High Street improvements

Have your say on the planned improvements for High Street between St Asaph and Tuam Street.

Update

The High Street upgrades - from Tuam Street to St Asaph Street - are going ahead from 7 February 2024 to mid-June 2024.

Work is expected to start 7 February on the eastern side of the road (outside Ara Institute) with new drainage and footpath works, before moving to the western side and then onto the carriageway. Connetics will also install new street
lighting at the same time as the roading works.

An informal drop-in session will be held on Friday 26 January from 11am–3pm at Ara Institute, JZ Building,
which has an entrance off High Street. This is your opportunity to learn more about the project and share any
queries or concerns you may have with the team.

Council decided to approve the hearings panel recommendation(external link), on 5 April 2023.

You can read the meeting minutes which include the formal resolutions: councillive.ccc.govt.nz(external link)

You can view the plan here [PDF, 642 KB]

Here are some details that might not be clear from the plan that are listed for clarity:

• The right-hand turn onto St Asaph Street will be raised to encourage traffic to turn left onto Madras Street and force cars to slow down turning right.
• Tree placement will be reviewed to make sure the heritage character of the buildings is not obscured or damaged.
• Bike parking and planting will be looked at in the detail design phase of the project, in case there is more opportunity for more to be put in.

What happens next?

We expect construction for these improvements to begin at the start of 2024.

Consultation has now closed

Consultation on High Street improvements has now closed. People were able to provide feedback from 10 October 2022 to 7 November 2022.

You can read their feedback here. [PDF, 1.7 MB]

Background

In 2019, the High Street Revitalisation and Tram renewal project(external link) looked at the renewal of High Street from Cashel Street to St Asaph Street . 

During public consultation, a number of concerns were raised by businesses and property owners(external link) in the block of High Street between Tuam and St Asaph streets, which resulted in the Hearings Panel deciding not to support the upgrade of the block, at that time. Instead, they requested further consultation, to determine how to make the street fit for its purpose.

Why we're doing this

Following consultation in 2019, the project team reviewed the feedback provided by the 90 submitters. 40 indicated their support, 44 indicated they did not support the plan and 6 did not clearly indicate their view. 

Of the 44 who did not support the plan, 23 commented that there should be less emphasis on cars, 25 commented that there should be more parking and of these, 19 submitted an alternative plan showing 29 car parks plus a mobility park and loading zone.

The team has revised the previous plan to address the concerns of businesses, property owners and future users so that this stretch of space can better reflect where the city is heading.

We identified the main issues with the first draft of the plan being:

• Too much emphasis on cars.
• More parking required to support businesses.
• Concerns surrounding the cycle facilities.
• Need to reflect climate change urgency.
• Impact of construction on the area and the businesses that were hit by Covid-19 and need to re-establish.

Some areas of opportunity that were found:

• Slower speed limit (10kph).
• More trees and planting.

What we're doing

We've taken the feedback received from the previous round of consultation and improved the plan so that street improvements are complementary to those on High Street from Cashel to Tuam Street.

These reconsiderations include:

• Enhancing the streetscape along the route to complement potential investment along the street e.g. in the SALT District and retail areas.
• Providing widened footpaths for improved access to the surrounding businesses, e.g. between the SALT District, Retail areas, Te Kaha and the Ara hairdressing school.
• Providing a critical missing safe cycle route between Tuam and St Asaph Streets – linking the central city cycleway networks with the Heathcote Expressway major cycle route.
• Providing a simplified intersection at High St and Tuam Street.
• Implementing a 10km/h speed limit along this section of the road.
• Making pedestrian access safer and easier between the SALT District and Retail areas.

We're proposing two options, our preferred option is to include a paved right turning lane onto St. Asaph Street in the design. This will reduce unnecessary traffic on Madras Street and eliminate illegal traffic movements across the footpath and allow cars to access the carpark on St. Asaph Street. However, this lane will require cyclists to give way to traffic.

The alternative option is to remove the right turning lane onto St. Asaph Street. This creates a clearway for cyclists heading north to Tuam Street and provides room for bike parking. Initial discussions with business owners have suggested that this option is less desirable.

View the plan here. [PDF, 1.8 MB]

We are also doing consultation on Te Kaha surrounding streets. You can view the proposed changes and have your say.(external link)(external link) 

Artist's impressions of High Street

View from Tuam Street

View of Madras and St. Asaph Street intersection

Main street view