Project K is gonna be OK

Breaking news: better things are indeed possible!

At the end of last week, the agenda of the Waitematā Local Board went public revealing the outcome of Auckland Transport’s recent work to fix the Karanga-a-Hape Station Precinct Integration Project, aka Project K. For details, see page 29 along with the attachment.

It’s Groundhog Day, but in a good way: the recommended plans for the area around the Mercury Lane CRL station are almost entirely a return to the original goals of the project: to create people-friendly spaces and reduce or indeed remove rat-running through the area.

As our friends at Bike Auckland said about this news, people power has prevailed!

This is great news, and I will dive into these new designs below – however, it’s not 100% confirmed yet! The Local Board will be considering the recommendations tomorrow (Tuesday). Given their feedback in the May workshop, we can be pretty optimistic they will support these plans… but if you feel like giving them some encouragement, you can find their contact details here to flick them an email.

The journey so far, or: how did we get (back) here?

Back in April 2023, Matt first wrote about the fantastic plans for upgrading the area around the K’Road CRL stations, which Auckland Transport had just put out for consultation. The plans matched the well-supported visions and strategies in the City Centre Masterplan and Access for Everyone. And broadly speaking, the public loved the proposed changes!

There were a few outstanding issues, so AT followed up with a series of community workshops to thrash out the problems, and engaged further with those concerned on a small number of sticking points that remained. Still, the core vision and promise of the project was safe, and the micro-changes to deal with genuine needs (such as loading zones and building access) could be easily addressed.

Unfortunately, over 2024, sustained pressure by a vocal minority challenged the core purpose of the project. Senior leadership at Auckland Transport responded with a couple of drastic changes:

Firstly, the planned pedestrianisation of Upper Mercury Lane was watered down from a proper pedestrian mall closed to traffic by bollards, to a “shared space” that would attract a flood of rat-running by letting any vehicle through.

Secondly, substantial design changes were suddenly dropped on the Local Board (and the public): ditching all pedestrian improvements to Cross Street in favour of keeping on-street car parking, and removing the East Street cycleway to bring back two-way vehicle traffic.

To the likely chagrin of some, these changes caused an uproar – especially once we spotlit the great switcheroo taking place. As the attachment to tomorrow’s Local Board meeting notes, after the Cross Street changes in April became public:

Auckland Transport received a high volume of emails. The majority of these emails queried why Auckland Transport had made changes and urged AT to revisit the design and reinstate features such as the East Street cycleway and the interim footpath on Cross Street. Feedback came from a variety of people including residents and businesses in the area, the media, elected members and people from other parts of Auckland.

Here at Greater Auckland, we wrote an open letter to AT, which was signed by over a hundred people and organisations – but, at least publicly, AT appeared to double down on their changes.

In May, I presented on behalf of Greater Auckand at Auckland Councils Transport, Resilience, and Infrastructure committee, and LGOIMA requests revealed many of the exact reasons Project K was being drastically changed, none of them justifiable.

With so many people emailing their frustration to AT, extreme concern from elected representatives like Cr Richard Hills, pushback from the City Centre Advisory Panel, and questions being raised in other media, it appears something gave way… AT went back to the drawing board, and reengaged with stakeholders and groups properly in an effort to fix the project.

And on that, I’d say they’ve done a great job overall.

So what does the project look like now?

The new (again) plans for Project K

On Cross Street, where the sudden April changes kicked off the public backlash, AT has thankfully gone back to focusing on making things better for pedestrians.

The plans restore the boardwalk on the south side to address the weird trench, and add traffic calming at the entrance from Upper Queen St. On-street parking is reduced, while keeping necessary loading and service zones. Plus, better lighting, which will make the area more comfortable, safe and attractive at night.

Soon to be gone: the weird Cross Street Trench! As seen on July 11th 2025.

It’s a shame there won’t be planter boxes to widen the north-side footpath as originally intended, and a few on-street parks remain. But overall, this sets Cross Street on the right path – a good thing, given the area is likely to be redeveloped at some point. Ideally, one day Cross Street will rival the laneways of Melbourne (or Vulcan Lane here in Auckland!).

As for Upper Mercury Lane, the new recommendation is almost entirely perfect. Looks like AT plans to raise the bollards from the get-go, completely stopping rat-running through Upper Mercury Lane.

This is fantastic, given the heart of Project K is about preventing through-running while keeping local access. Note that AT is not going straight to a formal pedestrian mall, but instead operating this as ‘consultation by doing’. The upside of this, is that when we show what’s possible with streets, people tend to love them even more – so I expect this ‘trial’ will be a roaring success and will stick around for a lot longer than two years!

