This is the first of a two-part guest post by Grant A, a long time reader and commenter with a keen interest in all things urban, especially cycling and public transport. He’s been thinking about how to fix Broadway. Stay tuned for Act 2!
Readers might remember the pre-Christmas traffic snarl-ups in Newmarket last year, in which people were trapped for hours – not only in traffic, but also in the mall parking building. The Black Friday event in particular got extensive coverage in the news, and on this blog (see here and here).
This got me thinking of ways to improve the state of play in Newmarket. Though I don’t think we’ll quite get to the idyllic, low-traffic scenario as envisioned in the header image (which I created at Dutch Cycling Lifestyle), we could improve things greatly from what it is now. What follows is a rough plan and some optional ideas for discussion.
Newmarket Needs a Traffic Circulation Plan
I’ve been beavering away on a traffic circulation plan of sorts, with bus priority and cycle lanes. This Google Maps close-up shows typical Saturday 3pm traffic, which incidentally is quite similar to around 4:30 pm most weekdays, particularly on Tuesday and Wednesday. Around this time is when I took the photos for this post.
So zooming out a bit, my “Option 2” contains changes that could be done to help solve this. (What was Option 1, you ask? We’ll get to that in my second post!).
The corridor is shown below on GeoMaps, with arrows added to show general traffic circulation. Key elements: a new no-right turn from Nuffield St onto Remuera Rd; then on Broadway itself, only allow filtered access for some modes, e.g. buses and cycling, between Remuera Rd and Morrow St.
By creating bus lanes and some other adjustments through Newmarket, we could provide a better public transport experience not only for those starting or ending their journey in Newmarket, but also those passing through from further afield. Bike lanes can also be installed along Broadway, providing another healthy and safe alternative to driving.
The better experience for people walking, biking or using buses would include faster, more reliable travel times, safer journeys, fewer exhaust fumes and less noise. I think a design style similar to Karangahape Rd could be applied along Broadway.
The Main Act – A Transit Mall
As already mentioned, my thinking is to only allow bus, cycle and small-wheeled traffic through Broadway between Morrow St and Remuera Rd. This also allows you to close the slip lane (and left turns) from Remuera Rd into Broadway.
So Broadway would become a transit mall in this short section near Morrow St, greatly simplifying and reducing flows while freeing up the slip lane space for a pocket park. Through-traffic can use St Marks Rd to Remuera Rd, and Alpers Ave / Morrow St / Mortimer Pass to Gillies Ave and Khyber Pass.
This would increase the quality of the public realm around here greatly. I don’t think any buses even use this slip lane to turn around and lay up, etc, except possibly the 751 from Panmure.
Using GeoMaps I’ve measured the widths of corridors as best I could:
This lets me create Streetmix suggestions for the lane layout at various locations. Note: all the graphics are looking north.
By removing general traffic through this small section we allow for wider footpaths, and can add in bike and bus lanes with generous separation. (Note: where possible, I’ve left the kerbs where they currently are to minimise costs and issues with relocating stormwater and services.)
As for this bus stop, it could be moved north to where the transit mall is – this would allow more space, and make the distance to the next stop north more consistent with the other side:
Public Transport
As noted in Matt’s post here, a lot of bus routes go through Newmarket, including six frequent routes – but it only has piecemeal bus lanes with piecemeal operating times. If there is any place that should have good bus lanes it’s through Broadway, given it has more frequent routes than any other part of the network apart from the top of Symonds St.
To keep buses regular, speed them up and encourage more patronage we need full bus lanes leading to and through Broadway. All bus lanes could be 24/7 or perhaps just 6 am to 9 pm or something if really necessary, but obviously weekend times are important for all the shopping that goes on and for special events in the Domain. Broadway is a major bus corridor as has been discussed so it should have solid bus lanes throughout. Making them 24/7 makes signage and usage a lot simpler.
Details of Act 1
To recap, so far I’ve added:
- A no-right turn out of Nuffield St. This would reduce the light phases for starters.
- Filtered access through Broadway – i.e. only buses cycle/small wheeled devices. Other vehicles trying to travel through Broadway at this point would have to turn left into Remuera Rd or left down Morrow St (or Ideally take Alpers Ave if coming from further south).
The idea is that general traffic is greatly reduced, allowing for a much better environment for buses and active modes.
