King William Rd to be repaved under $6m Unley Council revamp
KING William Rd would be repaved and turned into an attractive outdoor dining area under a $6 million plan to revitalise the struggling shopping strip.
- GALLERY: King William Rd when the pavers were installed
- Actor Hugh Sheridan’s dad — a former Unley mayor — is here for the Fringe, and to walk King William Rd
KING William Rd would be repaved and turned into an attractive outdoor dining area under a $6 million plan to revitalise the struggling shopping strip.
Unley Council’s draft plan for the high-end road followed almost 500 submissions during a public consultation process that strongly favoured keeping pavers and increasing tree cover.
The plan would be presented to councillors next month for endorsement and construction was expected to begin early next year.
Footpaths would be widened to allow for more outdoor dining, however, on-street parking would be reduced as a result.
About 70 new trees and planter boxes would be installed along the road, along with four new pedestrian crossings.
During consultation, residents were given the option of a fully bitumised road or a hybrid model which would have included paving at intersections.
The full paving option was the most expensive.
Jackie Leo, of Flourish Home and Gifts, said the paving plan was “fantastic” but she was concerned about the damage it could do to struggling businesses during construction.
“I’m all for it, but my biggest concern is that Unley Council are not looking at the vacancy rate,” Ms Leo said.
“It has to be done as a whole. If you’re not making an effort to fill the vacancies … then this is going to be all moot.”
Unley’s general manager of city development, John Devine, said the council had been meeting with traders and it would try to minimise the effect on businesses during work to re-pave the road.
He said it was vital the project made people want to return to the strip, which in recent years had suffered shop closures and vacant tenancies.
“I would hope to see it as a place where people want to come back and linger,” Mr Devine said.
“It will be a place for the local community to come and a place where visitors want to come back because of the feel of the street.
“What the strip needs, and what we’re hearing from the community, is that it has to become a place of beauty.”
The existing pavers – first laid in 1985 – have been deteriorating for some time.
They have also been the subject of enduring criticism that they are too noisy for motorists.
Mr Devine said the council was working on quieter pavers as part of the revamp.
“It will not be a repeat of 30 years ago,” he said.
Unley Council first seriously discussed the need to rip up and replace King William Rd’s pavers in 2015, saying at the time they were “nearing the end of their effective life”.
But as far back as 2004, people were calling for the pavers to be removed, saying they were too noisy.