Languages Parking & Cultures Festival
disruption to traffic-flow and pedestrian access to key areas . This issue resulted in Council initiating a free CBD Shuttle Service . This free service allowed the general public greater access , including the temporary Toowoomba City Library location with transport priority given to people with a disability , the elderly , people with mobility problems and pregnant women .
With a focus on sustainable , green alternatives to cars , this year saw Council invest almost $ 160,000 to complete the missing link cycleway between Boundary Road and Coopers Road in Glenvale . The option for our residents to cycle to work , to retail centres and to schools has seen Council invest in the future of transport and plan for the increase in cyclists in the Toowoomba Region . This financial year also saw Council support and endorse the Downs South West Principal Cycle Network Plan . This plan will support cyclists across the region and cement the framework for how our cycle network is planned .
Approval was made this year for over 30 bus stops throughout Toowoomba to be upgraded to comply with standards set out in the Disability Discrimination Act under the Passenger Accessible Infrastructure Program . The works undertaken will vary depending on the requirements of each site , with plans to upgrade signage , hardstand areas ( paved area for parking heavy vehicles ), tactile markers ( raised surface markings to help direct people with a vision impairment ), seat and shelter replacement . The upgrades will improve the usability of bus stops in Toowoomba and are an important step in supporting our residents with disabilities to access public transport . The works are in partnership with the Queensland Government and should be completed by June 2017 .
Toowoomba has over 70 kilometres of pathways , which give cyclists and pedestrians access to key destinations and facilitate safe passage between these landmarks . Maintaining pedestrian footpath infrastructure is a substantial investment of resources and in addition to this maintenance , this financial year has seen almost $ 600,000 of work completed to footpaths in Cecil Plans , Cooyar , Greenmount , Kingsthorpe , Millmerran , Oakey and Yarraman .
The safety of our residents is a key focus of Council and this year saw Council investigate the current landscape of lighting facilities in our car parks . Using
a trial from Ergon Energy for residential Light Emitting Diode ( LED ) lighting in an area of Rockville , Council has invited concept designs to upgrade Council car parks using LED lighting . The next financial year will see Council review all aspects of street lighting and work with Ergon Energy to facilitate upgrades as required .
It is important that Council investigates emerging technologies in all aspects of its service delivery and this year saw the phase out of Quartz Halogen traffic signal lamps to LED array lighting to improve lighting efficiencies . This lighting option is easier to see and is more environmentally-friendly requiring less electricity to run . TRAFF ( the program that controls the traffic signals ) was also upgraded this year with new software to manage and coordinate the flow of traffic . This software has seen a significant improvement of traffic flow across highly-trafficked Toowoomba CBD streets .
Traffic flow efficiencies were also made along West Street in Toowoomba with testing , monitoring and adjusting of traffic signal phases to ensure the best flow of traffic possible . Earlier in the financial year , Council also installed right turn signals on all four approaches at the intersection of West and Alderley Streets to reduce traffic incidences after safety concerns were raised by the public and reported near misses .
The introduction of Council ’ s online asset register system this year has seen Council prioritise the Road Network Financial Asset Register to be available via TechnologyOne . This allows Council Officers the opportunity to see all of Council ’ s Road Network assets in a central location and provide significant improvements to decision-making capacity and trends .
Regulated and strategic car parking
Council took another step this year towards a ‘ smart city ’ with the installation of pay-by-bay parking allowing residents and visitors the opportunity to pay and simply walk away from their cars . The new machines were installed in Hume , Finchley and Herries Streets as a trial and it is hoped they will make parking chargers easier for the city ’ s commuters . These technologies improve the customer service experience and allow Council greater governance around car parking in our Central Traffic Area .
This year also saw the approval of a new automated parking payment system at the Toowoomba Bus
98 CHAPTER 4 Our goals TOOWOOMBA REGIONAL COUNCIL Annual Report 2015 - 2016