Another street that needs its access to Queen Street cut off – there is no reason to encourage Queen Street as a traffic sewer. Shortland Street has good access at the other end – at the very least it should be made so cars can only turn left onto Shortland Street from Queen Street. That would transform the whole area.
It is only a matter of time until a pedestrian is cleaned up crossing from High Street into Jean Batten Place and onto the Fort Street shared space. The number of pedestrians is huge in that area now. There needs to be some traffic calming and a pedestrian table at the very least.
Yup there is no need for the lawyers up Shortland to drive down to Queen, they do it now cos they can, it’ll work fine without the Queen St rat run… and what a great public space that will make, at last justifying the positioning of the lobby of the Deloitte tower on the wrong side of the building as they’ll be able to open it to the new plaza.
Close High Street to traffic and install a pedestrian crossing across Shortland Street (one where pedestrians have priority as opposed to AT’s usual fare). Ultimately the road could actually just be close at the intersection of High Street, there’s no reason cars need to go any further down, this would also allow Jean Batten Place to be pedestrianised. Oh the things that could be done if AT actually gave a damn about anything but car flows.
That ‘lane’ itself is a nightmare, around 4+ lanes wide, huge curving curbs at the intersection. I contacted AT about improving pedestrian priority there and got their usual response that traffic was low so it was perfectly safe as it was and didn’t need any changes. Which anyone who spends any time walking up and down Shortland Street will know is complete rubbish, it’s huge width means cars swing in and out at high speed, and pedestrians have to rush furtively through the cars. Unacceptable for an inner-city street with high foot counts.
On the topic of Shortland Street, the intersection with Princes Street is atrocious too, it’s also insanely huge, with angle parks cars right up to the intersection, making it unsafe and unpleasant to get across whether by foot or bike. Yet once again these streets don’t even appear to be on AT’s radar. I am guessing they have literally done nothing but widen these streets since the 50’s. How about spending 60 million on improving inner-city streets, rather than spending it on degrading Lake Rd by widening that even further.
Yeah I cross those two every day, atrocious. Fields needs to be half the width at the intersection, or at least have an island halfway.
Princess/Shortland is horrific, and it is on the shortest route (Emily Place) from Britomart to UoA
Yeah that High St & Shortland St intersection is incredibly dangerous.
Nearly got run over there a month ago. Looked one way and was clear, cars clogged up in other direction. What I didn’t count on was someone overtaking the long line of cars waiting to turn into Quenn, and driving down the wrong side of the road so they could turn into Jean Batten Place!
That happens all the time – I’ve seen cars drive down the wrong side of the road from up by Field’s Lane to get past the queued cars and then rat-running Jean Batten and Fort Street.
If you do pedestrianise Queen St will have to keep Shortland 2 way, and have a bit of a turning head where those cars are quening by Queen. Best to encourage cars to head back up Shortland St rather than overwhelming the shared spaces. Already lots of cars head down Jean Batten and Fort St to avoid Queen.
I have posted abotu this area previously. I work in one of the towers on Shortland Street and it really gets to me how difficiult and dangerous it is to walk around the area. This area must have some of the highest pedestrian volumes in Auckland, yet it has aboslutely no pedestrian amenity. There is not one pedestrian crossing the whole length of Shrotland Street! I see near misses every day. This street is probably the best example of Auckland transport planners prioritising cars over pedestrians. The vast majority of workers in the office towers arrive and leave the city by public transport and walk once they’re in town, yet the area is designed for the privileged few who have caerparks to allow them to drive their Porshe Cayennes into and out of the area as fast as possible. The number of overinflated egos you see in fast european cars dragging their way up Shortland Street is obsence. There needs to be (a) Pedestrianisation of High Street and O’Connell Street. (b) A raised pedestrian crossing between High Street and Jean Batten Place (c) Another raised pedestrian crossing between the Vero Centre and Shortland Towers (d) A raised pedestrian crossing over fields lane (e) Something needs to be done about the Shortland Street- Erin Place- Princes Street intersection before someone is killed.
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Pity about the ashtrays.
They stop some people enjoying the freedom to walk past.
Don’t know why you so scared of cigarette smoke when you would gladly drink a couple of beers while breathing in all the car fumes.
