Parking, Traffic & Pedestrian Safety

Why traffic, parking and pedestrian safety matter

Traffic, parking and pedestrian safety are among the most significant concerns for Protect Oxley Beach Port Macquarie because they were identified as key criteria in selecting the preferred location for the proposed Port Macquarie Ocean Pool. A successful public facility should be easy and safe to access for everyone—not only once they reach the pool, but throughout the entire journey from arrival to departure.

Oxley Beach Port Macquarie presents inherent challenges due to its constrained coastal setting, steep topography and the heavily trafficked Pacific Drive corridor. The surrounding parking areas already support a wide range of existing community uses, including schools, sporting facilities, community events, tourism attractions and beach visitors. The proposed parking solutions rely on significant changes to an already busy transport network, including new reverse-angle parking, roadside parking and pedestrians crossing Pacific Drive, often without continuous footpaths or connected pathways.

Protect Oxley Beach Port Macquarie believes any assessment of the proposal should carefully consider whether the site's existing road network, parking capacity and pedestrian infrastructure can safely accommodate a major regional attraction without increasing traffic conflicts, compromising active transport, displacing existing users or creating unnecessary safety risks for pedestrians, cyclists and people with mobility challenges.

Is Oxley Beach Port Macquarie capable of safely accommodating an Ocean Pool?                                                                                                                                      

Traffic, parking and accessibility were identified as key site selection criteria during the Ocean Pool feasibility assessment. The ability for visitors to safely arrive, park, walk to the facility and return home is fundamental to the success of any major public recreation project.

Protect Oxley Beach Port Macquarie believes these issues have not been adequately resolved for the Oxley Beach location.

The proposal relies on modifying an already constrained road corridor, repurposing parking that currently serves other important community facilities, and expecting pedestrians—including children, older people and people with disability—to cross one of Port Macquarie's busiest coastal roads without a connected pedestrian network.

Existing parking already serves the community

The parking areas identified within the proposal are not surplus land.

The car parks surrounding Oxley Oval and Town Beach are already heavily utilised throughout the year by a wide range of community users, including:

• Port Macquarie Tennis Club

• Rugby, cricket and athletics competitions

• School students and teachers

• Community sporting events

• Artist markets

• The Maritime Museum

• Visitors to Town Beach

• The future Surfing Museum

• Community events held at Oxley Oval

During weekends, school events and holiday periods these parking areas frequently operate at or near capacity.

Repurposing these spaces for Ocean Pool visitors risks simply transferring parking demand from one group of community users to another rather than creating additional parking capacity.

Reverse-angle parking on Pacific Drive

One of the proposal's key parking solutions is the introduction of 45-degree reverse-angle parking along Pacific Drive on the northern approach to Oxley Beach.

While reverse-angle parking can be appropriate in some urban streets, the location proposed presents a number of practical challenges.

Pacific Drive is:

• a busy collector road

• located on a curve approaching Town Beach

• heavily used by tourists unfamiliar with the area

• used by buses, cyclists and pedestrians

• part of an important coastal traffic corridor.

Introducing reverse-angle parking at this location would require vehicles to stop within the traffic lane before reversing into parking spaces. When leaving, vehicles would pull forward into live traffic.

Accommodating accessible vehicles would likely require substantial widening of the existing road corridor to provide sufficient manoeuvring space for rear-loading wheelchair-accessible vans and compliant access zones. Given the constrained headland, this may require significant engineering works, retaining structures and road reconstruction.

Even with these works, the location would continue to present safety challenges due to traffic volumes, road geometry and limited space.

Limited accessible parking opportunities

Accessible parking should be located as close as practical to the main entrance and connected by continuous accessible pathways.

The steep topography of Pacific Drive, together with the limited width of the road reserve, creates challenges for providing compliant accessible parking bays that satisfy Australian Standard AS 2890.6.

Without convenient accessible parking directly connected to the facility, visitors with disability may be required to travel considerable distances before even reaching the beginning of the proposed access ramp.

Pedestrian safety and connectivity

Parking alone is only one part of the visitor journey.

People must also be able to safely travel between their vehicle and the Ocean Pool.

Several of the proposed parking locations are separated from the beach by Pacific Drive, requiring pedestrians to cross a busy road carrying local traffic, tourist traffic, buses and cyclists.

At present there is no continuous network of accessible pathways connecting these parking areas with the proposed pool entrance.

This is particularly relevant for:

• children and families

• older visitors

• people using wheelchairs or mobility aids

• carers

• visitors carrying beach equipment

• school groups.

Safe access depends not only on crossing the road, but also on having continuous footpaths, kerb ramps and accessible connections throughout the entire journey.

Southern parking proposals

Additional parking has also been suggested further south along Pacific Drive.

However, these areas currently serve as dedicated parking for senior students and are heavily used during school hours and sporting events.

The proposal also identifies several new parallel parking spaces along the roadside.

These spaces are not connected by continuous pedestrian pathways and would require visitors to walk along or across sections of Pacific Drive to reach the Ocean Pool.

Impact on cycling infrastructure

The proposal may also affect existing bicycle lanes along Pacific Drive.

These bicycle lanes form part of the recently adopted Town Beach Master Plan, which seeks to improve active transport and provide safer cycling connections through the precinct.

Any reduction in cycling infrastructure to accommodate additional parking would require balancing the needs of motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and public safety within an already constrained transport corridor.

A broader planning question

The challenge is not simply whether additional parking spaces can be created.

The broader planning question is whether Oxley Beach can provide a safe, connected and functional transport network that accommodates:

• Ocean Pool visitors

• existing beach users

• sporting organisations

• school students and staff

• cyclists

• pedestrians

• tourists

• buses

• emergency vehicles

• people with disability.

• 
  

Protect Oxley Beach believes these issues warrant careful consideration. A successful public facility should integrate safely into its surrounding transport network without creating new safety risks, displacing existing community parking or requiring extensive engineering works simply to make the site function.