For example, consider the mall traffic currently coming out of Mortimer Pass and by default turning left to head north through Broadway. Instead, the one-way traffic going down Mortimer Pass would go via St Marks Rd to get to Remuera say, or Alpers Ave to get back on the Northern Motorway or travel north. Likewise, traffic to and from the south along Great South or Manukau Roads can use Gillies Ave or St Marks-Remuera Rd to get through Newmarket or access the motorway.
Note Alpers Ave and Owens Rd seem to be a one-way pair – which I think is good, as it simplifies four intersections, including the 5-way intersection with Manukau Rd and Great South Rd.
Streetmix Cross-Sections – Bus and Bike Lanes!
My measurements show there’s plenty of room to add bus-only and cycle lanes by removing parking and or reducing the excessively wide turning lanes.
The above is perhaps the trickiest section if the street furniture built-out area is retained. I suspect 2.8m here for driving is too narrow, so you could briefly narrow the bike lanes to 1.6 m and widen the driving lanes to 3m.
I have bus lanes and cycle lanes right the length of the roads; but near intersections, you could perhaps swap out the bus lanes for left-turn-only lanes, as you have the rule that allows turning vehicles into the last 50m of a bus lane anyway.
Cycling Encouraged?
It’s great to see a lot of bicycle parking in amongst the improved pedestrian streetscapes around Newmarket. Kudos to the business association, Council and AT for this, and for providing handy maps of bike parking (and other kinds of parking) here… but can you easily bike to Newmarket, in practice?
The reality is, Newmarket is currently a very hostile area for cycling. True, you can arrive via train with your bike, and there are somewhat separated bike lanes up Carlton Gore Road. But much more needs to be done to make this area friendly for cycling through and around by all ages and all kinds of people keen to access shops, schools, and other destinations by bike.
Some last thoughts for Act 1
Solving this isn’t just a Newmarket issue – what happens in Newmarket has an important effect on other suburbs.
For example, congestion on Broadway affects the Eastern Busway’s 70 route to and from the Botany and through Ellerslie, Panmure and Pakuranga. Similarly, the 75 Remuera Rd service that runs between Glen Innes and Wynyard Quarter needs to keep to schedule. Let’s not even mention the 30 from Onehunga, the Inner and Outer Link, plus other local buses.
In the next post, I’ll discuss some other options for Newmarket, what to do north of Remuera Rd, and the vast amounts of car parking available in the area.
For now, what do you think? Will the world cave in, if we prevent general traffic from going directly along Broadway?
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I would love to see all of this implemented. I live in Onehunga and once or twice a month catch the 30 to either Newmarket or the city. It is unbelievable that there aren’t bus lanes all the way through Broadway. You only need to ride the bus once to see a) how many people buses move through here and b) how long it can take to get through when mixed with general traffic. AT needs to start with this as it is such low hanging fruit which would have such high benefits.
I wonder what the Newmarket Business Association would have to say about “a design style similar to Karangahape Rd could be applied along Broadway”, in light of the what K Rd Business Association has said recently.
The K Rd changes are a failed compromise trying to make everyone happy, where no one ends up happy. Such a waste of money.
One of the main issues with K Road was (is, especially with our current politics) that NZTA wasn’t willing to close the on-ramp at Symonds Street, meaning a good bit of general motorway traffic still pushes through the most congested/constrained central bit I know the AC/AT team tried, but no chance. Maybe after CRL opens…
I wouldn’t call it failed though. It is a lot better than before/
We had some temporary closures of the Symonds Street on ramp during the work on the Central Motorway Junction in 2004-5. Encouraged by the minimal effects, we tried very hard to close the ramp permanently. Couldn’t quite achieve it due to Transit NZ wanting to minimize disruption.
They seem OK to me when cycled along there. I was looking at the cycle counts last night and it was nearly 21,000 for March on the K’rd one.
I’ve stopped using that cycle path because I was always getting cut off by drivers in cars coming in/out of the side roads.
I also try to avoid it now – where you’re not getting cut off by cars, you’re trying to pick your way around pedestrians wandering around the cycle lane! Often they’re not entirely lucid, sometimes they are outrightly hostle.
Love the cycle lane separation. Hate the broken glass in the lanes.
Riding in the roads means the cars clear that so I don’t have a flat every few weeks.
Can you provide more detail on what K’Rd Business Association has said recently about the changes? I don’t have the least idea whether they are positive or otherwise about the changes.
Karangahape Road Business Association (KBA) is positive about the changes and is pro-cycling. Theor prioirity is to develop the cyclingnetwork along New North Road, Ponsonby Road, etc, thus increasing the cycling-based catchment of the area.
