One of the interesting things to come out of the December meeting of the Auckland Council Transport Committee was a new look at a “way forward” on the Dominion Road issue. The minutes of the council meeting recorded:
Of particular note is the specific mention that “median bus lanes” should be considered. I’ve discussed the idea of this before and it seems that the median bus lane idea has also caught on for the Ti Rakau Drive section of AMETI. It would seem that there’s growing recognition of the advantages that arise from chucking the bus lanes in the middle of the road rather than at the sides. Most particularly, it reduces the conflicts between general traffic and buses – particularly for traffic turning in and out of driveway and side-streets.
But Auckland’s not the only place looking at median bus lanes. Washington DC has an extensive median bus lane proposal along one of its main East-West streets: K Street. A video of the proposed K Street Transitway is shown below:
Now obviously there are many differences between this street and Dominion Road: most clearly that K Street is a lot wider and would retain a lot more of its general traffic lanes. But in general, the bus lane concept is similar. Put the lanes in the middle, allow right-turning traffic (left turning in the USA) to cross over the lanes at intersections so people can access properties. Signalise all locations where passengers get on and off the bus and you have a superb quality system. Note in particular the last couple of minutes of the video which show how easy it would be to upgrade the road to light-rail: something that I think Dominion Road will inevitably need at some point in the future.
The Dominion Road Transitway has a fairly nice ring to it too.
Processing...
That is exactly what we need along Dominion Rd, less the elevator music and a few general traffic lanes. This is also something I have posted on before. Something like this combined with an almost shared space type of street in the town centres would really make Dominion Rd special and likely attract a lot of passengers and shoppers as the area would be more interesting.
I think along the town centres using a different and raised surface should be used. I agree with Matt L that something like a shared space but still with clear deliniations of the road surface would be good. Maybe like the old Elliot Street with a very slight curb and cobbles. This would ensure that traffic would still flow well at peak times as it doesn’t really go much past 30km/hr anyway whilst also promoting a village atmosphere. Also should be used at Mt Eden Village as well.
@James B, you mean like Orewa Village!!! Amazing things have happened to the former State Highway 1 through there, . It’s not visible on Google Maps yet and I can’t find any up yo date photos online, but the road has been paved in a pecah chip seal, narrowed, judderbared and raised, so traffic goes through the town centre at around 30km/h. The footpaths have been widened and there’s a lot of outdoor cafe seating. It looks fantastic.
It makes a massive contrast to the same road through Silverdale – a four-lane highway at 80 km/h and quite dead.
I may have to go and take photos next time I’m going that way (sadly not often).
Found a CGI of it from before they built it, it’s pretty close to the final result.
http://static2.stuff.co.nz/1236038659/649/1991649.jpg
Stuff news article on the project: http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/1750382
And what do the cyclists do?
There should be plenty of room along K Street for cycle lanes. Not sure about Dominion Road – trying to squeeze a few too many things onto that road I think.
Where are you referring to? If you are talking about the video above in Washington DC then to be honest I couldn’t care less as we have enough battles of our own to fight. If you are talking about our suggestions for making the town centres on Dominion Rd better, with slower the traffic created by some of the suggestions above then there shouldn’t be the same issues with bikes being in the general traffic lane that there is at other times. Outside of the town centres the plan has always been to widen the road and the plans released last year had a cycle lane on each side.
Yes, in Curitiba, provision for cyclists has now been recognised as an issue: