You might remember a post from a while ago where Kent outlined a slightly silly situation at the top of High St. He noted pedestrians wanting to walk along Victoria St were forced to wait out a full cycle of the lights to cross with the Barnes Dance… even when traffic was behind a red signal and pedestrians could safely cross regardless.
Well I’m pleased to note that the crossing has been fixed. People crossing High St now get the green man at all times except the phase when traffic exiting High St has got the green. In other words, a parallel pedestrian green has been added to the main Victoria St phase when cars can’t exit High St anyway, and the regular scramble crossing phase still happens too.
Great work Auckland Transport, keep those quick wins coming!
On a side note, if there isn’t any High St traffic waiting that phase isn’t triggered, the Barnes Dance goes very regularly and the side crossing stays green the whole time. Maybe it’s time to shift the Victoria St carpark exit up to Kitchener St where the entrance is, and keep those cars off High St altogether?
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Great news. Well done Auckland Transport. Keep it coming.
Seems like they’re finally making use of the reduction in red tape from being a CCO and not having to consult on every tiny change. Good to see!
That’s a big jump to make, and one that’s not warranted. Changing phasing on traffic lights I doubt is something they’ve ever had to consult on. Besides if all we get is a slighter longer green phase from a the CCO structure in which there is no oversight of AT and control has been handed over to MoT from Auckland Council then I think it’s proof the whole ‘experiment’ is a failure.
Good, good.
What about getting an AUTOMATIC green phase for pedestrians over Hobson Street, where it meets Union/Pitt? No cars can exit this one-way street when the red is on, but still, peds can’t cross w/o beg button pressed at right time? Easy fix – but have tried to convince them of that many times…
https://www.google.co.nz/maps/@-36.854004,174.758363,3a,75y,17.74h,62.36t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sPiLKgVAIj7t7yvy-JsfqeA!2e0
Now seems to be as good a time to bring that up as any.
Okay, logged as below on Auckland Transport’s “report a problem” website. Can OTHERS also please log the same issue? Maybe we can crowd-source another little improvement?
http://at.govt.nz/about-us/contact-us/report-a-problem/
Hello
I would like the signal phasing at the pedestrian crossing over the northern arm of Hobson Street at Union Street / Pitt Street improved.
Vehicles exiting Hobson Street are on red every phase coming out of the southbound one-way street. As such, the pedestrian phase across this stopped car movement should be automatic, and should run the maximum safe duration (!). At the moment, one has to press the call button, and if one does so “too late”, one cannot legally cross, even though vehicles are still held for a significant time period (leading to lots of pedestrians disobyeing the red).
Since the change does not require any changes to the vehicle capacity of the intersection, and since no other movements cross the crossing when Hobson Street southward movements are on red, this should be a simple method to make this crossing more friendly to people, supporting various Council plans – such as making the City Centre more walkable (City Centre Masterplan).
Thank you and regards
Done. Thanks for doing the leg work.
Done!
The same should be done for all one way streets when they are on a red light. It seems so obvious.
There are many more crossings like this one where a handful of cars coming from side roads mean much higher volume of pedestrians are forced to wait a minute or 2 for a simple crossings.
Worst offenders are along Quay and Customs St east of Britomart, notably Gore and Commerce St. These streets should only get a green every other phase, which would help peds and buses move along here, rather than people circling for parking. I know north side of Commerce important for Britomart buses, but the rest can be downgraded with little harm.
At the very least the opposing sides of Commerce St shouldn’t have their own phases. The traffic at Gore seems to manage with an opposing single phase.
Here’s to Nick’s idea to exit cars of the Victoria St carparking building with the entrance on Kitchener St, ie up the hill. Would be fantastic for High St. Use High St facing level for retail, deeper behind would make a great sleazy nightclub space, low ceiling and all, dungeon anyone!?
Even have a go at activating the Victoria St side: hard though.
Or you could just leave it as parking. There is space for the missing ramp back up from the ground to the next level. Just replace the actual exit with another shop.
