Photo of the Day: High St- low value use
The top of High Street is interrupted, dominated, and devalued by the double-laned exit from the Victoria St car parking building. The footpath on the east side is frequently blocked by impatient drivers…. …while on the west side it is so narrow that the high numbers of people there are forced onto the oversized carriageway with the jammed traffic.…
41 Comments Photo of the Day: Star Site
Hard not to agree with the the agent quoted in the Herald commercial property section “that there’s no doubt this is Auckland city’s stellar building site”. The double fronted site, facing both lower Shortland St; long Auckland’s grandest commercial address, and onto the old beach front of Fort St, commanding an uninterruptable view down Commerce St to the sea, is now even more valuable because of the upgrades to the surrounding public realm.…
JSK in AKL
Last night we hosted Janette Sadik-Khan, the woman who transformed New York City’s notoriously contested streets as Mayor Bloomberg’s Transportation Commissioner 2007-13. We are extremely grateful that she found time on her four day visit to Auckland to share her wisdom and experience with us advocates.…
Photo of the Day: Euskotren Tranbia
As well as the Metro and an excellent bus system –Bilbobus– Bilbao also has a small tram system. Running CAF built Urbos 1 Light Rail vehicles, the route covers different sections of the city to the faster and longer reaching Metro, offering a highly visible distributor from a couple of Metro stations it connects with to important destinations like the Guggenheim Museum.…
Federal St Shared Space update
The O’Connell St shared space is now getting started however relatively quietly many people forget about the other shared space currently being developed in Federal St between Wellesley St and Victoria St. Work has been going on for some months now and so here are some photos I took of the progress about a week ago.…
O’Connell St Shared Space starts
Some great news that the work to upgrade O’Connell St to a shared space is now under-way. Construction is expected to be completed in August later this year. Due to the road being too narrow for two lanes, it has been closed to all traffic and temporary measures are being put in place so the shops along the street can have deliveries/rubbish collection etc.…
Photo of the day: Eyelight Lane
Back in 2011 when the first stage of the Fort St shared space was being built the artist impressions showed a neat artwork installation on Fort Lane. Now a few years later it’s finally been installed. It’s called Eyelight Lane by Swedish artist David Svensson.…
2013: A year in review – Part 2
In Part 2 of my 2013 year in review I’m going to look at transport other than PT so that includes walking/cycling and roads.
Walking/Cycling
2013 has been a bit of a mix when it comes to active modes. There have been some good things happen however in my opinion simply not enough has been done and from what I’ve heard (but haven’t confirmed) Auckland Transport spent well less than they had in the budget for cycling which is extremely disappointing.…
Economic benefits of sustainable streets
Courtesy of Atlantic Cities, it’s explained how New York City’s Department of Transportation has done some pretty detailed analysis of the economic impacts of many of the changes they’ve been making to the layout of streets over the past few years.…
Summer in the City, and a look ahead.
A view from new Britomart bar and restaurant Ostro that seems to perfectly express the contradictory current phase in Auckland City’s development. What a great scene:
Sitting here amidst the sophistication of the latest addition to the our reborn downtown with all the perfectly prepared kai moana you could want, reassuringly expensive wines from every viticultured corner of the country, the cruise liners slipping around North Head, and the sculptural forms of the gantry cranes lined up and waiting patiently in the late afternoon sun like a row of giant robotic footmen, it is hard not to marvel at how lovely Auckland can be and at how far it has come recently.…
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