Wai Horotiu Queen Street Valley
has been at the heart of Auckland settlement since 1840.
A centre of trade connecting the Waitematā
up to the heart of the city
and serving as a civic space,
a centre for business.
Queen Street has always been a busy artery for movement
and pedestrianisation proposals for Queen Street
have existed for decades.
In 1971, there was a council proposal
for a car-free Queen Street.
And the need to improve the pedestrian environment
has not gone away.
Auckland has refreshed its 20-year vision for its centre,
the 2020 City Centre Masterplan.
At the core of the master plan is access for everyone,
a concept that improves the movement of people and vehicles
around the central city streets
so they function better for all users.
This was supported by 82% of respondents
to the City Centre Masterplan refresh consultation.
For Queen Street, this means that over time
it becomes an expansive pedestrian
and public transport zone
surrounded by low-traffic neighbourhoods.
We are transforming Queen Street,
prioritising people using public transport.
This will effect vehicle movement
through the inner city area
and will incorporate existing projects,
such as Victoria Street Linear Park,
the Downtown Programme, and City Rail Link,
while ensuring that the city centre
can support 130,000 jobs, over 35,000 residents,
and 7% of the entire New Zealand economy.
So how do we provide access for everyone?
We need to make more space on our inner city streets
for walking and cycling
and the thousands that will be arriving
by public transport in the future,
reducing congestion and improving the quality of the air.
Under Access for Everyone,
traffic not going to the city centre
would bypass it via Auckland's motorway system.
The plan proposes a series
of low-traffic neighbourhoods in the city centre.
While people could move freely between them,
general traffic would enter and leave by the way it came in
and not drive through the city centre.
Mayoral Drive would provide access for cars
from one neighbourhood to the next.
Peeling back this layer of traffic,
the city centre is transformed from a space to drive through
into a place to go to.
It also frees up road space for trips that really need it,
prioritising public transport access,
emergency services, servicing and delivery,
construction and maintenance,
local property access, and disability access.
City Rail Link construction is well underway
and New Zealand's busiest station
is taking shape under Albert Street.
At present, parts of Wellesley and Albert streets
are closed to all vehicle traffic
to allow for CRL construction.
In the first half of 2021,
CRL construction will shift north
and the Victoria/Albert Street intersection
will be closed to vehicles.
This'll mean sending more buses down Queen Street
until CRL construction is complete along Albert Street
in a couple of years.
This gives us the opportunity
to trial ways to prioritise access and amenity
for people and public transport on Queen Street.
We will use a co-design process
to work with the community
to agree on how to achieve this,
focusing between Mayoral Drive and Customs Street.
Co-design means involving those who use Queen Street
in the design process
to understand the way they use the street
and feel about it.
Once we understand the problem areas,
we'll work with users to brainstorm and imagine solutions
to make Queen Street better.
These'll be interim improvements
that will take us towards the City Centre Masterplan vision.
There'll be some givens
that the co-design process must work within.
For example, we need to allow for the additional buses
to go down Queen Street
until the CRL construction is complete
and we need to allow for loading and service access.
There are also legal rights to consider
around the use of the road,
such as property access, construction, and maintenance.
There are a number of ways
we can work within these parameters
and we'll use the co-design process
to come up with designs and solutions.
This pilot will be the first in a series of stages
to improve Wai Horotiu Queen Street Valley for everyone.
Together we are creating a greener, safer,
and more welcoming city centre for all.