In 2023, Auckland Transport shared and consulted on plans for the streets surrounding the Karanga-a-Hape CRL station. They were well received, yet they’ve since been subject to major changes. What happened?
Many Aucklanders have a dream. A dream that one day they will be able to get from point A to point B without pissing themselves in their car due to being gridlocked in traffic. A dream that one day, cars won’t be our overloads, and roads our masters. This would require proper public transport, of course. The City Rail Link – New Zealand’s largest transport infrastructure project ever – is expected to open next year. The 3.45km-long tunnels are being billed as “transformational” for travel, housing, productivity and revenue. Residents and passersby have either been staring longingly through the peepholes in the fences at the rising stations or getting pissed off by closed roads and road cones. It’s happening, but details, like a design of the streetscapes around the stations, are still being debated.
Finalising plans around the Karanga-a-Hape Station is proving difficult. They were first revealed in 2023, and though they received wide support at the time, they are still being updated in response to feedback. The plans, which once featured a pedestrian mall (a street or area where using vehicles is prohibited or restricted), shared areas, planter boxes, speed bumps and more footpaths around Mercury Lane and Cross Street, have changed to preserve parking and vehicle thoroughfares. Urbanist commentator Connor Sharp is calling the new proposal a “disgraceful switcheroo” and councillor Richard Hills says that “sudden, dramatic” changes to the well-supported plans have prompted “extreme shock and frustration”.
Auckland Transport’s director of infrastructure and place, Murray Burt, says that AT is continuing to receive feedback. The agency is “very conscious” that the CRL construction and economic climate have made it challenging for nearby businesses, so “we seriously consider feedback that our proposals may further impact businesses’ ability to operate”. Though plans were meant to be finalised in November 2023, designs are still being “refined”.
What was in the original proposal?
The Karanga-a-Hape Station has two entrances – one in Beresford Square near Pitt Street and another on Mercury Lane. Auckland Transport expects that up to 40,000 people will pass through these entrances every day, mostly arriving by foot or bike. The Karanga-a-Hape Station precinct integration project – often referred to as Project K – began with a proposal from AT to make changes that would improve walking and cycling through the neighbourhood (pedestrian mall, crossings, widening footpaths, cycleways) and adjusted the number of on-street parking and loading zones.
In the original plan a pedestrian mall would have stretched from Cross Street to Karangahape Road along Mercury Lane. Renders show planted areas, seats and string lights criss-crossing from posts. The plan for the lower end of Mercury Lane had wider footpaths and a two-directional cycleway. On Cross Street, a wide footpath ran all along the southern side and most on-street parking was removed, though there were options for some loading zones, car share and short stay areas. On East Street, it was proposed that the two-way cycleway that was initially built to be temporary during construction would stay.
Near the other entrance of the station, the plan for Pitt Street included another pedestrian and cycle crossing, new bus stops, cycle lanes, and new trees and landscaping. To make way, on-street car parking and loading zones were to be removed.
How was Project K received?
AT consulted the public from April to May 2023, met stakeholder groups like business associations and received more than a thousand items of feedback. A majority – 73% – of participants agreed or strongly agreed that the proposed changes would “improve the area for me”, and 76% agreed or strongly agreed that the changes would “improve the area for the neighbourhood”. People were overwhelmingly positive towards changes to support walking and cycling. Responses to changes in parking were mixed, but still a majority was in support – 53% backed the proposed changes and 17% opposed them. Support for pedestrianising the upper part of Mercury Lane was also mixed but positive, with 67% in support and 20% opposed. Another 10% had mixed feedback, and 3% of responses were “not relevant to the survey question”.
The engagement feedback report also notes that the George Court Body Corporate, from the 1926 George Court apartment building on the eastern corner of Karangahape Road and Mercury Lane, opposed the proposed pedestrian mall on Mercury Lane because it believed it would have a negative impact on the community, negatively impact property owners and business operators and was inconsistent with the Resource Management Act. The ADIO Trust needle exchange on East Street was concerned about it too, saying that many of its visitors come by car. They said that if Mercury Lane must be closed, then there should be a right-hand turn at the Karangahape Road/Upper Queen Street intersection. The report noted that some aspects of the project required further engagement to agree on the best outcomes, and that final decisions were anticipated to be made by November 2023.
What happened next?
When November 2023 rolled around, AT held three community workshops, inviting locals to join the conversation to shape plans for the spaces. The first focus area was Cross Street and then Mercury Lane, Canada Street and Beresford Street. Participants agreed with widening the footpath on the southern side of Cross Street, and removing on-street car parking there to make space. Suggestions of making Cross Street an even more pedestrian-friendly “shared space” with surface painting were supported too. Workshop participants liked the idea of large planted pots and seating on lower Mercury Lane, and a slew of other measures to slow down cars and make the area more inviting to pedestrians and cyclists.
Meanwhile, the George Court Body Corporate was presenting a case against the pedestrian mall at the top of Mercury Lane. Connor Sharp has dug into their activities, which included attending Auckland Transport board meetings and approaching Auckland Council’s transport committee and even the mayor. While the group threatened legal action, AT’s legal team reviewed their concerns and noted they were wrong. Sharp has called the George Court group a “vocal minority” and “never-satisfied grumblers”. In his view the original designs, which were well-supported and refined by community feedback, were “quietly chipped away by a vocal, litigious, oppositional minority, in a series of small rooms”.
What are the plans now?
The most recent version of the plans was shared with the Waitematā Local Board in early April, 16 months after they were supposed to be finalised. The top of Mercury Lane is no longer a pedestrian mall, it is now a “shared space”. Burt says pedestrians will have priority but residents and service vehicles can use the area at low speed. The notes on the plans say that a “low number of vehicles” are expected and “safety and space for pedestrians will be paramount”. There are retractable bollards that could be used to control traffic if monitoring indicates they’re necessary.
At the bottom of Mercury Lane, green areas have been adjusted to accommodate a roundabout for two-way traffic. Nearby on East Street, the new plans now remove the two-way cycleway – which was added as an interim measure during CRL construction – in order to reinstate two-way vehicle traffic.
On Cross Street, where the southern side was once planned to be a wide footpath, there is instead preserved on-street car parking, a new loading zone and a relocated car share space. “Businesses have told us they rely on loading on both sides,” says Burt. Proposed planter boxes, speed humps and speed cushions have been removed. Burt says that due to feedback, AT is now investigating an option that would create a footpath on the south side by bridging over the trench next to the carpark building.
Burt wants people to know that for Cross Street, “this project is not a final outcome”. He says it’s an interim approach to allow for future projects because there are private developments expected on the street and nearby which will lead to changes in the way the street is used.
The area near the station’s other entrance on Pitt Street has not had the same attention, though local businesses have asked for a loading zone that is now planned on the western side but only available outside bus lane hours.
What will happen next?
Councillor Richard Hills is not happy that this proposal is “suddenly so different”. He says the original plans aligned with council policy and plans – now, he has “serious concerns about accessibility and safety”. He sees the decision to allow cars through Mercury Lane as dangerous, and says that on Cross Street the plans show a lack of access for pedestrians, especially people with limited mobility, disabilities and prams. He says that while the plan should include loading space for businesses, this should not come at the detriment of all other users. Due to pushback from supporters of the original proposal, AT has promised a full review of the plan for Cross Street and potential for other changes. “I hope we end up with a dramatic improvement for pedestrians and other users, like originally planned,” says Hills.
Burt says the Karanga-a-Hape Station precinct integration project’s updated plan has already received further feedback and is once again being updated as AT tries to find “the best possible outcome”. The updates are expected to be shared with the local board and stakeholders in “the coming weeks”.
