Westfield Chermside Transport Advisory

Challenge

Westfield Chermside Shopping Centre observed traffic congestion issues near the main access to Hamilton Road. Customers were experiencing difficulty when attempting to exit via the Site Access/Hamilton Road/Charlotte Street intersection.

Construction works for the Stage 6 expansion of Westfield Chermside were underway, causing several key parking areas to be closed. The vehicular access arrangements between the car parking areas and the external road network had recently undergone significant changes, and customers were not yet familiar with these changes.

SLR was engaged by Scentre Group to provide traffic engineering advice in relation to Westfield Chermside Shopping Centre. In particular, our team was tasked to investigate traffic congestion issues at Westfield Chermside in the vicinity of the main access to Hamilton Road. SLR aimed to discuss and analyse the key issues contributing towards the traffic congestion being experienced at the centre, and also to investigate a number of options that could potentially be implemented to facilitate relief if required.

Solution

SLR undertook the following works:

• Identified that the primary cause of the congestion was that vehicles were unable to leave the site due to congestion on Hamilton Road
• Reviewed the external road network in order to identify potential upgrade options

Impact

The circulation upgrades envisaged by SLR have been implemented and delivered improved network operation and also significantly optimised and rationalised the footprint of the existing circulation facilities within the shopping centre allowing the creation of 79 additional car parking spaces.