Abbotsford Convent Precinct Traffic Study

Abbotsford Convent

Council is working with the local community to develop traffic and parking solutions in the Abbotsford Convent Precinct in the area bounded by Johnston Street, Nicholson Street, Marine Parade and the Yarra River.

Traffic and demand for parking in the area has increased due to the growing popularity of attractions such as the Abbotsford Convent and Collingwood Children’s Farm.

Traffic and Parking Plan

In March 2011, Council adopted a Traffic and Parking Plan for the Abbotsford Convent precinct adapted from a detailed report prepared by HDS Consultations, in consultation with the local community.

The Traffic and Parking Plan appears below. The detailed HDS Consultant’s report appears at the bottom of this page.

pdf format Traffic and Parking Plan - Abbotsford Convent Precinct (22.65kB)
Traffic and Parking Plan - Abbotsford Convent Precinct (120.06kB) (rtf format)

The following actions from the plan have been implemented:

A 20 km/h speed limit has been introduced in St Heliers Street, with an additional speed hump also installed in the street
An application has been submitted to VicRoads for St Heliers Street to be a shared zone, meaning pedestrians and cars can legally share the road space
A temporary bus zone facility has been implemented in Johnston Street, east of Clarke Street, so buses do not need to enter St Heliers Street to pick up and drop off passengers. Several buses have been using the bus zone since the zone was implemented
Twenty bicycle hoops were installed in Abbotsford Convent car park
Signage that directs people to the Convent car park was installed at the corner of Johnston Street and Clarke Street and St Heliers Street and Clarke Street.

The plan also proposed to introduce permanent road closures at in Abbotsford Street and Yarra Street, where the roads intersect with Clarke Street. In October 2011, after considering the community's feedback, Council decided not to proceed with the road closures.

The Traffic and Parking Plan was adopted on the condition that it doesn’t interfere with the development of a community hub proposed on the former Lourdes site in St Heliers Street.

The report prepared by HDS Consultants recommended that enough on-site parking should be provided on the Lourdes site to meet the needs of all of its future users. However, Council does not believe this is a realistic expectation to make of a community hub where there are physical limits on how much space can be used for parking.

Advisory Group

Council has established an advisory group involving local residents and representatives of the precinct’s organisations to find long-term agreed solutions to traffic and parking issues.

The group was formed in January 2012 and comprises three residents and representatives from the Collingwood Children’s Farm, Abbotsford Convent Foundation, Early Learning Centre and Good Shepherd.

The group met in February and will meet again in March, with its recommendations expected to be reported to Council in May 2012.

Further actions from the Traffic and Parking Plan adopted by Council in March 2011 will not be implemented while the advisory group develops its recommendations.

At its July 2011 meeting, Council also resolved to lead a delegation to the State Government to seek support in addressing traffic and access issues in the precinct. The delegation will be organised after the advisory group’s recommendations are reported to Council.

Consultant's report - Whole of Precinct Traffic and Parking Plan

In June 2010, Council commissioned a consultant to seek feedback from the community and prepare a Whole of Precinct Traffic and Parking Plan. This document was taken into consideration by Council at its meeting held on 15 March 2011. The full plan appears below:

*Please note, the document has been separated into twelve parts due to its large file size.

Further information
Mizan Rahman
Traffic Engineer
9205 5740
Mizanur.Rahman@yarracity.vic.gov.au