Paving the Way Forward for King William Road
Explore Councils by state
The concept is based on renewing the iconic paved road surface to preserve the Hyde Park precinct’s distinctive village identity, and provide a more flexible streetscape that increases opportunities for greening, places for people, and regular places to cross the street.
The community was given three road-resurfacing options to choose from and Council gained valuable insights from more than 450 conversations about the transformation of King William Road.
General Manager City Development John Devine said the majority of respondents during the engagement process supported the option that involved significant change to the existing layout. This features increased greening of the street, opportunities for people to gather, and contains more pedestrian crossings in exchange for a reduction in on-street parking.
“Our conversations with residents, shoppers, workers and business owners showed clearly that most people envisioned a stylish, inviting and green street to browse and do their shopping as well as to spend quality time with family and friends,” said Mr Devine.
“The upgrade will modernise the street and offer more sophisticated shopping and dining experiences, while retaining the precinct’s village character through a paved roadway, parking spaces, clear footpaths, boutique stores and highlighting its heritage buildings, which was equally important to the community.”
The concept design includes a flexible approach to dedicated spaces that can be used for on-street car parking, temporary outdoor retail and event spaces or alfresco dining spots.
Learning from the original construction 30 years ago, the Council is determined to ensure that the final design is one that can be delivered with minimum disruption to traders.
“The City of Unley will ensure a contractor with extensive recent experience in similar mainstreet projects, and specifically in laying pavers, is selected to ensure an efficient and cost effective construction process. We are also examining how paver selection and the laying process can reduce the noise levels of the new road.”
Council has importantly acknowledged that the preferred design option will cause a small reduction in on-street parking.
“The feedback to date is that traders and the wider community will support a reduction of on-street car parking if the re-design stimulates deliberate activity, increase in business activity, greater open space and colour and quality,” Mr Devine said.
“With design elements such as increased places to sit, greening, greater pedestrian access, the benefits and associated accessibility for pedestrians will far outweigh the small reduction in on-street car park spaces. Council will also work with local landlords to maximise the awareness, accessibility and capacity of the many off-street car parks within the Precinct.”
Outcomes of this community consultation process will further inform the final design, which will be presented to Council for consideration on the 27th of August. Construction is expected to start in 2019.
Feedback can be provided via the Design King William shop front at 183-185 King William Road, which will be open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 11am to 2pm. Feedback can also be provided via designkingwilliam.com or the City of Unley Your Say website.
For further information, please contact City of Unley Communications Officer Erin Thompson - 8372 5183 or 0420 507 599