Another street that needs its access to Queen Street cut off – there is no reason to encourage Queen Street as a traffic sewer. Shortland Street has good access at the other end – at the very least it should be made so cars can only turn left onto Shortland Street from Queen Street. That would transform the whole area.
It is only a matter of time until a pedestrian is cleaned up crossing from High Street into Jean Batten Place and onto the Fort Street shared space. The number of pedestrians is huge in that area now. There needs to be some traffic calming and a pedestrian table at the very least.
Yup there is no need for the lawyers up Shortland to drive down to Queen, they do it now cos they can, it’ll work fine without the Queen St rat run… and what a great public space that will make, at last justifying the positioning of the lobby of the Deloitte tower on the wrong side of the building as they’ll be able to open it to the new plaza.
Close High Street to traffic and install a pedestrian crossing across Shortland Street (one where pedestrians have priority as opposed to AT’s usual fare). Ultimately the road could actually just be close at the intersection of High Street, there’s no reason cars need to go any further down, this would also allow Jean Batten Place to be pedestrianised. Oh the things that could be done if AT actually gave a damn about anything but car flows.
Close or shared space shortland at fields lane, there are no parking buildings, loading docks or vehicle accesses past there.
That ‘lane’ itself is a nightmare, around 4+ lanes wide, huge curving curbs at the intersection. I contacted AT about improving pedestrian priority there and got their usual response that traffic was low so it was perfectly safe as it was and didn’t need any changes. Which anyone who spends any time walking up and down Shortland Street will know is complete rubbish, it’s huge width means cars swing in and out at high speed, and pedestrians have to rush furtively through the cars. Unacceptable for an inner-city street with high foot counts.
On the topic of Shortland Street, the intersection with Princes Street is atrocious too, it’s also insanely huge, with angle parks cars right up to the intersection, making it unsafe and unpleasant to get across whether by foot or bike. Yet once again these streets don’t even appear to be on AT’s radar. I am guessing they have literally done nothing but widen these streets since the 50’s. How about spending 60 million on improving inner-city streets, rather than spending it on degrading Lake Rd by widening that even further.
Yeah I cross those two every day, atrocious. Fields needs to be half the width at the intersection, or at least have an island halfway.
Princess/Shortland is horrific, and it is on the shortest route (Emily Place) from Britomart to UoA
Yeah that High St & Shortland St intersection is incredibly dangerous.
Nearly got run over there a month ago. Looked one way and was clear, cars clogged up in other direction. What I didn’t count on was someone overtaking the long line of cars waiting to turn into Quenn, and driving down the wrong side of the road so they could turn into Jean Batten Place!
That happens all the time – I’ve seen cars drive down the wrong side of the road from up by Field’s Lane to get past the queued cars and then rat-running Jean Batten and Fort Street.
Make it a narrow one way with planters and paint.
If you do pedestrianise Queen St will have to keep Shortland 2 way, and have a bit of a turning head where those cars are quening by Queen. Best to encourage cars to head back up Shortland St rather than overwhelming the shared spaces. Already lots of cars head down Jean Batten and Fort St to avoid Queen.
I was thinking more pedestrianizing all the way to Victoria St 🙂
I have posted abotu this area previously. I work in one of the towers on Shortland Street and it really gets to me how difficiult and dangerous it is to walk around the area. This area must have some of the highest pedestrian volumes in Auckland, yet it has aboslutely no pedestrian amenity. There is not one pedestrian crossing the whole length of Shrotland Street! I see near misses every day. This street is probably the best example of Auckland transport planners prioritising cars over pedestrians. The vast majority of workers in the office towers arrive and leave the city by public transport and walk once they’re in town, yet the area is designed for the privileged few who have caerparks to allow them to drive their Porshe Cayennes into and out of the area as fast as possible. The number of overinflated egos you see in fast european cars dragging their way up Shortland Street is obsence. There needs to be (a) Pedestrianisation of High Street and O’Connell Street. (b) A raised pedestrian crossing between High Street and Jean Batten Place (c) Another raised pedestrian crossing between the Vero Centre and Shortland Towers (d) A raised pedestrian crossing over fields lane (e) Something needs to be done about the Shortland Street- Erin Place- Princes Street intersection before someone is killed.