A few weeks back the fantastic Westhaven Promenade officially opened significantly improving pedestrian and cycle access to the area.
As part of the opening Waterfront Auckland sent me these images showing what the area used to look like. One thing is for sure, we’ve significantly changed the area.
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That 1904 image is awesome. Boats for everyone!
Shelly Beach 1930 looked pretty popular. I’m looking forward to seeing the promenade. Looks like a massive leap in the right direction. We just need all resources on it now, forget car it has a full network. Missing modes all the way at max speed and top quality. Let’s see what all resources in the right direction does making the most of each corridor.
yeh the promenade is allright but this http://imgur.com/1RvEic0 pisses me off so much I can’t describe it. Just gives the idea to the promenade user that you are a nuisance, together with the one saying check for boaties
Totally agree what a crock. No put a stop sign on driveway. People First.
No need for a stop sign. Drivers are people too. However I do agree that sign is a bit ridiculous. Maybe it’ll be fine in Welly as nobody seems to look before they cross
WTF – Road Code very clearly states that pedestrians have right of way across the entry way PLUS within the ENTIRE car park. Change the sign to remind drivers of their legal duties!
Fully agree Patrick. It’s amazing how many motorists don’t know that the law requires them to give way to pedestrians when driving across a footpath. That sign reinforces their false belief. I have a real sharp metal point on the end of my walking stick and it makes a great pinstripe line on those cars that do not give way to me.
If it really annoys you, it is very easy to simply peel t off and chuck it in the bin — it is just a plastic sticker.
Interesting that their proposed walkway alignment shows it continuing onto the corner of Fanshawe and Daldy. What happened? Why didn’t they do that bit as planned. It’s typical of the ridiculous piecemeal approach to walking and cycling that it isn’t connected.
I think work started on that this month…
Talking about evolution – I heard that almost nobody from Saint Mary’s Bay submitted against SkyPath, except the resident’s association who still had concerns.
Nonsense, your comment about promenade users is a nonsense! The use of Westhaven has always been for boaties, they have paid for the existing carparks and berths over many years. A warning to watch for traffic is appropriate. There are a number of risk points on the promenade, at pier gateways, lack of safety rails, crossing traffic entries, watch out for boaties especially towing trollies across the promenade.
Are you just another rude cyclist that expects everyone to stop for you? Sounds very like it. You do your better behaving mates a disfavour.
Westhaven is owned by the council and should be about everyone, not one subset of society. Things change and the boaties better get used to that. As for the path, it is a footpath and access to the carparks is a driveway so by law it is the vehicle drivers MUST give way to anyone crossing.
YES! Everyone who can’t/don’t or won’t understand this should re-read the road code or maybe just surrender their driving license!
The law is pretty clear Don, drivers crossing a pedestrian or shared path must give way to those on it unless it’s clearly a continuation of their lane (in this case the path is continued and the car park lane is not). I know there are plenty of rude people in cars that don’t bother to give way, but that doesn’t mean they have the right to do so.
Thanks for empowering my nickname.
Sheesh, I know who the rude one is. We’re all in this together, share with care.
Nothing wrong with a sign telling pedestrians to be aware that idiot drivers are around and to watch out. Regardless of who has right of way, pedestrians always come out second best when they collide. I’d argue that signs of any kind are useless much of the time anyway as they all get ignored.
Wow, how much prime land could be reclaimed by sinking the motorway into a tunnel to the north under Vic Park and Wynyard.
Not 5 billion dollars worth
This is a good save, making something undisputedly ugly be somewhat better. What would have been even better would have been for the motorway and the harbour crossing to have taken an entirely different route across the city. Its worth remembering that for the present motorway to take the route it does that Grafton, Newton, Freemans Bay and the foreshore of St Mary’s Bay had to be sacrificed. When the decisions were made in the 1950s for the motorway and bridge cross this was implicitly about slum clearance and a kind of ethnic cleansing of the inner city. It was not the most efficient route for the motorway and bridge to take – because a 200 foot deep trench had to be dug out to form what is now spaghetti junction. But the board walk certainly makes an eyesore less so. The photographs taken in 1930s and 1940s should remind us about the real cost of the penny pinching approaches taken by local and central governments to the question of transport in Auckland. But the new walkway is lovely – almost like the high line.
I was down there 2 nights ago walking along the concrete path part with the embedded shells etc and a car drove along towards us on the wide concrete footpath…Waahhhh!! The driver had confused the wide path with a road I think. I think this could become common and needs a sign or small post maybe.
Great walk though apart from nearly being run over.
It is a beautiful walk – cant wait till they connect up to the bridge and over, fantastic