City of Newcastle will trial speed bumps and expanded outdoor dining in Darby Street after councillors approved a traffic plan for the cafe strip on Tuesday night.
The six-month trial will start in October and includes three sets of speed bumps, four "traffic calming kerb extension gateway treatments" and a new pedestrian crossing in front of a refurbished "headphones" courtyard in Darby Street.
The plan also includes removing 16 parking spaces and widening the footpath in front of several cafes to allow for more outdoor tables and chairs.
The council will convert 16 paid spaces in the nearby Newcastle Art Gallery car park to free two-hour parking to compensate for the loss of places in Darby Street.
The trial will use a $500,000 grant under the NSW government's Streets as Shared Spaces strategy and $55,000 of council funds.
A staff report to councillors included letters from Darby Street Traders Group, Makers x Traders Newcastle and Newcastle Cycleways Movement supporting the plan.
The trial will also include wall and ground murals.
A report to councillors said a 30km/h zone was an objective of the Streets as Shared Spaces grant, but lowering the speed limit from 40km/h to 30km/h was dependent on approval from Transport for NSW.
Deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen said Darby Street was a "really important artery" in the city's road network, registering more than 9000 vehicles a day, and sought to distance the council plan from a private suggestion published in the Newcastle Herald last week to remove all parking from the dining and retail strip.
"I know some of us have been burnt before when you talk about traffic and parking in Newcastle," he said.
"It can be fraught. I have to say, though, this isn't the experience with this trial."
Greens councillor Charlotte McCabe said she was excited to see the community's reaction to the trial and welcomed attempts to bring more diners to the street.
Liberal councillor Jenny Barrie supported the plan but said the council must remain mindful of maintaining parking levels when the art gallery was redeveloped.
"Maybe work with the NSW government with what's happening in Wright Lane and the rail corridor, because we're losing a lot of parking," she said.
"We've got to think about elderly residents and disabled. People who want to visit town, they don't all just jump on the light rail."
Ward four Liberal representative Callum Pull was the only councillor to vote against the trial, arguing the speed bumps "have the potential to damage cars".
"Personally I find them just annoying, and they don't slow people down to 30 kilometres an hour; they slow them down to five or 10 kilometres an hour," he said.
Cr Pull said 30km/h was too slow, pointing to driver frustration with the speed limit in Honeysuckle Drive and Wharf Road.
"The more people I talk to about Honeysuckle's speed limit, the more I seem to hear how much they hate it."
Greens councillor John Mackenzie quoted NSW Centre for Traffic Safety research showing the chance of a pedestrian dying in a collision with a car fell from 40 per cent to 10 per cent as the car's speed reduced from 40km/h to 30km/h.
"That's an extraordinary reduction in risk for an utterly insignificant inconvenience for people moving through the city," he said. "It will save lives."
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