Get in touch with them yourself if you want more details or to swap ideas. Jamey (KBA General Manager) is very helpful.
https://www.karangahaperoad.com/contact
Great. Tx.
Are they? Who is behind the claim that businesses need the carparks on K Road on the weekend and which has scuppered plans to have an attractive and reliable bus journey from West Auckland to the city centre?
I only said the KBA was pro-cycling. Their perspective on parking in bus lanes is less helpful.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/05/businesses-welcome-auckland-transport-s-backtrack-on-karangahape-road-s-bus-only-lanes.html
Yes.
But removing street car parking is required and will never happen.
We’re stuck in a system where it’s free or easy for cars, so everyone gets in their car. Then the voice of the majority are car users who block any change to the status quo.
The draft RLTP says, “Cycleway delivery is supported by recent changes to the Auckland Parking Strategy, which make it easier to remove parking on arterial routes to support cycling and public transport.” So, AT aren’t walking away from talking about it yet.
Of course, in too many projects we see AT not following through with this. But it is the standard we need to hold them to. And Newmarket is a good place to do it because the negative impacts of excessive parking are so visible there.
AT did try to change that, but even Phil Goff didn’t want precious car parks removed as that would be arrogant apparently. Wayne Brown may get it a bit more; he wants better bang for buck and street parking is about the worst possible. But when AT tried to charge people to park in the city he also shut it down. I think this pesky democracy thing gets in the way of progress…
This is another example of Council and the Mayor asking AT to do something ( ie: raise more money ), then objecting when they go ahead with a plan to do exactly that. When local residents complain, the Mayor and Council then choose to walk away from their initial requests.
Great post, Grant, and I’m looking forward to Part 2!
It’s all logical stuff and should have been tackled decades ago.
Thanks, yes indeed.
Hi AK, totally agree with you. I live in Onehunga as well. Catch the early 5.15am Bus 30 to work in the morning for avoiding traffic congestion. Avoid the Bus 30 trip home as much as possible by catching the Southern train from Britomart to Penrose. Xfer to Bus 66 to the Victoria Street or Onehunga Mall bus stops home. Short walk to Grey Street & Onehunga Mall. Saves heaps of travel time home.
Imagine how much the congestion costs AT, all those expensive buses and drivers stuck in traffic every day, just so people can use council road space to park a handful of cars.
Remove the parking along Broadway and install bus lanes. At least activate them for the busiest times of the day.
Be bold.
Sounds good
This is a massive subject, congratulations for taking the risk of initiating it.
The transit mall doesn’t readily integrate with the railway station, which is currently the second busiest in Auckland (hopefully that will change with CRL). I suggest looking at the two options that allow this to happen (move transit mall onto the Remuera Rd/Broadway intersection or move it to between Remuera Rd and Teed St, which I think is a preferably location).
I suggest that there needs to be a clear cyclepath through Newmarket connecting to the paths on Carlton Gore Rd. The route cyclists take now is across the small park at Cnr of Khyber Pass/Broadway and along Kingdon St.
Are you aware AT are looking at improving pedestrian safety in Newmarket? This could be an opportunity to start taking steps towards the overall improvement of traffic flows in the area.
Thanks. Some interesting ideas, good point regarding having the transit mall directly connect to the station. Means Remuera Rd cars going backwards to and along St Marks to go north. Heck, you could actually extend the transit mall all the way from Teed St to Mortimer Pass. Make Morrow & Mortimer two way.
I’m feeling the need for a Whiteboard, maybe two, to flesh out the options.
I agree with the person who said that unless NBA is on board then nothing will happen, and that makes sense.
Are you up for a two or three session with NBA to see what feasible options, and possible steps, might be?
Hi Jon, sounds like it could be a good idea. Can you contact me with a direct message via my X/Twitter account or via the admin contact of this blog?
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/contact-us/
Jon, please contact Bike Auckland to include them in any of these potential sessions. The more the merrier.
oh Maybe you meant keeping the Remuera Rd to Broadway left turn slip lane in?
So many options, you could do the following whole section but leaving the roads at the edges for general traffic still: Between Teed & Morrow, along Remuera to Nuffield. You would need to discourage traffic all heading down Teed St somehow. This could be done by making Teed one-way one on it’s western side (ie east direction from Crowhurst to Osborne). Then drivers would tend to take Khyber – Crowhurst – Gillies.
Another thought, how about making Gillies Ave/Cracroft St one way east bound from Alpers Ave to Khyber Pass and Broadway one way west bound from Khyber Pass to Alpers Ave, or at least to Mortimer Pass?
