Charles St bus bridge

[900 series]

Main Roads WA have announced an extended bus bridge from James Street to Charles street, along with 500m of bus lane on Charles Street itself.

Construction is due to start May 2016, and finish in March 2017

[Mr OC Benz]

Perth CBD traffic congestion to be eased with $32 million bus bridge

CONSTRUCTION of a $32 million bus bridge in the CBD — designed to slash travel times and ease congestion — is set to begin early next year.

The 110m bridge is part of a new bus “exit strategy”, which also includes bus-only lanes down the middle of Charles St.

Transport Minister Dean Nalder hopes the changes will encourage more people to take public transport into the city.

It will be built from the ­existing James St bus bridge, behind Perth Arena, over the Graham Farmer Freeway to Charles St.

It will allow buses from Perth’s northern and north-western suburbs to bypass four sets of traffic signals in Northbridge.

Travel time savings to about 16,000 bus passengers of up to six minutes across 12 bus routes per weekday are expected, with congestion eased on Fitzgerald St south of Vincent St.

“For motorists, it means 1000 fewer buses on this key road corridor a day, clearing the way for smoother traffic,” Mr Nalder said.

The time saved by the buses no longer stuck in traffic means they will be reallocated to other routes.

“For example, Wanneroo Road, Scarborough Beach Road, Alexander Drive, even Cambridge Street — we can increase the level of services that go to those areas,” he said.

The dedicated bus lanes down the middle of Charles St will extend north from the Newcastle St intersection to about Carr St. Southbound, the bus lane starts near Cowle St through to the new bridge. The Mitchell Freeway southbound exit to James St will be closed, with the underpass to be used exclusively by buses, and the freeway off-ramp moved to Roe Street.

Main Roads will begin construction early next year, with completion by early 2017.

As revealed by PerthNow, Mr Nalder is keen on a rapid bus service from the northern suburbs to the CBD, mirroring the route of the promised $2 billion MAX light rail project.

Mr Nalder admitted the new bus project was a “foundation element to establishing a rapid bus solution”, but insisted a light rail system was still not out of the question.

“This is not to replace MAX. Even if we did a light rail solution we still will have other corridors where buses will come down,” Mr Nalder said.

Construction of the underground busport is due mid next year.

[theenglishguy]

Great to see Nalder realising how beneficial bus priority can be. At peak times buses get stuck in so much congestion that the travel times are just awful, it isn't surprising that ridership isn't increasing. Whilst I don't use the buses around Charles St, along St Georges/Adelaide Tce it often takes 25 minutes+ to get from the Esplanade to the Causeway - averaging 10km/h isn't ideal.

This project looks great though and will save a noticable amount of time. I'm particularly excited that the lanes down Charles Street will be in the middle of the road. This works great along the Causeway and could be great for services in the area. Once this is done it wouldn't be hard to extend the bus lanes further with stops in the centre of the road. Wouldn't be a proper BRT system, but it would be getting close.

[theenglishguy]

Here is a nice map of the proposed bridge/bus lanes:



Some more details here too: https://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/Buildin ... ridge.aspx

[Shoudy Chen]

Will the bus lanes have a grade separation over the Fremantle Line or will it be a railway crossing?

[102 at 1625]

The existing (but currently out of use) bus bridge goes over the Fremantle line, so the new section will not need to cross the rail line at all.

[TP1462]

http://www.pta.wa.gov.au/Default.aspx?id=1542&tabid=121


The PTA website explains it in more detail


Works Description

The project involves construction of a bus-only bridge from the south end of Charles Street (Newcastle Street intersection) over the Graham Farmer Freeway alongside the Charles Street and Mitchell Freeway southbound entrance bridge.



The bridge touches back down to near ground level on the south side of Graham Farmer Freeway. The road then continues on a slightly elevated structure between the Charles Street and Mitchell Freeway southbound entrance structure and Bunning Lake.



This elevated structure slopes down to ground level by the time it meets the current Mitchell Freeway southbound exit on to James Street.



This busway then passes under the existing bridge that carries both the Charles Street and Graham Farmer Freeway entries to the freeway southbound.



At the westernmost end of James Street, immediately next to the Mitchell Freeway southbound exit to Wellington Street, this road connects to the existing James Street bus-only bridge.



