IPSWICH Mall Newsagency and community post office owner, Pauline Williamson is thankfully a patient woman.
She has needed to be after waiting years for the Nicholas Street Mall to be opened to traffic and construction bollards packed away in storage.
Her business is at the top of the mall and the NO Traffic sign at the top of the street has been a major stumbling block for her business to go ahead let alone survive.
Prior to Nicolas Street reopening to traffic last week her customers had to scramble for a parking spot in Brisbane Street before walking down to her shop front.
Many had children, some had disability issues and others were collecting large boxes or wanting to go daily to one of the 100 PO boxes at the shop.
The reopening of Nicholas Street puts three short-term parking spaces outside the post office which she hopes will bring more customers.
“I could say a lot about the council’s inaction, but now its finally happened it’s best I am positive and look to the future,” she said.
Traffic is one-way and vehicles will only be able to enter Nicholas Street from Brisbane Street.
The speed limit will be 10km per hour and there is a gross load limit of eight tonnes and traffic will exit the precinct from Union Place into Bell Street on a left turn only.
There are several 10-minute parking bays to allow for convenient dropoff and pick-ups, however general vehicle access will not be permitted during events where appropriate.
CITY LIGHTS
In other Nicholas Street news Ipswich CBD came to life after dark last week with digital projections to the Metro B fascia.
Six 20K projectors can now immerse the 70m façade in colour.
Buchan designer Patrick Shirley said the newly activated civic space will serve as an interactive backdrop for upcoming festivals and events, and will be a driver of local arts, by digitally responding to the CBD’s surroundings.
“The projections are designed to enliven the architecture with those great things about Ipswich its locals are proud of,” Patrick said.
Among the sequences Buchan has created is an iconic F-111 ‘dump and burn’ to be projected onto the Metro building, in a nod to the nearby Amberley RAAF base.
The design team has also scanned and animated historic trains from The Workshops Rail Museum and collaborated with Council’s Picture Ipswich to share historical photographs onto the façade.