I’d call it more north/south than east/west and it’s Crowhurst St I think you mean. I think just making one way systems would still mean a lot of general traffic through the place; best to divert a lot of the traffic.
You are quite right, I did mean Crowhurst, thank you.
Where do you see the traffic being diverted to? Putting in one way system to circulate traffic would result in diversions. For instance, traffic using Crowhurst to access the motorway Northbound would need to use Greenlane, Newton Rd or Stanley St on ramps so that traffic would divert away from the area.
If you mean with no transit mall, then they would likely loop around to the Gillies Ave on ramp.
One other thought, which has been mentioned in posts before, is they perhaps need to relax the on ramp lights a bit to let more local traffic on, otherwise they are just clogging local roads & queuing up vehicles anyway.
Yes, the issue of WK impacting local roads because they’re overly focused on motorway flow is an important one for AT to tackle. I think this is an ideal location to test the waters again, particularly if the NBA can see the benefits.
Maybe there are so many buses going through because they also go past the hospital and the university. In the early days of dreaming about the CRL there was some ideas put forward to have a short loop which connected these two important public transport destination to Britomart and Newmarket and a mid city station. Interestingly the tunnelled light rail people came up with a similar need to service these important public transport destinations. Well neither options happens and we are left with the congestion. I would go as far to say we (you) got the CRL wrong at the risk of abuse but that’s happened before. Anyway ride the 70 bus past Panmure station with only a few transferring the remainder hanging on for a one seat ride to Newmarket hospital and the university with a only couple continuing to Britomart. You get the idea.
Yes, I’m interested in the 70 bus/train combo which will be mostly used by University students, especially post CRL opening. I think more will switch the the train then as they can stay on past Britomart (Waitemata) and get off closer to the universities (with easier walking?) from Te Waihorotiu Station. Depends exactly where your class is, more likely a nice morning walk through Albert Park if you use the CRL.
Bit of a slog up the hill on a winter wet day though. And it’s not just 70 buses is it. A lot of journeys could be switched to rail if better access could have being built. But to late now.
This is similar to what one of our (my preferred) options when I was working on a project in the area a few years ago. Unfortunately, that project didn’t progress.
There would be huge flow on benefits up and down Broadway, Parnell Rd, and Carlton Gore as people switch to the motorway or don’t drive.
Businesses would thrive because people who want to come shop there wouldn’t be turned away by the crazy traffic snarls and more people would come by bike and PT. Newmarket has some nice spots that people cycling would flock to but currently avoid like the plague.
I did a traffic count there just for fun while my newborn was sleeping around the corner and was impressed by the number of people cycling through despite it being a hellhole. Cycling numbers would explode if we pulled the superfluous traffic out.
It’s tragic when Tony Caughey, chairperson of Smith & Caughey’s equates retail success with people driving their cars to the city.
“There has been huge disruption in the centre of town, with roadworks and people being discouraged to drive their cars in the city”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/350293847/iconic-auckland-department-store-smith-caugheys-set-close
I expect business associations have influence when planning these sort of changes. How to get them on the side of PT = better for business?
I have been thinking about Smithies for the whole week and I think they could have turned around their fortunes by doing a Harrods style food hall and doing way more with their cafe. When I was a little girl in the 60s we would dress up and head there on a train of course from Papatoetoe to have a festive high tea. It was gloves and hats and all so grand. But how can you compete with Commerical Bay with how many eating places? I think people go to the city to eat out, to people watch and to have a special treat. Looking at the posh stores in London and at De Bijenkorf in The Netherlands it really is about the experience. The food part of Smithies didn’t move with the times & there should have been more affordable clothes and items as well. But that’s another story. It certainly wasn’t about the road works and traffic cones as someone of Waiheke called Miriam said. I have used their charming powder room as my city office for years. I really hope that the building is not demolished but is cleverly changed into apartments and commercial premises. I know heaps of kids are going to miss Santa’s Grotto … they did it so well. And I will miss those wonderful lingerie women! They are formidable. RE Newmarket, I avoid it like the plague. And scurry over that nasty main street if I have to go there. The little streets at the back are the best but I feel the Cars rule even those streets!
To be fair to Smith & Caughey’s they have borne a huge amount of the disruption in the city centre (possibly more than many other retailers), and they also haven’t said that this was the key factor in its demise. However, a large proportion of their shoppers would be used to driving into the city easily. It shows how important it is to have local business associations working proactively – instead, we have had Viv Beck running the city down from day one, and not actually fronting up and leading campaigns to get people into the city or countering some of the criticisms.
