Roads & Rail

[SRW]

In Paris, they have a Pergeot dealership on the Champs Elysees. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but it's roughly analogous with King William St. Admittedly that's a much flashier caryard, but the idea is there. What is going on with Mitsubishi? Are they re-building?

C'est un coup à se tuer!

Parisians would revolt at the idea of a caryard on the Champs-Élysées!

It's a Peugeot showroom (and, indeed, with the number of classic vehicles in there, a sort of musuem).

[cleverick]

I agree. OK, poor debate technique, I apologise.
A little bit dishonest, too.

I think Grenfell St could turn into an Adelaide version of Champs Elysees. What with BMW on the corner and Boss, there is much scope there for a see-and-be-seen shopping strip. We would never make it a mall because it's a through-route, but you'd make it damn unattractive for cars except to cruise.
Give it 10 years, Adelaide might well have its own La Coste and allt he other luxury brand names. I hope they find their way to Grenfell St!

[monotonehell]

I agree. OK, poor debate technique, I apologise.
A little bit dishonest, too.

I think Grenfell St could turn into an Adelaide version of Champs Elysees. What with BMW on the corner and Boss, there is much scope there for a see-and-be-seen shopping strip. We would never make it a mall because it's a through-route, but you'd make it damn unattractive for cars except to cruise.
Give it 10 years, Adelaide might well have its own La Coste and allt he other luxury brand names. I hope they find their way to Grenfell St!

Perhaps a rough analogue of the function, but seriously, the Champs Elysees isn't something that could be accommodated in the square mile. You'd need space for both traffic and pedestrians, as well as parks and interesting architecture...

From your posts I'm thinking you've not seen the Champs Elysees in person? I can't think of any street in Adelaide that would come even close, short of knocking over a load of buildings and turning them into parks. The Champs Elysees is half parklands and half buildings, the entire thing is a 10 lane road (very busy) but still has street-wide footpaths either side. It begins at the Arc de Triomphe and heads toward the Louvre, the buildings either side are grand and very (tres? ) Parisian, it ends in a paved traffic square that has one of the Cleopatra's Needles as its centrepiece, the other side of which is another large public park that leads to the Louvre. Interestingly, under the Louvre's end there is an underground shopping centre that is completely hidden from the surface (Galerie Carrousel?)

Have a look... this is taken from atop the Arc de Triomphe...

Not sure if the site allows leaching link here - http://www.panoramio.com/photos/original/44983.jpg

[Omicron]

Perhaps we can dig up Haussmann and have him do some renovations!

[SRW]

Interestingly, under the Louvre's end there is an underground shopping centre that is completely hidden from the surface (Galerie Carrousel?)

Le Carrousel du Louvre, I think.

Perhaps we can dig up Haussmann and have him do some renovations!

Yes! And while we're at it, let's DNA test him for family relations!

[rhino]

Hmmm.....10 lanes wide lined with buildings and parks - hey that's West Terrace!

[cleverick]

I have been to Paris, and I have seen le Boulevard de Champs Elysees myself. But I am never for directly copying. France has the Champs Elysees, and if we were to re-build it, we could never compete with them. So we have to do it differently- the park is in the middle. They've started with the median strip at the far east end of Grenfell; if they can be convinced to do the same thing all the way to West Tce, it will look beautiful.
Adelaide doesn't have the same population as Paris, and thus doesn't need a 10-lane very busy road. Four will be sufficient. Our footpaths (while not as wide as those in Paris) are pretty wide along the main streets- compatible with our size, even.

I was just commenting on the nature of the retail and the possibility of a similar road in Adelaide, built to Adelaide's style, rather than Paris's.

[Ho Really]

...They've started with the median strip at the far east end of Grenfell; if they can be convinced to do the same thing all the way to West Tce, it will look beautiful...

Yes, it would. As long as they plant trees with tall trunks. One drawback with wide median strips, is that they attract pedestrians. It may lead to more people avoiding to cross at traffic lights. We could install barriers along footpaths or introduce even higher fines to deter people from crossing, or we could reduce car traffic by congesting other streets, or even eliminate cars completely. I keep saying it, they should not choke North Terrace, Grenfell-Currie and Wakefield-Grote Streets (unless Franklin-Flinders Streets take their place) and leave them as our main east-west thoroughfares. The rest can be given to the pedestrians and trams.

Cheers

[crawf]

Theres already a wide median strip along Grenfell/Currie Street.

[AtD]

Theres already a wide median strip along Grenfell/Currie Street.

Wide means that you can't see the other direction of traffic, you forget you on a duel carriageway, and the council has leased the median to cattle farmers. That's by Canberra standards anyway.

(For example, Federal Hwy, Canberra Avenue)

[cleverick]

I agree with the problem of pedestrian crossings. For this reason, wide median strips should look more like the Morphett Rd (hedges with no possibility of crossing) median strip than the King William St (low bushes and plenty of tiles) median strip.
However, given the relative lack (except during peak times) of traffic at the east end of Grenfell St, they have got the best of both worlds. This is because pedestian crossings are few and far between in comparison to the western end of Grenfell/ eastern end of Currie Streets.

[Shuz]

Whilst traversing down Goodwood Road today, I happened to notice that at the junction of Springbank/Daws Roads (a traffic nightmare in peak hour) the former petrol station site on the corner is up for sale. I had to comment to mother, that it was so bloody stupid that the land is being sold off in the name of development interests, when the Goverment should buy the property in the name of sensible infrastructure planning interests to realign the intersections into a standard intersection and not the traffic-choked, cars-everywhere chaotic dysfunctional thing it is now. Twas the reply, "You should send a letter to the Minister." I could only help but laugh.

Seriously its just basic common sense that intersection needs to be fixed up soon, its just an absolute commuters nightmare as it is, and then there's the sound of a yobbo honking behind you because in that stupid 50m gap you happened to be halfway over the merging and free-flow lanes just like the other 100 people trying to do so.

So what should I do? Send a letter to the Minister and await for their pissant response of "Thankyou for your concern, we'll look into the matter" - which we all know is political talk for "Get fucked, we don't care and you're just gunna have to put up with it."

[monotonehell]

Those intersections are quite a distance apart, you'd need more than the corner block to realign them.

[Shuz]

Still, it's a start. I would be happy knowing that the land is owned by the Goverment for future realignment. Not to capitalise on this, and several other planning oppurtunities is too costly.

[Wayno]

Those intersections are quite a distance apart, you'd need more than the corner block to realign them.

it could work quite well if the Party Place on the opposite side was acquired as well...