Square revamp looms

Work on Palmerston North’s $26 million makeover of the streets around The Square is set for a cautious start amid the bustle of the festive season.

The work will involve preparations only along The Square side of the street from Church St to Main St, and will stop to make way for Christmas shopping.

The city council is about to let the contract for the first stage of the project that has been dubbed ‘‘Streets for People’’.

The changes involve making the streets more pedestrian friendly, with wider footpaths, more planting and some loss of car parks.

Acting chief executive Ray Swadel said council staff and potential contractors were trying to balance conflicting priorities.

On one hand, the council was determined to avoid delays with spending on capital works.

But councillors also wanted to ensure the roadworks did not interfere with the Christmas rush.

The compromise was to make a start on some ‘‘enabling’’ works so the main project could get off to a flying start early in 2019.

The work people would see next month involved stormwater works and possibly shifting a water main, on The Square side of the street only, not outside the shops.

Council transportation infrastructure and projects engineer Mark Read said the preparations would lessen the risks of any surprises that could slow progress on the main part of the contract.

‘‘We have an opportunity to do what we can to make life easier when we come to do the main part of the construction early next year.’’

During November, some of the car parks along The Square side of the road would be closed, but they would be reinstated before Christmas.

‘‘We will be working with the contractor to limit the inconvenience.’’

The parks would be put back as angle parks, the council having overturned an earlier proposal to have parks at 90 degrees to the kerb after a safety audit and public feedback that the straight-on parks would require dangerous manoeuvres into the traffic lane.

The main work along the stretch of the street would not involve any changes to intersections at this stage, and traffic and buses would still be able to use the route.

The council has engaged an outside project management company to ensure progress on the project is maintained.