Those of my parents’ generation who love to shop there all either live in town or go there by bus. I suspect the area of town still suffers from a lack of dining on the footpath and from ugly street frontages of the banks, etc.
Those of my parents’ generation who love to shop there *that I know* all either…etc…
re Smith & Caughey’s, yes, pity they couldn’t hang on until CRL opened, they were right on that Wellesley St entrance works etc though they had the Newmarket branch as well, ironically probably in the worst traffic sewer area of Newmarket (Remuera Rd intersection), I note the average daily traffic count was 19,502 long here back in March 2023. Their main customer may have been the older driving generation indeed.
Yes the cars rule too much still in the back of Newmarket.
Auckland Council had *plans* to rebuild Wellesley Street from kerb to kerb into an attractive Transit Boulevard when it was closed for CRL construction in 2019. The outcome would have been something like Granville Street in central Vancouver, which is bus-only, tree-lined, great for pedestrians and supports the city’s densest retail district.
This opportunity was not taken because Council officers were not persuaded that spending money to do all the work in one go was a better option than digging things up repeatedly. The outcome has been a grim, temporary-looking Wellesley Street featuring a scrappy patchwork of asphalt and green paint.
A shoddy pedestrian environment does nothing to encourage footfall. Couple it with CRL-related construction works, COVID, work-from-home and the generally poor management of Auckland’s city centre streets and it’s not surprising that a big retailer has gone under. Yes, global retail trends are changing – no-one can help that – but the second-rate approach to street improvements in the area is a real missed opportunity compared to what have might have been.
Now S&C is closing. What a shame.
Interesting, and that is a shame.
I’ve been thinking about them, too. I think the huge swath of cosmetics that you had to walk through before getting to anything interesting felt like a barrier. I wonder if that put others off. The emails were dripping with cosmetics, too.
I agree about the ‘powder room’. A top spot in the city, and has been all my life. I also know elderly people who plan their outings around bathrooms, given there aren’t very many anymore, and this one usually features.
I so agree. 250 jobs being lost is tragic and the staff were so wonderful. But yes, those cosmetics were a bit off putting but the sales weren’t bad & they had local designers and products. I know plenty of parents who know where all the best changing rooms and loos are… such a pity they couldn’t hold out for the metro. On the Newmarket traffic, I wouldn’t consider taking my bike there, just too many cars but if anyone could remove a significant amount of cars, that would be the bees knees.
Yes, in Newmarket, they seem to realise the value of all the buses and train, and as mentioned a lot of cycle parking. It’s just a bit dangerous for most cyclist to get there.
A real danger spot for the intrepid South Bound cyclists along Broadway is the Balm St intersection.
The footpath is quite wide just there so the fix is relatively easy however when I spoke to AT about it during a discussion on improving safety for cyclists and pedestrians they weren’t even aware of the danger and couldn’t understand the proposed simple solution.
The NCA is very willing to get behind constructive and feasible initiatives, we’ve been trying to get traction for 20 years with very limited success.
That’s great to hear, Jon. Good luck; there are so many easy improvements to make if AT could be brought onside.
I was in Newmarket a lot as a teenager, and worked there in my twenties, but the horrible traffic environment means it’s a shopping area I consciously avoid now. I’d love to see that change.
Almost all of Newmarket is absolutely horrible – anyone who describes this as Auckland’s “premier” shopping district is seriously deluded. Nuffield Street had so much potential to be a beautiful tree lined pedestrian space with restaurants and cafes opening out onto a public square. Instead, it is a rarely visited dead zone, that primarily acts as a thoroughfare for cars trying to turn onto Remuera Road. Broadway itself is the pits, and I wholeheartedly agree that the footpaths should be widened, and it turned into a much calmer space for pedestrians and cyclists.
This kind of transformation should have happened decades ago, and it needs leadership from the Newmarket Business Association to kickstart it. Otherwise, Newmarket will end up with a mall and nothing else.
It’s as much of a lost opportunity as Queen St, though the fact we got High St pedestrianised gies some hope.
To Jon from the Business Association, you could have one of the great shopping precincts, and not just in NZ. But you instead you have a traffic sewer. And like cars on lower Queen St, it’s totally unnecessary.
High St pedestrianised? When did that happen?
Please note, I’m not from Newmarket Business Association, I’m from the Community Association.
The NCA tried for years to get even small improvements made and weren’t successful.
It felt like if the idea didn’t come from Westfield or AT then it didn’t even get on the table.
