Esplanade’s facelift
Palmerston North’s beloved Victoria Esplanade, visited by up to 500,000 people a year, could be in for a once-in-a-lifetime facelift.
A new Park Rd entrance, complete with an extra row of cherry blossom trees, is a key part of a multimillion-dollar plan to prepare the popular reserve for tens of thousands of extra visitors each year.
Senior city council planner Jeff Baker said the 2018 opening of the Wild base Recovery aviaries, the imminent building of the He Ara Kotahi cycle and pedestrian bridge and the recent opening of the Junior Road Safety Park made planning for an surge in people urgent.
Improvements were likely to start at the intersection of Park Rd, Cook St and the Esplanade, with an almost $500,000 budget already set aside.
Baker said it had become critical to make changes to enhance safety and efficiency for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians.
Instead of persevering with the current offset, dog-leg approach, the new entrance would line up with Cook St, taking vehicles down a new tree-lined avenue to the Scenic Railway car park, which would be improved and extended.
A budget of about $2.7 million has been proposed to be included in the review of the council’s Longterm Plan next year.
The existing parallel avenue would be handed over to pedestrians and cyclists.
From the improved car park, there would be a wider pathway with clear visibility down to the Manawatu¯ Riverside shared pathway and access to the new bridge.
An agreement had been reached to enable a slice of Holiday Park land to be used to create room for the path.
Baker said it was vital to have the works completed in time for the opening of the cycle and pedestrian bridge in 2019.
The changes would help allay concerns that bridge traffic would congest the small neighbourhood street, Ruha St, as the route to the bridge on Dittmer Drive.
Urban designer Dave Charnley said the new entrance would provide people approaching from Cook St with a clear view right into the Esplanade, and the new track down to the river would be safer and more inviting.
He said getting vehicles off the current avenue would overcome issues between through traffic and people attracted to the photo opportunities the cherry trees in blossom created.
Deeper into the Esplanade, Baker and Charnley wanted to make ‘‘Park Central’’ – the area around Wild base Recovery, the paddling pool, duck pond, cafe and conservatory – more pedestrianfriendly.
At the moment, the area was fractured by roads, with car parking and kerbs creating hazards for people moving around on foot, strollers or with wheel chairs.
That could involve stopping vehicles from using Palm Drive and the link past the duck pond, and removing the through route from Park Rd to Manawaroa St altogether.
The back road running behind the paddling pool and Wild base Recovery would continue to extend to the playground, and from Manawaroa St, vehicles would still have access to the Manawaroa Park car park with walking access to the cafe and Park Central.
Baker said the proposals would take the level of excitement for Esplanade visitors to a whole new level.
Public consultation about the plans would be carried out alongside consideration of the Longterm Plan in early 2018.
It was vital to have the works completed in time for the opening of the cycle and pedestrian bridge in 2019.