One of Auckland city centre’s main traffic thoroughfares, Victoria Street, has had a partial reopening today after being closed since 2021 due to City Rail Link construction. Businesses and Auckland Council remain at odds over the success of the street revamp.
A “milestone of sorts” greeted Auckland drivers today with the partial reopening of the main east west route through the city, Victoria St - but some disgruntled business owners remain critical of the lack of delivery access, labelling the multimillion-dollar project a “fail”.
The opening of Victoria St West to traffic travelling eastbound from Federal St down to Albert St represents one small step in Auckland Council’s $130 million midtown regeneration programme.
Next Friday, December 22, a direct route along Victoria St across the city will be available for the first time since July 2021 as the street opens to traffic between Albert St and Queen St.
But despite the revived traffic route, Victoria St remains beset by construction clutter of the City Rail Link’s (CRL) Te Waihorotiu Station beneath the Albert St intersection.
Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck attempted to look at the positive of Victoria St becoming more appealing to foot traffic, but was keen to remind Auckland Council of the struggling businesses along the strip which she represents.
“I think it’s better than it was, but it’s still a construction site which is disruptive. I think you have to take any milestone of sorts,” Beck said.
“It is a positive that it’s reopening but I do know there are some concerns about some of the functional requirements. A lot of the businesses around there have been through the ringer.”
In September 2021, a $12m hardship fund for shops affected by CRL construction was set up by Auckland Council and the Government.
Auckland Mayor at the time Phil Goff said of the fund: “There is no legal obligation on council or government, but I think there is a moral obligation. I think this is the reasonable and fair thing to do”.
Victoria Street Lotto News Agency owner Jaydee Patel has operated his business for 22 years and describes the years since 2016 when construction disruption outside his story as “definitely the hardest period” he’s ever experienced.
“It’s a positive the street is clearer and hopefully there’s more foot traffic,” said Patel, whose store is on the newly reopened Victoria St between Federal and Albert St.
“But there’s still no stopping [for deliveries]. We begged for them to give us a loading zone, but they didn’t budge.
“We had several meetings on the CRL and the Auckland Transport people came as well. We raised that issue many, many times but no success. Until the whole station opens we can’t see it coming back to normal life with the construction.”
Auckland Council director of infrastructure and environmental services Barry Potter was conscious of the pressure to be “nimble” and “smarter” in its city centre construction.
“The works happening in the city centre are vast and complex,” Potter said.
“There is strong commitment across the council group, and with other partners such as Vector, to ensure we’re scheduling our works so that we’re reducing disruption wherever possible.
“The midtown area is changing week by week. You can see Victoria St taking shape, and you already get a sense of how seamless the area is becoming as we prepare it for the opening of Te Waihorotiu Station.”
Just down the street from Patel is Roma Blooms Florist, owned by Shobhana Rangchhodji and Jugdish Naran.
Rangchhodji and Naran’s shop is on the corner of Victoria and Albert Sts, and Rangchhodji said the opening of the Victoria St strip is “more of a problem to us”.
“Bringing product into our shop is the biggest problem. There is no one that is going to be able to help us. The loading zones are so far away from the businesses.”
Rangchhodji said the closest loading zones where Roma Blooms’ stock can be unloaded is a block away on Federal St, and they always face the difficulty and risk of dropping flowers on the ground and ruining them.
Yellow lines across Victoria St will prevent anyone from parking even briefly on Victoria St.
“It’s a fail, it’s a failed street opening,” Rangchhodji said. “It will not be business as usual with this opening with the service lanes not being available to the businesses.”
Naran also questioned the safety of the street, which has quite a strong horizontal slant falling away from the roadway up near Federal St.
“They’ve got a footpath that is not walkable at the top of Victoria St ... They’ve put a planter box in front of it at the moment.
“This is a billion-dollar project [CRL]. Would you not have looked at the plans to revise it? I think they’re just trying to find some positive in the fact that the street’s opening again, but there’s no positive for any business in this area.”
Amid the construction work along Victoria St, “significant” Watercare works will also begin in 2024 at the intersections of Queen St with Wellesley St, Victoria St and Mayoral Dr.
This increase in the scope of the midtown regeneration programme has been incorporated to ensure underground services are completed ahead of streetscape upgrades.
Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson endorsed the increased scope of these works as necessary to the future prosperity of the city and country.
“Our city centre is crucial to the success of the whole region, so we need to ensure it’s working well and efficiently, as quickly as possible, while also reducing impacts on businesses wherever we can.”
Tom Dillane is an Auckland-based journalist covering local government and crime as well as sports investigations. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is deputy head of news.
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