BRISBANE» LIGHT RAIL/UNDERGROUND - Thread

[SoulVision]

LATEST NEWS:

Originally Posted by SoulVision

$14 Billion dollar system proposed - State government wants 50/50 agreement with fed government.


Thanks to QUT News:

BNE123 PROPOSAL:



LINK

ASHRE PROPOSAL:

Google Maps

MUNTTED PROPOSAL:

Google Maps

Out of all of these awesome concepts I love bne123's hybrid combinatin of both light rail and an underground.

Its been over 1 year since this... and it seems like the government is still ho-humming about this and that. I'm sick of it. There's an election coming up so we need to start seeing some concrete policies regarding Brisbane's future mass transit options.

This is South East Queensland!! We have the funds, the people and now we need political willpower!!!
25/08/08

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BUILDING BRIDGES: Premier Peter Beattie and deputy Anna Bligh pictured on the Goodwill Bridge.

Top-secret CBD
Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)

July 15, 2007 12:00am

FIVE new pedestrian and cycle bridges across the river, a light-rail system and four super residential-office precincts will be built under new State Government plans.

Premier Peter Beattie will today unveil his Government's top-secret "visionary" plan for Brisbane's central business district in the report Smart Cities: Rethinking the City Centre.

Mr Beattie said he wanted to make Brisbane the "most attractive, charming and exciting" city in the world within the next 10 to 15years by taking vehicular traffic out of the CBD and making vast areas pedestrian-friendly.

He was inspired by a trip to Florence in Italy – a city, he said, that allowed people to walk everywhere with little hassle from cars and trucks.

His Smart Cities plan also identifies a "knowledge corridor" linking Brisbane's hospitals, universities and museums. All new education, research and cultural facilities would be located in this corridor.

The Government will initially spend $3.5 million drawing up the Smart City Master Plan and seek investment in projects from the private sector.

"It is one of the most important, most significant plans on the drawing board for any city in Australia," he told The Sunday Mail.

"The vision centres on linking South Bank and the CBD with Kelvin Grove and Bulimba through cross-river pedestrian bridges, inner-city pedestrian links and a light-rail network that would stretch from South Brisbane to New Farm and possibly Bowen Hills.

"The central part of the strategy is a series of three pedestrian 'spines' that will link areas of high-density residential development and the major workplace centres with educational, cultural, shopping, lifestyle and entertainment facilities."

The spines will be South Bank to Bulimba; West End to Kelvin Grove Urban Village; and South Brisbane to Fortitude Valley.

They will be complemented by the new $63 million Tank Street Bridge, which has been given the go-ahead to link the CBD to the new Gallery of Modern Art, and four additional bridges.

The other cross-river pedestrian and cycle links will be built between Bulimba and New Farm; New Farm and Kangaroo Point; Kangaroo Point and the CBD; and one beside the existing Victoria Bridge.

"The biggest mistake we made when we built the Goodwill Bridge in 2001 is that we didn't build more bridges at the time," Mr Beattie said.

The popular pedestrian and cycle way, linking South Bank and Gardens Point, cost $33 million, with more than 70,000 people using it every week.

Mr Beattie said the new bridges would cost $80 million each to build. The four super precincts would be built at Woolloongabba, Bowen Hills, South Brisbane and City West.

Some state land would be used, including 5ha near the Gabba, with the Government buying up property to develop the residential and office zones – which would each be larger than the CBD.

Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Infrastructure Anna Bligh said the pedestrian spines and bridges would link Brisbane's three major parks: the City Botanic Gardens, New Farm Park and Roma St Parkland.

"Together with existing facilities such as South Bank and the New Farm Riverwalk and new links such as North Bank, this plan will transform Brisbane into one of the world's great walking and cycling cities and reflect our subtropical, health-orientated lifestyle," Ms Bligh said.

The Smart State Council, formed in 2005 by the Premier to work on this master plan, had identified a "fragmented approach" to inner-city development.

Public submissions would run to August 13 and Mr Beattie would report back to Cabinet by the end of August.

Government info

Some images... LIGHT RAIL!!! YAY!!!

[KJBrissy]

Great news....I'm glad Governments are starting to ook past business concerns and starting to cater more for pedestrians cyclists and PT!

