FAQs

Grote Street is the western gateway boulevard to the city. It is a busy, wide road with high traffic volumes that can make it difficult for pedestrians and cyclists to cross. The road width means it can accommodate a widened median island with new trees and understorey planting without impacting traffic flows.

The project also supports the City of Adelaide’s greening objective and commitment to renew assets and improve our main streets.

The improvements will be made on both sides of Grote Street, between Morphett Street and Gray Street.

What are the benefits of this project?

The planned improvements to Grote Street (west) will provide a number of benefits for the community:

• The new crossing point at Byron Place will provide a safer pedestrian and cyclist refuge point in the widened median. A high number of pedestrians and cyclists have been recorded crossing at this location.

• Closing the median at Byron Place will limit the risk of accidents at this intersection.

• The existing bicycle lanes will be widened to improve safety for cyclists.

• New trees and plants in the widened median island will continue the look and feel of the recently completed median in Sir Donald Bradman Drive (west of West Terrace). Some of the many benefits of greening the street include shade and lower temperatures and providing habitat for birds, animals and insects.

• Deliver road, kerb and gutter renewals.

The intersection of Byron Place and Grote Street recorded the highest number of vehicle collisions of all of the minor road intersections on Grote Street. During the most recent five-year period (2014-2018) a total of 10 crashes were recorded at the intersection of Byron Place and Grote Street, 5 of which resulted in injuries. Most of these recorded crashes involved drivers turning right or driving across Grote Street to continue on to Byron Place.

As a result of the planned median closure at Byron Place vehicles will no longer be able to turn right at this location. Vehicles entering and exiting Byron Place will be restricted to left turns. Restricting traffic movements in this way will limit the risk of accidents at this intersection and provide the opportunity to introduce a pedestrian and cyclist refuge crossing point.

All other existing median openings will remain.

The existing traffic lanes will be narrowed slightly to accommodate the proposed changes. This will not impact traffic movement and the existing lane configuration of two lanes in each direction will be maintained. Larger vehicles such as trucks and buses will still be able to use the street.

Refer to the diagram attached showing existing traffic movements compared with proposed traffic movements.

Further asset renewals such as new kerbs and a new footpath on the northern side of Grote Street are proposed in the near future between West Terrace and Gray Street.

No works are proposed at the eastern end of Grote Street, between Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga and Morphett Street.

Parking on the street will be upgraded to meet the current standards and to provide improved opportunities for disability permit parking. These changes will maintain the existing number of parking spaces. 

We plan to plant Spotted Gums (Corymbia maculata) in the central median. These have been selected for their large size to help break up the expansive scale of the street and provide a gateway statement welcoming people to the city. This species was recently been planted in the Sir Donald Bradman Drive median (west of West Terrace) and will continue the look and feel of this entry point.

Infill street trees (to be planted on the verge) will be Maple Leaf Plane trees (Platanus x acerifolia) to match the existing avenue of Plane trees along Grote Street.

The proposed design aims to retain the existing avenue of large, healthy street trees along Grote Street. These will be protected during construction.

Existing trees that are in poor health or are unsuitable species may be removed as part of the project. Early assessments indicate two such trees may fall in to this category.

We intend to build this project between March and July 2020. Local traffic management will be in place at different times during this period to assist with construction.

We will be in contact closer to the date regarding timing of construction.