When 309 was being designed we were told that Westfield and AT had optimised the design for traffic flows in the area so “thank you for your offer but we’ve got it covered”
“Nuffield Street had so much potential to be a beautiful tree lined pedestrian space with restaurants and cafes opening out onto a public square.”
Yes, this can still be done. My post tomorrow touches on that. The whole road from Balm St north could be a shared zone. Ideally, it would be car-free altogether but there is parking in behind the old Power Board building (next to the rail line) darn it, so much parking.
Perhaps the goods only looking Nuffield *Lane* ideally would need to close at the north end but it’s narrow and one way so probably can’t either.
Anyway shared space, traffic calmed with wider footpaths would be a good thing. Filtered access through to/from Remuera Rd for bus & perhaps goods vehicles. Pity it needs bus even but the Western rail replacement ones loop around here; maybe that could be changed.
The perfect opportunity to do this was just after Westfield opened 309 Broadway and all the shops that had been temporarily housed in units that fronted onto Broadway emptied out and headed into the shiny new mall. Broadway was a total ghost town and that should have been the window to do something like this. Broadway still isn’t great, but if you are going to take on the NBA and their members around removing the on-street parking, it HAS to be part of a grander plan that is bought into and funded. Broadway with wider pavements and outdoor dining would be a real point of difference – there’s all the retail that you could ever want within Westfield.
Great post. A major bus issue is the stop near the corner of Broadway/Khyber outside Timeout. It is not wide enough for buses to get to the stop and they get sandwiched up away from the stop meaning passengers either have to run to where the bus is stranded or the bus doesn’t realise people are waiting and carries on when it can move. There should be a lane there solely for buses. Also note that Teed St bike area has become notorious for people cutting off locks and quickly stealing them either by a quick drive by in a van or from someone sitting outside Bambina cafe with a bike helmet so they can ride away as if the owner. Ironically it is opposite the police station.
Hmmm the rat bags. Removing more car throughput in Tweed may help with the van jobs. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post that has north of Remuera Rd.
This is an accurate post. The changes decribed within it should have happened twenty years ago.
Broadway is a joke – a traffic sewer that pleases no-one, with traffic congestion in all directions.
It is literally insane that there is no bus priority on a stretch of road like this – particularly one that used to be a major tram interchange (there are murals showing the tramalines on the walls at Newmarket Station).
For Broadway:
– The pedestrian environment needs to be welcoming (it’s currently OK but could be better)
– Cycling needs to be safe (it is currently dangerous as hell)
– Public transport needs to be prioritised (it isn’t)
– The cars can fit around the above points
If this can happen then this will be a real improvement for what should be a good secondary centre (but isn’t).
Right on.
TRM agrees Newmarket is a shocker but the poster fails to show a fundamental understanding as to why.
Newmarket is the poster child for an over-engineered space that traps people. It has traffic light after traffic light, obstruction after obstruction and some people wonder why we have so much induced congestion. It’s because the next traffic obstruction backs up traffic to the previous traffic obstruction and so forth.
The solution is not to take the principles of Queen Street and apply them to Newmarket. Queen Street has seen crime sky rocket, travel times increase and businesses going bust left, right and center including the iconic Smith & Caugheys. Queen Street and the ideologies that underpin it are a failure.
The solution is to remove obstructions to traffic flowing. That means removing obstructions like traffic lights and raised tables to encourage movement. It’s going to be hard given the war on cars is so ingrained in AT’s thinking. It’s going to take courage and some people are going to feel uncomfortable as they come to the realisation their ideology is a failure.
It’s going to require the removal of underperforming staff and the quieting of priviledged voices who have got us into this mess. But I live in hope that it can happen and that one day Newmarket might thrive again.
That won’t happen under the plan put forward by this poster which will see people unable to access Newmarket and will see Newmarket decay just like the central city.
Good luck with just removing all the traffic lights or somewhat. There isn’t really any speed tables from what I’m aware of and only more recently the crossing put in from the 2nd most busy station on the network. A couple of subtle rises on Teed St is about all I can think of.
There is even a roundabout further north.
The real problem is there is just too many cars being used and too many intersections with most allowing turns in every direction. The new mall has added to this by providing roughly 2,700 carparks alone.
With all the bus routes and major train station location there, it must be possible to change this. So much of this sort of stuff is half baked so you end up just with a mess.
No bike lanes, yet bike racks. Some part time part length bus lanes, plenty of parking.
“It’s going to take courage and some people are going to feel uncomfortable as they come to the realisation their ideology is a failure.”
