The Triangle site will work benefit with improved connections of the Development area to the Esplanade area in general as well as the forshore.
The current situation sees prime public land bisected with a wide and road it is easy to see why it has attracted so many suggestions for remedying the problem over the years.
The plan suggests basically sinking Jacka boulevard so that pedestrians can easily cross it, via a series of low bridges.
Stage one of the proposal is to sink the road along the frontage of the triangle site, as part of the Triangle site’s works.
The sunken road can be anywhere from about 1.5m down to almost 3m down.
It need be done just enough to hide the cars to a degree, and make it so that a connecting bridge is neither high nor complicated. Deeper would be better, though as it improves the space usage options.
Two levels of car parking are provided out of sight as part of the Triangle redevelopment, and access to those levels is available from the lowered Jacka Boulevard and is therefore concealed.
The views of the foreshore from the upper Esplanade are better preserved, the road noise is greatly reduced and visually the scene would change to a calmer more pleasant park like environment with the 4 traffic and two parking lanes now out of sight.
A Service lane for foreshore activities and a separated bike lane still occur above.
All this would see a reduction in the land area that is currently given over to the road, this allows more space to be reclaimed for foreshore use.
Stage two would involve putting a sloping “lid’ over the high cutting up near the existing circular bridge, making an easy connection to the beach there too. This linkage from the end of Fitzroy st. has been on the agenda for years, and is an easy fix, due to the fact that the road cutting is already there.
Further stages could extend this treatment along marine parade.
These later stages would then link the new Skatepark area, and Ormond point beyond with the Luna Park / triangle precinct. These stages would then allow easy access from the Public transport networks around Acland St. to those facilities.