There’s also a new render of Mercury Lane, looking pretty free of traffic…

…and the new renders are already on display on site!

Final/ updated render on a Mercury Lane construction fence, 11th July 2025

Lastly, East Street is also looking pretty good. AT conducted a Multi-Criteria Analysis of different options, which ultimately recommends keeping the cycleway, and keeping the street one-way for northbound traffic only, with added safety improvements such as a raised crossing.

For reducing rat-running, making East St one-way southbound would work better, and the Waitematā Local Board advocated for as much in May. But local businesses had some concerns. It’s probably fine for AT to stick to one-way northbound for now.

The tragic thing with East Street is that the most ideal solution, can’t really be done – even though it has support from the Karangahape Business Association and City Centre Advisory Panel (among many others). That’s the ‘modal filter’ option, which would enable two-way local traffic (as desired by local businesses) and safe walking and cycling, while also fully preventing rat-running,

Why can’t it happen here? Because timing and budget, as AT explains in the Local Board item:

The need to consult aside, trying for a modal filter could potentially jeopardise the project’s funding as it would likely need to go back to NZTA. Which, given the parameters NZTA is operating within via the GPS, would be a terrible idea.

The great news is that it appears Auckland Council and Eke Panuku [now the Auckland Urban Development Office inside Council] expressed interest in exploring the modal filter, and it wouldn’t be too hard to develop and implement it later.

I also asked Councillor Richard Hills, who put in a ton of mahi to help return Project K to its original intention, for some of his thoughts on the overall result. He told me:

“This result is so much better than where we were a few months ago, it’s not perfect but it’s a good result if everyone sees it as a compromise.

It’s a significant improvement and will encourage safe entry and exit to and from the new world-class station for the thousands of people who will use it each day, which will also help invigorate the Karanga-a-Hape business and residential areas.

Thanks to the AT team who urgently met with me and many others onsite when we let them know they’d got it wrong, I feel they balanced everyone’s views while getting much closer to the well supported designs that will make the whole neighbourhood a safer, more enjoyable and accessible place to use”

I agree with Councillor Hills: although there are some compromises, I believe the result achieves a lot of the originally consulted (and well-supported) outcomes, and sets up the area well, both for the immediate future and for any further redevelopment.

If we look at all the recommendations, and AT’s summary of feedback from key stakeholders, it really does look like AT has gotten the ‘balance’ right here. A good outcome, and one we can be happy with.

But it’s not quite over the line!

AT is presenting ‘recommendations’ to the Waitematā Local Board tomorrow – meaning, these plans are not yet guaranteed. Yes, prior feedback from the Local Board has been in line with these new designs, but their endorsement is not a given. And while, in theory, AT could proceed without endorsement from the Local Board, it’s better when there’s strong consensus.

So, if you’d like to give the Local Board some friendly encouragement, you can email the members.

• Genevieve Sage (Chairperson): genevieve.sage@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
• Greg Moyle: greg.moyle@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
• Alexandra Bonham: alexandra.bonham@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
• Richard Northey: richard.northey@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
• Sarah Trotman: sarah.trotman@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
• Anahera Rawiri: anahera.rawiri@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
• Allan Matson: allan.matson@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

As always, keep it positive and friendly. The key point is that the Local Board should resist any temptation to once again water down these recommendations (e.g. softening the bollards on Mercury Lane, or squeezing on-street carparks back into Cross Street).

You might also want to mention your support for a future modal filter on East Street, for future consideration.

Also: any locals, or really anyone who happens to be in the Local Board area, can show up and speak in support of the plans the public input section of the meeting tomorrow (which starts at 1pm). If anyone is up for this, go for it! I expect this should go through without any trouble, but we really want AT to feel empowered to stick the landing, so every little bit counts.

Also, let’s give our thanks to everyone who’s helped

It’s really important that we thank Auckland Transport, especially the project team, for their work on fixing the Karanga-a-Hape Station Precinct Integration Project to deliver what was originally promised and supported. Amidst all the uncertainty of CCO reform, they’ve done a lot of work on this, and could probably use some love. You can send them a positive email at:

projects@at.govt.nz

For good measure, you might want to copy in CEO of AT Dean Kimpton, so he knows his staff have done the right thing!

dean.kimpton@at.govt.nz

Lastly, huge thanks to everyone who signed onto our letter, emailed AT, and contributed in any other way. I hope to be at the local board meeting tomorrow to watch, and will have my fingers crossed that everything goes well.

It’s vital to remember the key lesson here. We don’t have to accept plans and promises being watered down, backed away from, and broken. When we choose to speak up, we can make a difference and change things for the better!

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