Improving pedestrian safety at Blue Mountains National Parks
PDC Consultants has been involved in numerous parking and transport studies for sites within the Blue Mountains National Park on behalf of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS).
For one of the studies, NPWS had obtained NSW Treasury funding to undertake upgrade works to high-volume visitor precincts as part of the NSW Government’s policy directive of the Improving Access to National Parks Program. The Blue Mountains National Park contains a number of high-visitation precincts including Wentworth Falls and the Conservation Hut.
Providing design expertise to achieve safety and efficiency outcomes
PDC Consultants was engaged to provide strategic advice relating to the high visitation areas of Wentworth Falls and Conservation Hut, which included parking demand analysis, and redesign of the car and bus parking areas. The objective of the study was to maximise parking provision, improve safety and efficiency for all users and ensure that any recommendations were sympathetic to the environment noting these precincts are situated within the World Heritage Listed Blue Mountains National Park.
Planning for the future
A further study undertaken by PDC on behalf of NPWS was in relation to the Blue Mountains Heritage Centre and Govetts Leap Lookout. Both are popular tourist destinations with a number of walking tracks accessible from the Lookout, with the Heritage Centre providing information on the local Aboriginal culture, plants and animals, and history of the Blue Mountains National Park, whilst also doubling as a venue for hire for exhibitions, conferences, theatrical performances, and learning exercises.
PDC was engaged to prepare an Access and Parking Strategy for the Lookout and Heritage Centre. The strategy included the development of various access and parking infrastructure options to improve existing facilities for visitors and staff and to cater for increased visitation that was expected into the future. The study focussed on a redesign of the existing access to the Heritage Centre which had poor geometry, increasing parking provision to cater for typical daily and seasonal demands and improve pedestrian access and safety.
