Queensland projects and sites

Eastern Busway Urban Design, Landscape and Visual Assessment

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Landscape Architect: EDAW

Location:  Eastern Corridor, Brisbane, Queensland

Summary

BUDGET  Urban Design, Landscape and Visual Assessment for Concept Design and Impact Management Plan $475,000.00

The Eastern Busway forms part of the Queensland State Government’s program to deliver a world-class busway network and upgraded railway system in Brisbane. The proposed Busway is a two-lane, two way dedicated roadway approximately 17.7 kilometres in length and consisting of 13 proposed busway stations. The preferred alignment generally follows Old Cleveland Road from Buranda to Capalaba in a combination of tunnels, elevated structures and existing ground level.

The project is identified as a key transport initiative in the Integrated Regional Transport Plan and the South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan, with Program 2007-2026 committing the State Government to the planning and staged delivery of the Eastern Busway.

EDAW’s design team (of landscape architects, urban planners and urban designers) worked with the TransLink and Connell Wagner team to provide urban design, landscape and visual assessment expertise for the Eastern Busway Concept Design and Impact Management Plan (CDIMP).

The essence of the success of the Eastern Busway project is in the way the final plan has responded to the needs of people – those who will use it, those who will live close to it, and those who will seek to take advantage of the catalyst that the busway will be for change. This focus on people and their needs has been the driving force behind the busway planning and design process. The result is an infrastructure project that will be so seamlessly integrated into local communities that it will feel like it has always been there.

Given that the busway will serve many well-established inner city communities, much of the effort of the design team was directed at integrating the busway with its surrounding urban context. Extensive evaluation of alternative routes and painstaking fine-tuning of the most favourable options has ensured that the busway will be an exceptionally useable facility, a welcome neighbour and that its stations will become natural hubs in their local communities.

The importance of good urban design comes to the fore when knitting large-scale infrastructure into established urban environments such as Brisbane’s eastern suburbs. The busway stations, their settings and the connections to them will all combine to create places that are appealing, comfortable, safe and easy to use. Not only will the busway work at a functional level, but it will also be sensitive to the character of the areas it will serve, ensuring it will become an attractive piece of infrastructure that the community can identify with and be proud to use.

overview / images / location / Qld projects

2008