LoL, oh the irony, at least in a Newmarket complex. Cramming too many cars through it has stuffed if for everybody. But no, its someone elses fault, someone elses ideology that has failed.
You are a special kind of blinkered, TRM.
Everything said in this comment is utterly backwards.
I live in Remuera so go through Newmarket a lot. During the week it is always on a bus. In the weekend it is about 80% in a car and about 20% on a bus – I typically drive in the weekend because I’m doing errands and I stop there on my way to/from somewhere else and public transport isn’t good for these trips.
I’ve noticed that traffic is worse with the extra traffic lights across Broadway by Teed Street. Given the proximity to the Remuera Road intersection, these shouldn’t have been put in. While I do use them, I could easily walk the very short distance to the next lights.
I think in the short term some issues could be improved using technology to connect up buses running late with traffic light timing. Improving the bus stops would also make waiting there more attractive. The one at the bottom of Remuera Road is terrible.
A few of the comments talk to connecting buses and trains. I’ve tried this in the past when I worked at Britomart and sadly it didn’t work for me. It is too problematic connecting from trains back to infrequent (and often overloaded) buses to finish my journey home. Having more frequent buses would help make this option more attractive and would also help get people out of cars.
A number of the cars in Newmarket during the weekend are coming from all over Auckland, and many are unlikely to use public transport, so we need a solution that works for different visitors to the area.
While I use public transport a lot, and would love for it to improve significantly, I have concerns about some of the measures proposed and the impacts on the wider area, including unintended consequences. And significant changes would need to be made in the wider area as well to make this work. For example, Alpers Avenue is regularly blocked up due to the motorway onramps.
There needs to be a lot more discussion on this, but good to see some different ideas to kick this off.
oh my reply down further mean to be here:
Yes good to have a discussion.
The lights by Teed St were important as it is opposite the station access (which is barely visible – should have a bigger sign somehow). There is so many sets of lights that I think it wouldn’t make much difference as you end up just getting to the next set anyway in either direction but especially the other crossing further north. I think we need to be bold and make a transit mall, simplifying the light phasing as a result. I kind of like the idea of it from Remuera to Teed St after Jon suggested that.
Mayor Brown & I hear AT have done work on “technology to connect up buses running late with traffic light timing”, so that should be coming city wide, I presume, or where needed.
Regarding the wider area, yes, you can see it all blocked up red on Google Maps at peak time especially if it’s been raining or a motorway incident, so if anything to have proper transit priority, would mean buses at least keep moving, this should, in turn, encourage more use and so frequencies etc can be improved in a virtuous cycle (you should then find a seat on the bus if transferring from the train.
Sod off and leave Broadway alone.
K’Rd is a write off, not only for private transport but the businesses in the area. I know of several that have folded or gone elsewhere. Others are doing it tough because they can’t get out of leases.
These areas are much bigger than transport issues. Broadway is an important arterial. Restricting access just relocates the problem.
277 and others along Broadway are battling to earn a dollar, screwing with vehicle access will make matters worse.
Cities and towns in the Netherlands are A. much older than ours, were developed differently and B. are flat with a more stable terrain, ergo much more conducive to cycling.
Bring on the flames.
What if the solution made it easier for cars to get into/out of Newmarket, or get through/around it?
Ideas like using technology to synchronising traffic lights and optimising light phases based on demand?
Changes that reduce queues to get onto the motorway?
Would you be in favour of changes like that?
Paul NZ please note: not all Dutch cities are ‘old’
Rotterdam was rebuilt after ww2 or on ‘flat’ land – Maastricht & the Dutch are capitalists. They are good at adapting & ‘Cities and towns in the Netherlands ‘ are in a constant state of change.
KBA (which represents the interests of its members) is in favour of cycling infrastructure.
Ask them yourself if you don’t believe me.
https://www.karangahaperoad.com/contact
Absolute nonsense
No flame needed, all discussion is good.
A few hills are easily conquered with an eBike.
Broadway is an important arterial, so it should be prioritized for Public Transport.
That will get some cars off the road, and less gridlock is good for business.
So K Road is pretty brilliant & clearly you don’t visit it much. And Queen Street is way better than it was in the 80s. It was a horrific boy racer unpleasant place to be. So yeah we aint the lowlands but we could be more Melbourne & London. Time to grow up Auckland & look to the future.
Do you have any information on how the changes have impacted the businesses on K Rd?
Yes, I think they are both much improved over what they were. I think there are other reasons many retail shops are struggling.