This existing bridge runs parallel to the Mitchell Freeway southbound exit on to Wellington Street and curves slightly east as the bridge passes over the Fremantle line to a sloping elevated structure that ultimately touches down behind Perth Arena.



From here, the road travels east to the Perth Busport Milligan Street entrance ramp.



The Mitchell Freeway southbound exit to James Street will be closed. The underpass will now be used exclusively by buses. A new Northbridge freeway exit will depart Mitchell Freeway southbound at the same point. It will run on the western side, parallel to the existing Wellington Street freeway exit. It will connect with Roe Street between the Mitchell Freeway southbound Wellington Street exit bridge and the shared Charles Street and Graham Farmer Freeway and Mitchell Freeway southbound freeway entrance bridge.



The project involves the construction of bus lanes down the middle of Charles Street, extending north from the Newcastle Street intersection to Carr Street. Southbound, the bus lane starts near Cowle Street through to the new bridge.

It also includes for more high frequency bus routes such as the 950 but along Alexander Drive

[Mr OC Benz]

An updated newsletter is now available showing more detailed information about the project. I've attached the diagram that's apart of the newsletter:

[102 at 1625]

Not everybody is happy.

[Leyland B21]

Tell those who organised the petition there is no need for 4 cars in their garage and hop on a train or bus. Perth has become too car dependant.

[TP1462]

Tell those who organised the petition there is no need for 4 cars in their garage and hop on a train or bus. Perth has become too car dependant.

Nope it was the mitre 10 hardware store on James street that started the petition, that hardware store is one of the biggest contributors to congestion their was a story on today tonight about it late last year

[TP1462]

http://www.pta.wa.gov.au/news-and-media ... me-savings

York Civil selected to design and construct the $32.1 million projects
Works to begin in April, with completion expected in early 2017
Transport Minister Dean Nalder today said construction would begin soon on the dedicated Charles Street bus bridge and busway, delivering significant travel time savings to thousands of Perth commuters.
Construction company York Civil has been awarded the contract to design and build the projects at a cost of $32.1 million and will create about 50 to 60 new jobs. The works will begin in April, with completion expected in early 2017.
The bridge and busway will be built from the current James Street bus bridge over the Graham Farmer Freeway to Charles Street. Bus lanes will be built along Charles Street to Violet Street.
"This will result in the removal of more than 1,000 buses a day from James and Fitzgerald streets in Northbridge, alleviating traffic congestion and improving local amenity and access," Mr Nalder said.
"This is a great congestion buster for our city, with benefits for bus users and motorists.
"Northern suburbs passengers commuting to the CBD could have their journey times reduced by up to six minutes during peak times.
"About 16,000 passengers a day will travel over the bridge and busway."
The Minister said the bus bridge and busway would be vital for bus reliability and to cope with growing future demands on public transport.
Key features of the project include James Street exit from Mitchell Freeway relocating to Roe Street to ease the burden on the James and Fitzgerald streets intersection, and the Cleaver and Newcastle streets intersections being modified to allow buses access to Cleaver Street.

[Bus Suggestions]

Hmm.... I find this project nice and agreeable. Little map found in April 2016 update:

Charles St bus bridge maps.png (289.27 KiB) Viewed 9272 times

And something on Transperth's Service Disruptions section:

Routes 370, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 970 and 990 - Bus Stop Deletion

Sun 11 Dec
Effective: Sunday 11 December 2016
Due to the construction of the Charles Street Bus Bridge, bus stop number 12598 (Charles Street, before Carr Street) in North Perth will be deleted from the above date.

The nearest bus stop for all services will be bus stop number 12597 (Charles Street, after Vincent Street).

If you require further assistance regarding service disruptions or planning your journey, please call the Transperth InfoLine on 13 62 13 (TIS: 13 14 50). Hearing or speech impaired? Call via NRS 133 677 and ask for 13 62 13.

http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/Service ... tion-31879

[Bus Suggestions]

Bus lanes were completed about a month ago, however the bridge isn't connected yet (but the construction is progressing well and should be opened in a month or so). I can't say the same about that layover space Main Roads promised.

[TP1462]

https://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/Journe ... Bus-Bridge

The new Charles street bridge will open on Sunday June 25th




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