I wandered through the Elliott Street shared space today, a couple of hours after its official opening. It was really impressive:
While the place was obviously busier than normal, due to it being the opening day, I started feeling a bit regretful that Elliott Street is a shared space rather than being fully pedestrianised – as it works so utterly amazingly when closed off to cars. Perhaps every Friday it could be closed off so we can bring out the marquees like you can see in the photos above.
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These new shared spaces are an amazing exercise in perception: the simple act of removing the curb makes the area feel soooo much wider… such a transformation, great work AC
I was walking down there on Wednesday afternoon and had no idea it was brand new. We had a car come up behind us, but because it feels like a pedestrian only place they had to crawl along behind us until we had noticed them. I think it would be disconcerting to drive down with so many people walking in all directions. For me it felt like a people space, with cars only allowed in on their best behaviour. Good for a change.
Looks great – I know they noted that car counts on Darby Street hadn’t declined much (only 200 a day from 1200 odd) however I think car drivers really will avoid the street just because they have to drive so much slower, over time the decision can be very easily made to simply block the street entrance and be done with it. Give Auckland a couple of years and I think the debate about closing off streets to cars will have swung fully in favour of pedestrians.
THe shared space in Totora Ave, New Lynn is just about complete (1 Week) and it also looks great.
Looks great. Appears to be an example of a proper shared space, and with it Auckland officially overtakes Wellington for progressive urban planning. Wellington’s latest attempt at a “shared space” actually has a clearly delineated traffic lane in ashphalt down the middle with something like 30 carparks on both sides. Not shared at all. (Maybe 10 more years and I’ll be able to move to Auckland. :))
Wonderful!
One of my mates just got back from Oz. He’s a landscape architect by trade, and lived in Welly before he moved to Oz. He’s really impressed at what Auckland has achieved since he’s left (2007). Wynyard Quarter, Shared Spaces… I’m starting to be proud of Auckland! (A few more years… and maybe the CRL?)
I walked down the soon-to-be-completed Fort Street/Jean Batten Place shared space. It was a quiet Saturday morning but cars turning into the space from Shortland St did so at far too high a speed than felt comfortable as a pedestrian wandering about. I’m still not convinced shared spaces are the way to go. I much rather prefer the pedestrianised area such as Vulcan Lane and Durham St.
Hans – walk before we run. I think halfway houses are still A LOT better than no houses. And in Fort Street, the main issue why they couldn’t just pedestrianise totally seemed to have been the many car parks accesses off it? Maybe one day we can limit it to those people ONLY.