Franklin St transformation final design revealed

The designs for the Franklin St transformation have been given the tick of approval by the City of Melbourne and are expected to make the city streetscape the “envy” of people outside the precinct.

In the final concept design that was unanimously endorsed at the September 3 Future Melbourne Committee meeting, the council revealed how it plans to enhance the Franklin streetscape to better connect the State Library Metro Station to Queen Victoria Market.

The new high-quality city corridor that Lord Mayor Nick Reece said was going to be “world-class”, will include upgraded footpaths, new bike lanes, street greening and a number of gathering spaces.

The project is being co-funded as a part of the West Gate Tunnel Project’s “Transport and Amenity Program” (TAP) – a $100 million fund aimed at mitigating the new road project’s impacts on North and West Melbourne and Docklands.

While the Franklin St project in the CBD sits outside of what many believed TAP was established for, both the Department of Transport and Planning and the council have each contributed more than $15 million towards it.

It’s a major investment for the city according to Cr Reece, who said that the $30 million project was essential to create the streetscapes needed to accommodate the city’s growing population.

The Lord Mayor said that there would be an extra 150,000 people in the central city once the Metro Tunnel Project was completed in 2025.

The council’s outgoing planning portfolio lead Cr Rohan Leppert believes the Franklin St project was an “exciting opportunity”.

Cr Leppert said that in conjunction with the opening of State Library Metro Station, the Franklin St transformation would piece together the northern east-to-west route into the city.

“It will provide the densest part of Victoria and the residents, current and future, with a level of amenity that is very high and will be the envy of people outside the precinct,” he said.

Speaking at the September 3 meeting, Cr Philip Le Liu raised his concerns over the utilities that are within the roadway and whether or not future works would repeatedly disrupt or damage the corridor once it’s completed.

But the council’s general manager of infrastructure and amenity Rick Kwasick said, “as a part of the design process we consider what utilities are within the roadway and what works are likely to occur.”

“We make whatever efforts we can to ensure that any upgrades that are required, occur prior to any improvement works undertaken by the City of Melbourne.” •