‘A very weird design’

‘A very weird design’

The Mt Victoria Residents’ Association is worried pedestrians will be worse off, after the new intersection with Courtenay Place is built on Kent and Cambridge Terraces.  Jane O’Loughlin reports.

Construction is due to start at the end of April on the first stage of the Golden Mile upgrades, which will see the intersection moved so that Courtenay Place is aligned with the Embassy instead of Majoribanks Street.

But MVRA President Ellen Blake says the new design is ‘dangerous’ as it puts the cycleway in the middle of the crossing and is likely to result in collisions and conflict between cyclists and pedestrians.

“It doesn’t promote walking; it promotes conflict with cyclists.”

Blake says half of Mt Victoria residents walk to work, so it was important for the Association to promote a safe and enjoyable experience.

She is also critical of the design that will see pedestrians who could previously wait under the Embassy awning left with no shelter as they wait to cross, due to shifting the crossing further south.

It would have made sense to design a crossing to cope with the large crowds that often emerge from the Embassy following film festival events or U3A talks. Instead they will need to funnel through a narrow crossing and will likely get stranded in the middle of the crossing which is bisected by a cycleway, she said.

“There’s a lot of old people who cross through here.  They’re slower.  They might not get all the way across.”

She calls it ‘a very weird design’ and ‘a significant safety issue.’

Blake is also saddened by the prospect of losing the current shelter between the Embassy and Courtenay Place, which the Residents’ Association helped design some years ago. 

The current design allows pedestrians to choose a side to stay dry and sheltered depending on the direction of the wind and rain.

Originally, the design also allowed users to reach the ‘beg’ button without venturing out of the shelter, although this has changed in recent times.

Blake has been trying for months to talk to the Wellington City Council to no avail; a recent meeting was cancelled at the last moment.