Yes good to have a discussion.
The lights by Teed St were important as it is opposite the station access (which is barely visible – should have a bigger sign somehow). There is so many sets of lights that I think it wouldn’t make much difference as you end up just getting to the next set anyway in either direction but especially the other crossing further north. I think we need to be bold and make a transit mall, simplifying the light phasing as a result. I kind of like the idea of it from Remuera to Teed St after Jon suggested that.
Mayor Brown & I hear AT have done work on “technology to connect up buses running late with traffic light timing”, so that should be coming city wide, I presume, or where needed.
Regarding the wider area, yes, you can see it all blocked up red on Google Maps at peak time especially if it’s been raining or a motorway incident, so if anything to have proper transit priority, would mean buses at least keep moving, this should, in turn, encourage more use and so frequencies etc can be improved in a virtuous cycle (you should then find a seat on the bus if transferring from the train.
As with any arterial, car parks should go, with alternative off street parking provided if needed (perhaps in the upcoming Smith and Caughey parking lot)
Pushing all broadway through traffic down side streets is unlikely to result in anything but gridlock.
If you solve the problems of how you get cars through Newmarket in the most efficient way possible, how you get people to Westfield and how you get people who went to Westfield back out of Newmarket including improving motorway ramp access there isn’t too many other problems to solve. A transit mall in the middle of Broadway or lanes set aside to be largely unused is the opposite of most of that.
Is this ChrisB’s other account?
What is the end game here? Something like the intro to tv show Weeds, where everyone hops in their little car in the suburb and somehow has uninterrupted access to the local Westfield?
Adding more off street parking will make more congestion – it’s hard to comprehend how people don’t understand that.
Ideally there would be no motorway on/off ramps here and a tiny Westfield carpark. Main issue with that part of motorway is the very short distances between on and off ramps.
I’d be interested in thoughts as to why car drivers “need” to go through Newmarket.
In just about every use case I can think of there are viable alternative routes for cars.
Does anyone have a use case where there isn’t a viable alternative route?
Jon I think that question could be asked of almost anywhere where you have a fully meshed road network. You can always find another way.
But lets say I’m driving from Great South Road to the upper end of Parnell or nearby suburbs or headed towards Epsom or the start of Great South Road/Manukau Rd from anywhere North.
Can I go some other way than Broadway or Gillies Ave? Sure. But say for Epsom then the Market road community association could ask exactly the same question and get a similar answer, Why sure yes I could go thru Newmarket instead of taking a slightly longer route down Market road.
So if as other posters suggest we eliminate the Gilles Ave ramps maybe we shut down Market road ramps too and see if the Greenlane Road Community association has anything to say about that.
You’re probably aware that the local Westfield in that case has a train station almost right next to it, and bus stops nearby. In fact I don’t think I know of any major Auckland mall without buses that go to it. It has somewhat awkward motorway onramp and offramp access.
The on and off ramps there pre-date Westfield by quite some decades and could have done with a re-think even before the mall was built.
Replacing on street parking with an equivalent amount of off street parking improves congestion because you don’t have people pulling in and out of on street parks slowing the traffic down or blocking what could be another lane by using it for parking. It’s a huge waste of valuable space with negative effects on traffic flow. In the worst case in some parts of Auckland you see informal on street parking tuning roads into single lane alternating one way streets as people try to share a single remaining lane for both directions. The same applies for buses blocking the street while loading and unloading. They need to have stops they can pull into to get that done while not causing a back up behind the bus. Believe it or not making things smoother for cars can make it smoother for buses too. It’s not always an either/or.
If there were no motorway off ramps and developers were only allowed to build a tiny Westfield car park there’ would be no Westfield Newmarket since the mall would never have been built. With poor motorway access mainstreet Newmarket would become even less popular and residents of suburbs that primarily use the Gilles ave offramp would likely not be too happy either.
It’s likely along here that all the buses have to stop, so I think inline bus stops are fine and they pretty much are all pretty long anyway for multiple buses.
Yes the Gillies Ave on/off ramps are a bit sad, but I think we need them still, it’s a pity they somehow couldn’t of been built with the south facing Khyber Pass ones. I wonder if these changes were made or even now if further north along Gillies/Crowhurst get’s clogged if people get on at the motorway there and exit at Khyber and go down it. One issue at pre peak time on Gillies is the amount of ped crossing going on with school kids from St Peter’s & AGS. There is one lane going straight ahead through, the others are for motorway on-ramp or turning so it should work OK.