

Beaufort St Northbridge is currently being converted into a two way street with bus lanes in peak periods.

City Of Perth link

A PDF of the road layout is also available:
http://www.cityofperth.wa.gov.au/documentdb/3398.pdf

[wellington_street]

More craziness from the City of Perth, all motivated by trying to make it easier for people to drive through the CBD. Sheer madness.

What they should have done is retained most of the one-way streets with the following lane allocations:
- 1 bus lane
- 1 general traffic lane
- 1 contra-flow cycle lane (allowing cyclists to use all city streets as two-way streets)
- parking where desirable and the road reserve allows

Instead they are going with a solution which:
- doesn't provide for cycle lanes on any streets
- doesn't provide for proper bus priority (the middle of the CBD should have 24hr lanes, not this garbage peak period, peak direction lane)
- they are going to have to ban right turns at half the intersections anyway to make them work, in which case you may as well have kept the one-way streets

It also pisses me off that they are moving buses off William Street, making access to Northbridge more difficult.

[Red Rider]

I don't understand why they are only bus lanes at peak periods; when the road is busiest, only buses can use it. But when the road is not very busy, anyone can use it, but they don't need to use since the road is not very busy... So they may as well be bus lanes 24/7!! I see plenty of cars abuse the system and make it a hassle for buses in these times.

Anyway, the bus lanes on Beaufort St through Inglewood (Sixth Ave to Salisbury St) allow bikes to use them. I assume this will be the same for the proposed?


At the moment cyclists can't travel into the city along Beaufort in the CoP section, and must negotiate peak hour with cars going out of the city. So as far as cycling is concerned, this is a win?

[wellington_street]

I don't understand why they are only bus lanes at peak periods; when the road is busiest, only buses can use it. But when the road is not very busy, anyone can use it, but they don't need to use since the road is not very busy... So they may as well be bus lanes 24/7!! I see plenty of cars abuse the system and make it a hassle for buses in these times.?

Most definitely. In this case it's all about parking, which just shows you that even in inner Perth that the car is still king.

As far as cycling goes, it's a partial win I suppose. The current inbound route along William St is reasonable for cyclists (I'm not the fastest but I ride comfortably in the lane in the morning peak) and you can pass buses as they have bays at their stops.

[rolandp]

This is occurring this week-end - more at City of Perth.

From 12 noon Sunday 7 April, Beaufort Street (between Roe Street and Newcastle Street) will be opened to two-way traffic.

This change in direction coincides with the City’s plan to revitalise Perth’s CBD by returning one-way streets to two-way flow where practical.

City of Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said the conversion of streets back to two-way is about more than just traffic flows.

“It’s about the movement of people in and around our city, improving the connectivity between existing streets and making it easier to navigate through the city,” Ms Scaffidi said.

“Two-way traffic helps make surrounding areas more pedestrian friendly by discouraging fast passing traffic.

“Slower traffic along key city streets will make it safer for pedestrians to move around and experience the surrounding businesses and public spaces.”

Beaufort Street will feature designated bus lanes for peak morning and afternoon periods.

On Sunday 7 of April, existing westbound bus services on Newcastle Street will turn left onto Beaufort Street instead of William Street for southbound travel.

From Sunday 21 of April, existing southbound buses on William Street (Northbridge) will instead run southbound on Beaufort Street (Northbridge).

As Beaufort Street covers two local government areas, the City of Perth has been working with the City of Vincent to complete this project. It is anticipated that the City of Vincent sections of Beaufort Street will be opened to two-way traffic on Sunday 21 April.

“It is important all road user pay close attention to the new traffic flows and pedestrians must look both ways when crossing the newly converted streets.”

The conversion of Beaufort Street will be followed by William Street (between Roe Street and Newcastle Street) which will be opened to two-way traffic on Sunday 21st April

[wellington_street]

So Beaufort Street is now finally two-way.

Something I noticed though - why are the bus lanes not signposted to permit cyclists to ride in them? This is done elsewhere, e.g. Barry Marshall Drive at Murdoch, St Georges Terrace, Great Eastern Highway, and of course the lanes on Beaufort St through Inglewood.

Cyclists will use it anyway, legal or not, so it just seems mind-numbingly stupid that such infrastructure is not signposted properly. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at the contempt shown to cyclists by CoP, CoV and MRWA.

[rolandp]

Hi, st George's Tce bus lanes are not marked as bike lanes.

They are also no cars, but cars use them.

[HLC]

Who now finds that William St heading citybound is always gridlocked, and that cars on Beaufort St still have no idea where they are driving/what lane they need to be in???

[jet-ski]

I prefer not to share with busses on the Terrace... they stop all the time and you can get stuck behind a big long line of them :> ... but the bus lane on beaufort st is better as there are less busses and less stops.

[BrownBike]

I've found Beaufort St heading north on the recently made two-way stretch to be a real pain. There's less scope to overtake buses stopped in the left lane and cars are less likely to move over when passing you. It all feels a lot less bike-friendly now, although I guess you can cycle in the opposite direction.

[nachoman]

I ride eastbound along Aberdeen St a few afternoons a week and I have found the light changes at William and Beaufort to now be painfully slower