Works have been Completed
BMD have now completed the Military Road and Main Street Upgrade & Public Plaza on time and on budget. This has been the largest streetscape project that the City of Charles Sturt has delivered.
The total cost of the project will be $14.2 million with $9million allocated through Council, $2.6 million of funding through SA Power Networks and $2.6 million through the Government of South Australia's Places for People Grant Program.
Project Statistics
Construction Newsletters
Military Road and Main Street Flythrough Animation
Concept Plan
Your Questions Answered
The road pavement and kerb and gutter of Military Road (North Street to South Street) and Main Street (East Terrace to Military Road) is due for full reconstruction, presenting an ideal opportunity to improve the streetscape, ready for the role it will play in the area for the next 60 years.
This project includes:
Reconstruction of the entire road reserve (property boundary to property boundary) of Military Road from North Street to South Street, including:
- road pavement (including re-shaping) and road seal,
- kerb and gutter and new underground drainage,
- widened paths with some retaining walls to achieve compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act where possible (not possible at some existing residential driveways)
- raised intersections at Durham Street, York Street, Main Street and Kent Street,
- pedestrian priority roundabouts at North Street and South Street,
- pedestrian Wombat crossing and zebra crossings,
- new bus stop and custom bus shelter,
- landscaping, irrigation and new trees
- streetscape improvements
Reconstruction of the entire road reserve (property boundary to property boundary) of Main Street from Military Road to East Terrace, including:
- road pavement and road seal,
- kerb and gutter,
- widened paths,
- landscaping, irrigation, new trees
Main Street plaza (transformation of the western end of Main Street into a public plaza), making it an attractive space for people, street life and human interaction with green space, including:
- lawn spaces
- wide pathways that are accessible for all
- trees and landscaping
- picnic tables and custom concrete seating
- public shelter
- bicycle rails and repair station
- car parking, accessible parking and motorcycle parking
- spaces available for lease by adjacent businesses for outdoor dining
- feature lighting
- integrated art features
- drinking fountain and bins
Undergrounding of power lines on North Street (Seaview Road to Military Road), Military Road (North Street to Kent Street) and Main Street (Seaview Road to East Terrace) and new lighting.
- Renewal of the path on the western side of Military Road between North Street and the lane (adjacent 93 North Street).
- Kerb and gutter renewal – Kent Street Henley Beach
- Kerb and gutter renewal – Durham Street Henley Beach
- Path renewal – Durham Street Henley Beach
- Kerb work on East Terrace, at the corner of Main Street (northern side)
Community consultation about the opportunities occurred in 2018/19, followed by the development of concept plans and further consultation. A Community Engagement Report is available on the Your Say page and City of Charles Sturt website. Detailed designs were then developed in 2019/20, and community notification prior to construction in late 2020/21.
The local knowledge, genuine concerns and great ideas raised through feedback were considered amongst many other project factors. Whilst community views often differ, and some are very divided, the option(s) supported by the majority are most often those incorporated into the final plan (at the Council’s discretion).
Consultation about the intersections of Military Road with North Street and South Street occurred in early 2020. During that consultation period, the community told us that they wanted to keep the roundabouts at these intersections, rather than have them replaced with raised intersections. In keeping with the goal of the project, to improve access and safety for people (pedestrians being among the most vulnerable), we are including zebra crossings on all roundabout approaches.
A community story gathering session was held on Zoom in June 2020 and attended by local artist Gabriel who drew images of the stories and memories told. These images are going to be used in artistic elements for the project.
In February 2021, the final design was presented to the community seeking any further feedback.
Construction begins in October 2021 and continues until late 2022. Construction is due to be completed prior to Summer 2022.
The design attempts to accommodate for various rider types within the limits of the road reserve widths, while balancing the needs of all users, incorporating some soft landscaping and not straying too far from the concept plan which was generally supported. Confident riders can share the travel lane in this low speed environment. Cyclists will be required to give way to pedestrians at the zebra crossings. This is considered acceptable in this high pedestrian precinct.
Path widths have been maximised in all possible locations so that less confident riders have adequate path width to share with pedestrians.
SA Power Networks and NBN’s appointed electrical contractors will contact all directly impacted properties to arrange the property services (power and internet) to be placed underground.
SA Power Networks will provide advanced notice of any power supply outages.
There are plenty of parking options whether you're dropping in for a quick visit or planning on staying for the whole day.
We have lots of free parking options (see map for where to find all day and short stay parking). The map is updated to show which sections of road are currently closed for roadworks.
We have introduced new 2-hour and 3-hour parking time limits on the streets close to Henley Square and the beach, to assist you to find a short-term car park during the roadworks.
Throughout the project, we are maximising on-street car parking availability. By linemarking individual parking bays, we are ensuring efficient use of the available space.
Within the Main Street plaza, the original design (which received majority community support) removed all 16 spaces, however the new design allows for 9 spaces, as well as bicycle and motorcycle parking.
This project seeks to improve pedestrian access in the streets leading to Henley Square to encourage better utilisation of the on-street parking available in the vicinity.
