Queen St’s $1.1m makeover: Mayor says time to lose the plastic sticks
The Queen St pedestrianisation “plastic sticks” that two weeks ago led to a legal threat from property owners and businesses will soon be gone and replaced with boardwalks, seating and native plants.
Auckland Council yesterday announced a $1.1 million “makeover” trial of the Covid-19 works that have reduced the four-lane CBD thoroughfare to two lanes since April last year.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff admitted the street needed to be “more people-friendly and attractive” and the new makeover “won’t solve all the problems” of the retail slump of 2020.
“Last year, temporary measures were put in place by Auckland Transport to allow physical distancing during the pandemic. It’s now time for the yellow markers, stone blocks and painted asphalt to be replaced.
“Extended decking pavements, similar to those on High St, trees and shrubs in proper planter boxes and decent street furniture will help change the look and feel of the area.” Feedback from business and the public will be sought before any permanent changes.
The makeover construction will begin in early May and include a pocket park on the corner of Queen and Fort Sts.
An Auckland Transport report on the proposed changes reveals the Queen St pedestrianisation will have several phases lasting until 2024.
The phase 1 “trial” changes will extend from Customs to Shortland St, including Fort St, and be in place until at least September.
Public feedback is also being sought on a proposal to create busonly lanes on sections of Queen St.
The council says the bus lanes will improve reliability while more buses are temporarily using the street during the next phase of City Rail Link (CRL) construction.
The Herald reported earlier this month an incorporated society that owns skyscrapers along Queen St would be sending Goff and councillors judicial review proceedings demanding the removal of the “hideous” pedestrianisation barriers.
The “Save the Queen Street” committee members include heavy hitters in the Auckland business world.
Among them are Hallensteins Glasson fashion chain director Tim Glasson, NZ Shareholders Association founder Bruce Sheppard, property investor Andrew Krukziener.
“I think it’s an unrealistically pretty picture,” Krukziener said of the Queen St makeover proposal.
“It’s certainly going to be visually better than what is there but it will still have the fundamental problem they [council] have not addressed.
“The fundamental problem is the lack of loading, the lack of bus stops and the lack of ability for people to stop for five minutes to pick up something.
“They’re driving those businesses to run away to other places.”
Auckland Council director of infrastructure Barry Potter met Krukziener on Monday to brief him on the changes announced yesterday.
Krukziener, who has ownership stakes in three Queen St buildings, says the Save the Queen St incorporated society will respond formally to the changes council has put forward.
Councillor Chris Darby, chairman of the planning committee, said the initial changes were just the beginning of the staged transformation of Queen St.
“We recognise that the past 12 months have been financially tough and we are working hard with business and the residential community to create a Queen St that glows again. “The pandemic certainly took the shine off Queen St, with the absence of international tourists and students spilling out of hotels and apartments.” Darby said the phase-one changes would be backed up by “events and ideas to stimulate interest and activity in the newly created environments”.
It is proposed the bus network changes will be in place for the reopening of the Wellesley/ Albert St intersection and the closure of the Victoria/ Albert St intersection mid this year.
The council said the changes would improve bus reliability while more buses are temporarily using the street during the next phase of City Rail Link (CRL) construction. Two sections of bus lane are proposed in the first stage: between Customs and Shortland St, northbound only, on a part-time basis (peak only times) and between Mayoral Dr and Wakefield St, northbound only, 24 hours a day.
In the second stage, when Victoria St is closed for CRL construction, an additional two-way, 24/7 bus lane will be added between Wellesley St and Wakefield St.
Auckland Transport Service network development manager Pete Moth said more buses will temporarily use Queen St as a result of disruption from the CRL project.
“However, by the end of April, the CityLink fleet will be fully electrified. This will mean more than 50 per cent of buses using Queen St by mid-2021 will be electric.”
Consultation with Aucklanders on the proposed network changes for Queen St begins on Monday.
The Save the Queen Street group in early April had intended to send a legal letter to Auckland Council making a straightforward request for the barriers to be removed as soon as possible.
It will now respond to the makeover proposal, but Krukziener said yesterday its position had not fundamentally changed.
Shareholders Association’s Sheppard had said if a workable solution was not then presented by council, “we’ll take legal action, for sure”.
The committee had engaged barristers, and legal action would take the form of a judicial review of the processes that allowed the barriers to be installed by examining resource consent and their safety.
The Queen St access for everyone trial was officially implemented in June 2020, but in reality it rolled over Covid-19 social distancing barriers installed during the first lockdown.
When the plastic pylon barriers were first installed by Auckland Transport, Queen St businesses and stakeholders had been assured they were only temporary.
But Auckland Council used the barriers as a platform to fast-track a Queen St pedestrianisation trial that had been scheduled for this year.
The council claimed it would be a waste of money to rip the barriers up to reinstall something similar in a year’s time.
Four of the Save Queen Street 11-member committee are building owners, but Krukziener said the committee was selected to represent Aucklanders’ broad interests, and there were a variety of professionals and concerned citizens among them.