Foxton96
Melbourne SW6.900, March 1992
Dating back to my Melbourne years (1978-1996), a view of 1945 SW6.900 captured from the roof of the entranceway to the Princes Bridge station (which has now been consigned to history) as the tram cuts a solitary sight at the Flinders St./Swanton St. corner on 28.3.1992, the day that the section of Swantston St. from Flinders St. to La Trobe St. was closed to through traffic to be 'pedestianised' as part of the Swanston St. Walk project. Nowadays No.900 has been preserved as part of the PTC Heritage Fleet.
Swanston Street was redeveloped in 1992 between Flinders and La Trobe Streets, roughly half its length, as part of the pedestrianisation of the throughfare dubbed the Swanston St. Walk, with a number of public sculptures being established through the Percent for Art Program. The most famous of these statues is of a small bronze dog called Larry La Trobe by Melbourne artist, Pamela Irving.
The street was closed to vehicular traffic on 28 March 1992.
It was to be a scenario of something similar that occurred in 1985, when Swanston Street was closed and temporarily grassed for a weekend as part of the State of Victoria's 150th birthday celebrations.
An article in the Age had this to say about that:
"For a weekend in 1985, 11,000 square metres of grass was laid along Swanston Street from Flinders Street to La Trobe Street for Victoria's 150th birthday celebrations, dubbed the Swanston Street Summer Party, over the weekend of 9-10 February, 1985. The car-free experiment helped citizens see the city in a new way."
It was done by the State Government as part of Victoria’s 150th year celebrations and attracted about 200,000 people, it looked and felt great and most importantly it made the city smell like earthy grass. This wasn’t some dinky little experiment either, it stretched all the way down the hill from La Trobe St. to Flinders St.
A YouTube video clip on the “greening” of Swanston St. in 1985:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YsKVjCr5dQ&app=desktop
By the turn of the 21st century, the street carried nine tram routes, with the frequency of trams being the highest in Melbourne.
Swanston Street was one of the busiest roads in Melbourne, carrying large private automobile volumes, before being converted to a restricted traffic strip in 1992.
The street was made partially car-free, with limited exemptions for small freight, buses and private automobiles during certain times of the day.
Since the 1990s, proposals for the street to become entirely car-free have continuously gained support and momentum.
In November 2008, newly elected Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle proposed to return private vehicle traffic to the street.
The move attracted opposition from the Public Transport Users Association, Australian Greens and Bicycle Victoria. This proposal was rejected and by January 2010, plans to make the entire length of Swanston Street in the city car-free, were announced by the Lord Mayor himself, representing a complete reversal on the issue.
On 27 January 2010, it was announced that the entire length of Swanston Street would become car-free. The $25.6 million proposal included plans for several city squares along the street and several large tram stops.
Aside from trams, the only motorised vehicular access is for small-scale freight at certain times, and emergency vehicles. The construction program commenced in late 2011 and was completed in late 2012.
Melbourne SW6.900, March 1992
Dating back to my Melbourne years (1978-1996), a view of 1945 SW6.900 captured from the roof of the entranceway to the Princes Bridge station (which has now been consigned to history) as the tram cuts a solitary sight at the Flinders St./Swanton St. corner on 28.3.1992, the day that the section of Swantston St. from Flinders St. to La Trobe St. was closed to through traffic to be 'pedestianised' as part of the Swanston St. Walk project. Nowadays No.900 has been preserved as part of the PTC Heritage Fleet.
Swanston Street was redeveloped in 1992 between Flinders and La Trobe Streets, roughly half its length, as part of the pedestrianisation of the throughfare dubbed the Swanston St. Walk, with a number of public sculptures being established through the Percent for Art Program. The most famous of these statues is of a small bronze dog called Larry La Trobe by Melbourne artist, Pamela Irving.
The street was closed to vehicular traffic on 28 March 1992.
It was to be a scenario of something similar that occurred in 1985, when Swanston Street was closed and temporarily grassed for a weekend as part of the State of Victoria's 150th birthday celebrations.
An article in the Age had this to say about that:
"For a weekend in 1985, 11,000 square metres of grass was laid along Swanston Street from Flinders Street to La Trobe Street for Victoria's 150th birthday celebrations, dubbed the Swanston Street Summer Party, over the weekend of 9-10 February, 1985. The car-free experiment helped citizens see the city in a new way."
It was done by the State Government as part of Victoria’s 150th year celebrations and attracted about 200,000 people, it looked and felt great and most importantly it made the city smell like earthy grass. This wasn’t some dinky little experiment either, it stretched all the way down the hill from La Trobe St. to Flinders St.
A YouTube video clip on the “greening” of Swanston St. in 1985:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YsKVjCr5dQ&app=desktop
By the turn of the 21st century, the street carried nine tram routes, with the frequency of trams being the highest in Melbourne.
Swanston Street was one of the busiest roads in Melbourne, carrying large private automobile volumes, before being converted to a restricted traffic strip in 1992.
The street was made partially car-free, with limited exemptions for small freight, buses and private automobiles during certain times of the day.
Since the 1990s, proposals for the street to become entirely car-free have continuously gained support and momentum.
In November 2008, newly elected Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle proposed to return private vehicle traffic to the street.
The move attracted opposition from the Public Transport Users Association, Australian Greens and Bicycle Victoria. This proposal was rejected and by January 2010, plans to make the entire length of Swanston Street in the city car-free, were announced by the Lord Mayor himself, representing a complete reversal on the issue.
On 27 January 2010, it was announced that the entire length of Swanston Street would become car-free. The $25.6 million proposal included plans for several city squares along the street and several large tram stops.
Aside from trams, the only motorised vehicular access is for small-scale freight at certain times, and emergency vehicles. The construction program commenced in late 2011 and was completed in late 2012.