Stirling plan includes light-rail link to beach

A traffic tunnel linking Jon Sanders Drive in Osborne Park to the Mitchell Freeway, a light-rail system and an urban stream are among key features in a landmark plan to transform 370ha around Stirling train station into a bustling city centre.

Released for public comment by the City of Stirling, the draft plan by the Stirling Alliance, which includes representatives from State and local government and independent groups, provides a framework to create the muchtouted $16 billion Stirling city centre - a project to provide for an extra 25,000 residents and 30,000 jobs in the area by about 2050.

Under the plan, an area bounded by Karrinyup Road, Odin Road, Jon Sanders Drive, King Edward Road and Selby Street would become a vibrant town centre with six distinct precincts offering multistorey housing, offices and shops, with restaurants and cultural amenities and seven public plazas.

Stephenson Road would be extended from Scarborough Beach Road north to Karrinyup Road and become a four-lane boulevard with dedicated light-rail lanes for a network from Glendalough to Stirling train stations.

It would extend eventually to Scarborough Beach, Subiaco and Mt Lawley.

A traffic tunnel between Jon Sanders Drive and Mitchell Freeway is flagged, though an alliance spokeswoman said details were still being considered.

The spokeswoman said key features of the plan, which aims to turn Stirling into Perth's second CBD, were a green corridor, including a waterway running into Herdsman Lake.

The plan provides for medium to high-rise buildings in the Stirling city centre, graduating to lower density in existing residential suburbs.

Also mooted is a bigger bus station, new cycling and pedestrian paths and a wider Scarborough Beach Road between Odin Road and King Edward Road to accommodate two lanes of traffic each way, light rail and bicycle lanes.

A report to the City of Stirling council warned the plan required significant up-front funding for enabling infrastructure, including the $564 million stage one light-rail network, Stephenson Boulevard, and relocating the Osborne Park main drain, as well as remediating the Hertha Road landfill site.

An alliance spokeswoman said it would continue to lobby both tiers of government for light rail and work on delivery and funding options to develop government-owned land.