Otherwise a supermarket seems a good use.
Are they planning to do the same at Grafton Rd Symonds St intersection?
I think the much worse problem is down the other end at the intersection between High Street and Jean Batten Place. A pedestrian will die or be badly injured there. I guess AT are waiting for it to happen before doing anything.
Short term, bollards to block access to Jean Batten Place and put in a raised pedestrian table. Medium term, cut off access to Queen Street from Shortland Street. No need for that access to exist, especially when privat6e vehicles should not be on Queen Street anyway.
You’d have to be careful, cut off access to Queen and you might just send more traffic into Jean Batten and High St. Needs a comprehensive approach.
Personally I think the medium term goal should be to have Shortland St turn into Fields Lane and on to Kitchener as the main traffic route, while lower Shortland, O’Connell, High and Jean Batten would be all shared space and/or heavily traffic calmed.
…it could become our version of Sydney’s Martin Place.
Yes exactly right Nick.
But I said first thing is to cut off access to Jean Batten Place, as Bryce has repeated below. I agree otherwise that would definitely be a risk.
I dont see why Shortland Street needs any exit at its Western end. If motorists want to get back out of Shortland Street they can go to the Eastern end and then either turn right into Princes Street or straight to Eden Cres. There is no reason to give them more convenience by letting them exit on to Queen.
This is the Dutch approach. Grant access to cars at slow speeds but cut off the through routes. Then you only get the people actually having that street as a destination, not a way to get elsewhere. We need to strat making it clear that cars are not welcome in certain parts of the city and the area from Britomart to Albert Park is the prime candidate.
I think Shortland St needs that extra exit mostly because there are a lot of towers and dedicated parking buildings on the upper part of Shortland, plus Chancery St, Bankside etc. This is a wealthy business area and if anyone is going to keep driving, it is these guys. My concern isn’t getting them to Queen (which I think should be closed too), but providing access to Victoria St and Kitchener.
The problem is if you make the whole area a big cul de sac you push a lot of traffic through either upper Kitchener St (incredibly steep), or the intersection of Princes and Eden Cres (steep, constrained, lots of pedestrians already dodging traffic). In either case you just send all the traffic through the university area, or perhaps filter it through Emily Pl or the old Eden Cres area.
Personally I think that the lower part of Kitchener should be made two way so it can form the main traffic link between this quarter and the motorway (and Mayoral Dr) via the Wellesley St ramps. There is spare capacity there, unlike Waterloo Quad or Alten Rd.
The first thing is to stop access from Shortland into Jean Batten. It is being used as a short cut for all and sundry (including the police at high speed). A set of pedestrian lights to get across Shortland St would go a long way to resolving crossing issues. And we need to remove on street parking in High St.
I agree, Jean Batten should be closed off, every car I see is using it as a short cut from Shortland Street to Customs Street, often at high speed with the horn blaring. It was perhaps easier during the consultation to say it would remain open, back when everyone was suspicious of the whole concept, but I think it’s now time to go back and make some changes, starting by making Jean Batten a pedestrian plaza.
Truck, hiab, large concrete blocks.
Yes could be done O/N as you say, doing this would also stop Pie Face from using the street as their personal car and delivery truck parking which is frequently there well past the 11am cut off for deliveries.
From a cycling perspective I would rather see bollards than concrete blocks. You can also make them retractable and so easier for deliveries and emergency vehicles.
And spoil my fun sauntering slowly down the middle oblivious to the horns…
You can keep doing that in O’Connell St after that’s finished, well, until the truck turns up with the concrete blocks for that as well
There’s another quick win right in that photo, why doesn’t AT stick a few plastic bollards into that lane dedicated to the parking building which I never see used and create the first piece of protected cycle lanes in Auckland’s centre. Got to start somewhere.
That lane fills right up with traffic every day…. for about 20-30 minutes.
And I’m sure the lane next door is empty, couldn’t have anyone not parking being slowed down for a couple seconds though could we! Better to have a few injured cyclists instead.