How best to remove the level crossings in Deer Park?

Project map (via LXRA)

Just before the 2018 election, the Andrews government announced that if re-elected they would remove three level crossings in Deer Park, as part of their second tranche of 25 level crossings. Somewhat unusually, the Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA) announced the preferred method of removal for all three almost immediately. These crossings are all on the section of track shared between the Ballarat and Geelong lines, and I also used to live in Deer Park right near them, so I'm keen to make sure they're done right – and the City of Brimbank is doing early consultation on the project, so now seems like the right time.

I'll get the uncontroversial ones out of the way first, then get stuck into the one I think needs to be changed.

Travel Diaries: Singapore

The first stopover on my trip to Amsterdam was Singapore. I was pretty keen to break up the journey a bit, rather than just having one long direct flight, so that I could see some places along the way. I've wanted to visit Singapore for quite some time now - for one thing, I do love a good dense city, and for another I'm fascinated by the whole city-state thing and how that compares to more conventional city-and-hinterland states. (There's also a bunch of cultural and historical stuff I wanted to see, but let's focus on the urbanism for this blog).

Introducing Travel Diaries

Revitalising Bakery Hill

About 18 months ago I did a post on how to revitalise Bridge Mall, which was intended mostly as a starting point and contained some pretty modest suggestions. The City of Ballarat recently released their draft Bakery Hill and Bridge Mall Urban Renewal Plan which looks at the Mall itself and the wider Bakery Hill area - and I'm pleased to say they've been much more ambitious than me. However they've let themselves down by including something that would be a real backwards step for the area.

Should the Airport Rail line use existing tracks?

There's been some speculation in the media recently about whether the Andrews government might not build a tunnel between Sunshine and the city, as part of the Airport Rail line they're currently planning. There's been a lot of ink spilled on this topic already, and my PTUA colleague Daniel has done a good job responding to this, so I won't retread the same ground - but I did have a few brief points I wanted to emphasise.

Changi Airport Station in Singapore