Campaigners unveil plan to transform inner-city 'wasteland'

Auckland council Transport committee chairman Mike Lee. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Auckland's Queen St should be pedestrians-only and other streets turned into boulevards in an effort to turn the down-town area from a wasteland into a world-class city, a lobby group has said.

The Campaign for Better Transport wants to convert Hobson and Nelson streets into two-way roads, have40km/h speed limits in some inner-city areas and limit Queen St to pedestrians at weekends.

The five-year plan was given some political support when it was presented to the Auckland Council transport committee.

Group representative Joshua Arbury said the current one-way system was tantamount to having motorways running through the CBD, and a revamp would humanise the streets for pedestrians.

"Auckland's western CBD is a bit of a wasteland because of what those two streets are - basically two motorways in the heart of Auckland's CBD."

Instead of leaving them as four-lane one-way routes for feeding traffic to and from Spaghetti Junction, one could be linked both ways to the Southern Motorway and the other to the Northwestern.

Councillor Richard Northey hoped the proposal would be given precedence as he believed the area between the two streets and Victoria Park could be developed into an attractive commercial precinct without "that motorway there".

"There are a lot of people living in apartments but it's a very unappealing environment - I hope it can be given priority."

Transport committee chairman Mike Lee said the idea could be linked to Auckland's proposed spatial plan, making it a direct responsibility of a body such as his committee.

"It's a brilliant idea to open up the whole area which is a bit of a wasteland - it's a very creative idea from the Campaign for Better Transport."

The committee resolved to refer the group's ideas to the Auckland Transport council-controlled organisation for comments but councillor Wayne Walker suggested the Queen St pedestrian proposal also be raised with Mayor Len Brown.

"It could be one of his 100 projects [in 100 days] - he's the one who calls the shots."

But councillor Cathy Casey said the group with real power over Queen St was the Property Council which had "absolutely no interest" in turning it into a pedestrian mall.

Mr Arbury said the most encompassing recommendation in his group's plan was to lower the speed limit in town centres and neighbourhood streets to 40km/h.

"The amenity and safety benefits of lowering the speed limit on all non-arterial roads would be enormous.

"Why do we need to allow cars to travel at 50km/h or 60km/h or even higher? Why not clamp down those speed limits - then you won't need variable message signs outside schools saying 40km/h between this time and that time," he said.

THE PROPOSAL

*Pedestrianise Queen St at weekends.

*Convert one-way streets Hobson and Nelson into two-way roads.

*Turn non-arterial roads into 40km/h streets.