The construction cost for a single parking spot can range from $10,000 for a surface car park to $68,000 per space in multi-level structures. For Council to consider providing car parking it would need to be ticket parking and therefore is not likely to be well utilised in this location.
Providing more car parking encourages visitors and locals to choose driving as a primary method of transport to reach the destination. If more car parking is provided then more people will choose to drive, resulting in the additional parks quickly being absorbed, however this does not solve the problem.
Predictions into the future (10-15 years) are that car parking requirements will change as the share economy strengthens, autonomous vehicle technology improves, and smart technologies connect vehicles to the street network to find available parking spaces. For this reason, the design of Main Street is such that the car parking provision could evolve into other uses, should that opportunity present itself in the future. Car share spaces and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations are considerations that could be incorporated in the project.
All existing, healthy trees are proposed to be retained. Trees that are not in good health are planned to be replaced. We are working very carefully around the existing Norfolk Island Pine Trees.
Immature trees will be planted in the streetscapes, similar to the small trees in Henley Square. This gives them the best chance of establishing in the coastal conditions. We are unable to plant mature trees as they are not likely to establish well. This means that the trees will take some years to grow. The project fly-through and concept images indicate the completed project with tree sizes at maturity.
The raised intersections and new wombat pedestrian crossing will make this section of Military Road a low speed environment which will be in line with the current 40km/hour area speed limit. Drivers will be required to give way to pedestrians at the 3 new proposed crossings as well as at the roundabouts. The overall travel time delay for drivers would be a matter of seconds.
The community were consulted about the intersections of Military Road with North Street and South Street. There was a strong desire (75% - 75%) to retain the roundabouts. Given that roundabouts are difficult places for pedestrians to cross the road, zebra crossings are being incorporated on all approaches, in line with one of the main priorities of the project, to improve pedestrian safety and access.
At a zebra crossing, drivers are required to give way to a pedestrian. This even applies to a driver who is already on the roundabout. Drivers should aim to not block the roundabout. Unlike at a school crossing, drivers do not need to wait for the pedestrian to completely vacate the crossing before proceeding.
Some drivers might choose to travel an additional distance (280 metres if detouring along North and South Streets) to use East Terrace instead of this section of Military Road, to avoid the raised sections and pedestrian crossing delays. This detour isn’t likely to reduce their overall travel time, rather increase it. Therefore, any transference of North and South Streets traffic to East Terrace isn’t expected to be notable.
Driver choices in relation to which road they travel on depends on their origin and destination as well as other factors. Council will conduct post-project traffic counts on East Terrace following the roadworks to determine any impact on East Terrace traffic volumes that could be attributed to the upgrade of Military Road, and whether further intervention needs to be considered for East Terrace. East Terrace is a ‘Collector’ road in council’s road hierarchy, providing an important corridor for through traffic as well as connecting local access streets to the arterial road network.
The Council allocates funds through its long-term financial plan to renew or upgrade assets when they are due. An additional project budget is required to achieve the extra components such as the landscaping and new traffic controls. Council has allocated a total budget of $9 million for the project.
We were also successful in obtaining a grant for powerlines to be undergrounded. This means that SA Power Networks are contributing $2.6 million to the project and will be undergrounding the power lines.
The State Government will be contributing $2.6 million through an “Open Space and Places for People” grant toward the streetscape upgrade and Main Street plaza.
Dust
To minimise dust during construction, a water truck is onsite full time to water down any loose dust.
Noise
Works on roads and public infrastructure are exempt from the noise restrictions contained within the Act - Environment Protection (Noise) Policy 2007, however we aim to minimise construction noise to within the hours of 7am to 7pm Monday to Saturdays and use construction methodologies to lower the impacts on local amenity.
We are often asked if ratepayers are eligible for rate reductions during roadworks, due to the disruption they are experiencing.
Rates are a form of taxation. The amount each ratepayer pays (in rates) annually contributes toward the amount of money required to deliver the services, infrastructure and projects across the City of Charles Sturt, as endorsed in the annual budget. As a tax, the rates paid may not directly relate to the services used. Allowance is made in the budget each year for a suite of rate rebates and rate relief as outlined in our rating policy. There is no rate rebate or rate relief for disruption caused by roadworks.
Road assets need replacing and upgrading to ensure they remain safe and accessible for our community, in line with our asset management plans. New infrastructure is required to ensure we continue to meet the changing needs of our community. Asset replacements/upgrades and new assets are planned for in our long term financial plan, to ensure that the cost of assets is fairly distributed across the life of the asset. We are often successful in obtaining external grants from the State and Federal governments, to deliver asset upgrades and new assets that provide even better value for money for our ratepayers.
Some level of disruption is unavoidable while the assets are being replaced, however the investment by Council benefits the ratepayers once works are completed.
If you are a business or homeowner experiencing hardship in paying rates, you are able to apply for rates deferrals and/or payment plans to support you through the time of hardship. See our Rate Relief information.
