The Eye on Auckland blog has some great renders about what a car free Queen Street, with only tram tracks running up and down it, might look like:
This looks up Queen Street from the corner with Customs Street. Nice deer sculpture!
The second photo highlights that buses could also travel along Queen Street. While I think currently that buses blight Queen Street through their noise and pollution, if we had quieter cleaner buses (and, most importantly, no cars) it might actually be very useful making Queen Street a public transport spine:
Sydney, from Eye on Auckland, notes the following in relation to the images:
There is currently talk in the ivory tower of pedestrianising our premier street and it may just remain that – talk. Auckland’s love affair with the motor car is legendary but we believe that things can change and will change. The rising cost of fuel, improved public transport options and the realisation that people spend money where they can relax, linger and be surrounded by a pleasant environment will push cars out and bring people in. Queen Street has all the potential to become our premier boulevard with light rail/buses transporting us to where we want to be, cafes/restaurants spilling out into the street, a sculpture walk with pride of place amongst flower beds, weekend markets and festivals. We propose that the Auckland Council closes the street off for the weekend so that people can experience the wonder of a pedestrianised environment and we are confident that people and retailers alike will love it. With little effort Queen Street could regain its sparkle.
Auckland Council is currently asking for initial feedback in relation to its “International City Centre Master Plan” discussion document – with submissions open until June 17th. One of the key possible outcomes of the Master Plan is the proposal to pedestrianise Queen Street. So make sure your voice is heard!
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This is reminiscent of the Melbourne CBD and is a realistic future for Queen Street Auckland.
Great post!
They look amazing and I just wish we could get started on this tomorrow. I bet if you took out the Customs St sign and the Go West bus most people wouldn’t recognise it as Auckland and would probably think it looks like a nice place to visit.
Credit should go to nilut on skyscrapercity for originally creating these images http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=527695&page=281
I think the sooner we can expand the Wynward Quarter tram loop to Britomart the sooner we can take it up Queens Street – the new Queens Street shuttle would work well as a tram and with all the buses moving off Queen Street and onto Albert Street we could easily pedestrianise Queen Street.
I’m not sure about taking all the buses off Queen St, all the cars absolutely, and in doing so would allow the buses [and ultimately trams] to actually function. Also if we try to move all the traffic to Albert St it’s hard to see that working. I think keep Queen St for some strong North/South PT movement, as it is a destination for a lot travelers. Also it’s still going to need to be a street especially for emergency and delivery, and in fact I want it to still be a street, aesthetically, formally, and less but still constant vehicle activity will be safer as people will still need to be aware of the roadspace.
Of course getting those vile diesel buses out of anywhere and replacing them with modern clean trams is so desirable.
Albert St is actually quite quiet most of the day and it is rare that I have to wait for the lights outside my building to go for me to be able to cross. I think it has plenty of capacity to take the Queen St traffic.
“I’m not sure about taking all the buses off Queen St…”
But that’s exactly what AT is currently proposing.
The problem is guys the council is considering to build more carparks in Manukau and the Central City, this will undermine the public transport improvements not to mention it will effectively be repeating the same mistakes made in the past when public transport was at it’s lowest usuage ever. We have to look ahead into the 21st century not what we did in the 20th, as our needs are completely this Century. Fuel prices are high, more people are living in the central city now than before, so it seems absolutely stupid to be encouraging to build more carparks.
I think the mayor should drop these stupid proposal and think about Auckland needs as a whole not the get rich quick schemes, or blighting the city centre with more ugly carpark buildings.
@BD yeah the plan is a park and ride at Manukau- why not just properly sort out the feeder bus routes, there’s a bit of time before it opens and integrated ticketing is coming…? The Britomart thing is wierder, it’s not a new build, it’s about buying the one down on Quay… can anybody unpack that?
@ Doloras, I know, I’m assuming that’s part of a plan, but no one is talking about that…. It does look like there are some careful moves being played by the UD team at the council but it isn’t clear where it’s heading. I hear rumours that suggest a very cautious , don’t rock the boat, policy, eg 15 years before Hobson and Nelson are to be saved?! Well that’s as good as never, like the CBDRL not needed till 2030, it’s a way of not doing anything.
When the carparking building was built the council was given first option to buy it – they are currently looking to see if they want to, it’s not a new decision.
@BD – the council is not proposing to build a new carparking building. They are considering whether or not to buy AN EXISTING building for which they have first rights to. Whether they exercise this right is what they’re currently looking at. Furthermore, they plan to buy it so that they have the option to direct its future. The building in question by Britomart was built to allow easy conversion to apartments.
Please, no flower beds or kitschy public art! Outdoor cafes, busker stations, canopy trees instead!
If you have access to Facebook, I was impressed with Melbourne: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=188334791202374&set=t.100000775638216&type=1&theater
Yeah that photo of Queen St does bear an uncanny resemblanc to Bourke st mall.
“I hear rumours that suggest a very cautious , don’t rock the boat, policy, eg 15 years before Hobson and Nelson are to be saved?! Well that’s as good as never, like the CBDRL not needed till 2030, it’s a way of not doing anything”
Totally agree this council needs to get some runs on the board, the city needs transforming and soon. We don’t want to be doomed to more years of stagnation.
Car free Queen Street looks so much like Melbourne (Bourke Steet, b/w Lonsdale and Elizabeth Streets)
Melbourne is currently pedestrainising it’s main civic and retail axis, Swanston St, which will soon lose it’s regular traffic lanes (mostly used by taxis and commercial vehicles in reality) in favour of tram and cycle lanes only. Could be a very appropriate model for Queen. Will be interesting to see the outcomes once it is done, particularly in regards to the retailing, commercial vehicle access and ‘vitality’ that most people seem hung up on. Anyway, there are hundreds of cities that manage, or flourish even, with car free environments so I can’t see how it wouldn’t be a spectacular improvement.