Hutt St revitalisation plan rejected by Adelaide City councillors over car park cuts

A long-awaited plan to revitalise Hutt St and slash the car parks by more than half has been rejected by councillors – who approved an O’Connell St upgrade. See the images.

How Hutt Street may look after its revitalisation. Picture: Adelaide City Council

A plan to reduce car parks along Hutt St by more than half and cut the speed limit to 30km/h to make it more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly would “kill the street”, according to one Adelaide City councillor.

The council’s infrastructure and public works committee on Tuesday night discussed a concept plan for a $12m revitalisation of the strip, which included car spaces being slashed from 131 to 57.

A council report detailed the parking would be reconfigured from angle to parallel and the outer traffic lane in each direction would function as a parking lane during off-peak.

The long-awaited plan, first touted in 2018, failed to gain support of councillors due to the parking reduction, despite staff saying there were 993 spaces within a five-minute walk.

Councillor Henry Davis acknowledged there was an 86 per cent occupancy along the street and the plan would create “a really beautiful street, but you’re going to have a high turnover”.

“I think the shops are really going to struggle (without parking),” Cr Davis said. “I think it would potentially kill the street. It will have nobody there.”

Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith also raised concern with the staff’s analysis there were 993 parks in surrounding streets.

“On the rare occasion I’ve gone through nearby streets, I can never find one,” Dr Lomax-Smith said. “I don’t think anyone is going to walk from Glen Osmond Rd to Chianti.”

Councillors agreed more work was needed by staff on the Hutt St revitalisation plan, before further consultation was warranted and works began in 2025/26.

A proposed artist impression of the Hutt St revitalisation. Picture: Adelaide City Council

However, they did agree to progress with concept plans for O’Connell St street, which included lowering its speed to 30km/hr, creating new bike lanes and ensuring the design would be adaptable for future a tram extension.

The $15m plan also included on-street parking to be restricted to off-peak, with any shortfall made up by two hour parking spaces in the new Eighty Eight O’Connell development.

The road would remain as two lanes, north and south, during peak hour, but would be reduced to one lane during off-peak to allow for parking and bus stops.

An artist impression of how O'Connell St would look. Picture: Adelaide City Council

Artist impression of works outside the Eighty Eight O’Connell development. Picture: Adelaide City Council

Stakeholders would be consulted next month, with construction flagged for 2026/27.

Councillors agreed to bring forward a section of the footpath works to align with the completion of the Eighty Eight O’Connell development mid-next year.

Both projects were part of the council’s larger main street revitalisation program, which also included Melbourne and Hindley streets.

The council earlier this year released concept designs to make Hindley St more pedestrian friendly by narrowing the road and widening footpaths, as eight times more pedestrians than vehicles used the strip during peak hour.

Final designs were expected to be released later this year, with work on the notorious party strip starting early next year.