[SoulVision]

Precisely! And LIGHT RAIL IS BACK!!!

Trams back in Brisbane
Article from: The Courier-Mail
Emma Chalmers and Margaret Wenham


July 16, 2007 12:00am

TRAMS will return to Brisbane streets as part of the biggest overhaul of the city and its transport network yet.
The city council and State Government have agreed light rail will be the key to managing Brisbane's predicted massive growth over the next 15 years.

They have committed to the Smart City overhaul, which also will see five new river crossings, office developments in suburban areas and the revitalisation of urban areas.

The combined approval means the plan can proceed without the political interference that dogged previous attempts to modernise the city and manage population growth.

Premier Peter Beattie last night told The Courier-Mail the State Government was committed to both the scheme and its cost.

Mr Beattie said a combination of State Government funds and private sector investment would be needed over the next 10 to 15 years.

"If we don't do this now then the quality of life we enjoy will be diminished and we believe we can actually improve it," Mr Beattie said.

"We're guiding this over 10 to 15 years so we have time to fund this, we have time to budget for this."

The plan follows intensive infrastructure changes made over the past five years including traffic tunnels; plans for a duplication of the Gateway Bridge; new hospital precincts at Woolloongabba and Buranda; Kelvin Grove's urban village; the Portside residential and cruise ship development; the water pipeline from the Gold Coast to Toowoomba; and the Goodna bypass.

A Federal Government plan to audit available Commonwealth land for residential release also could see a new housing development at Bulimba.

Announcing the details of the new transport links yesterday, Mr Beattie said about three years of planning would be needed but one section of the plan – the Tank Street Bridge – already was under way.

City Hall estimates the light-rail system will cost $250 million but Mr Beattie said the total figure would not be known until the route was chosen.

The light-rail network – likely to be the biggest in Australia after Melbourne – will link South Brisbane to New Farm and possibly Bowen Hills.

It could be extended because Brisbane's Southeast Busway, the under-construction Inner Northern Busway and the Eleanor Schonell Bridge, linking Dutton Park to St Lucia, can all take light rail.

At the centre of the Smart City plan is the goal to link the University of Queensland with South Bank, the Queensland University of Technology's Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove campuses and the Royal Brisbane Hospital.

Three pedestrian "spines" running through the city will join four new pedestrian and cycling bridges – in addition to the Tank Street bridge – linking West End, Woolloongabba, Kangaroo Point and Bulimba with the CBD.

The pedestrian bridge attached to the Victoria Bridge will be privately funded in the North Bank development and the Tank Street bridge has already been funded with $63.3 million.

The Government estimates the other three proposed bridges will cost $80 million each.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said he welcomed the move, which backed the ideas put forward in Brisbane City Council's 2006 CBD masterplan.

"There's no monopoly on good ideas and I'm just pleased (Mr Beattie's) talking about funding, as I understand it, light rail in Brisbane and also some new pedestrian and cycling bridges," Cr Newman said.

"That's exactly what council wants to see happen."

Cr Newman said City Hall was conducting a mass transit study and would take the results to the State Government in September for funding.

His rival for City Hall, Labor's mayoral candidate Greg Rowell, fumbled his commentary on the plan.

"Well it's welcome isn't it. It's a great contribution to Sydney, ah to Brisbane," he told Channel 7.

State Opposition transport spokesman Tim Nicholls accused Mr Beattie of plagiarising council's masterplan to distract people from the water and health crises.

"This work has all been done before," Mr Nicholls said.

"The Premier just needs to get on and fund the plan."

Brisbane tram services ended on April 13,1969.

[Citystyle]

Lots of Talk of light rail in Perth, dates set ect but no budget commitements, but with a huge capital works program it's hard i guess. Light Rail by 2015 will be back in Perth and Brisbane and Adelaide it looking to extend there network.

Good news all over the nation.

[Syvergy]

TRAAAMSSSS!

About damn time. I'm so glad that Brisbane has finally decided to take Sydney and Melbourne's ideas and develop light rail.

I just hope they follow Melbourne's lead (Fast, efficient, cheap trams) and not Sydney's (Slow, expensive, inefficient monorail).