Wellington City Council

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Project details

Aro Valley connection

The content on this page was accurate at the time of the traffic resolution consultation, and some changes were made to the project as a result of community feedback. See 'how we're rolling out the changes' for more up-to-date information.

We've kept this page to make sure we are being transparent about our process and to show how the project has developed. The main project page is the most up to date place, and more information about the Council's decision can be found in the meeting minutes. 

Projects  > Aro Valley connections  > Project details

He tāone e hāngai ana ki te anamata
Preparing for the future – more choice for more people

The changes along these streets will make things safer and easier for everyone – whether you’re walking, riding a bike/scooter, catching the bus or driving.

Ngā panonitanga I Changes at a glance

The route Copy v3

The route

The changes along these streets will make things safer and easier for everyone.

Impacts
  • New street layout with a separated uphill bike lane on Aro Street and Raroa Road
  • Extended 30km/h zone on Aro Street through to Willis Street
  • New raised pedestrian crossing by Aro Park and four speed humps introduced on Aro Street
  • New car share parking spaces on Epuni Street
  • New mobility car park on Epuni Street
  • Better bike parking in the shopping village
  • Changes to widen paths through Aro Park and Little Palmer Street to create shared paths
  • Changes to parking on Aro Street, Raroa Road and some side streets - see the details of parking impacts on how we're rolling out changes.

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People walking Copy v3 Aro park slider v2 min

Changes for people walking

Pedestrian safety and accessibility will be improved.

Impacts

  • One new raised pedestrian crossing on Aro Street near Aro Park
  • Extended 30km/h zone from shopping village to Willis Street
  • Clearer footpath areas with new bike parking in the shopping village
  • Wider paths to create a proper shared path through Aro Park and Little Palmer Street.

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People riding Copy v3 Aro St slider v2 min

Changes for people on bikes

These changes will create a safer route and better facilities for people riding bikes.

Impacts
  • New separated uphill bike lane on Aro Street on either side of the shopping area that will be phased over two years
  • On Raroa Road, a mix of uphill bike lane, broken yellow lines on tight corners, and a 'cycle shoulder' in narrow places
  • Sharrows in the downhill direction from the top of Raroa Road to Willis Street
  • Wider path to create a proper shared path through Aro Park and Little Palmer Street
  • Six new bike parks in the shopping village.

Cycle shoulders are a trial design from Waka Kotahi developed as a way to improve safety for people on bikes on particularly narrow and/or windy roads like we have in Wellington. Cycle shoulders are narrower than the standard bike lane width (1.5m), and include broken yellow lines by the kerb, and a dashed white line at the edge of the vehicle lane which illustrates it is legal for people driving to move into this space if required to avoid oncoming traffic. These may be accompanied by some green markings or cycle symbols where appropriate. 

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People using bus Copy v4 Raroa rd v2 min

Changes for people using the bus

Bus journeys will be quicker and easier.

Impacts
  • Some car parks removed on Aro Street and Raroa Road at very narrow places where it's currently hard for buses to get through
  • New bus stop opposite 125 Raroa Road (bottom of path from Harrold Street)
  • Moving two bus stops 5-10m on Aro Street, and two bus stops 10-15m on Raroa Road between Cluny Avenue and Fairview Crescent, to make it easier to get on and off buses
  • Bus stop outside 47b Aro Street removed to make bus trips quicker and make it safer for people using the nearby pedestrian crossing.

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Changes for driving Copy v4 30 km sign v2

Changes for people driving

With more separation between bikes/scooters and traffic, this route will be safer and easier for drivers.

  • Safer speeds along Aro Street:
    • Extended 30km/h zone in the shopping village, 150m through to Willis Street
    • Four new speed humps along Aro Street
    • One new raised pedestrian crossing to make it safer for people crossing the street
  • New access to car share with a Cityhop car and van available from dedicated car park space on Epuni Street
  • Broken yellow lines on uphill of Raroa Road and downhill at tight corners to make it safer and easier to see, where 34-44 cars regularly park uphill and 24 cars park downhill
  • Changes to parking along the route and on some side streets to create space for uphill bike lane and where it's particularly narrow, so cars and buses can pass safely:
    • Remove 18 resident car parks and 52 coupon car parks on Aro Street, using a staged approach over two years
    • Change 16 P20 car parks in shopping area from 'Monday to Saturday' to seven days
    • Change one P20 car park to six bike parks outside the fish and chip shop on Aro Street
    • Change three unrestricted car parks on Epuni Street to two carshare parks and one mobility carpark at all times
    • Change 68 unrestricted car parks on Holloway Road to 33 combined residents and P120 car parks and 35 residents' only car parks
    • Change 20 coupon car parks to residents parking on Ohiro Road at the Aro Street end
    • Remove one resident car park at either end of Little Palmer Street, on Abel Smith Street and Palmer Street.
  • For full details of parking impacts, see how we're rolling out changes.

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Speed Copy v3 30 km sign v2

Changes to speed limits

Lower speed limits will improve safety for everyone.

Impacts:

  • Extend the existing 30km/h zone near the shopping area on Aro Street by 150m, from the School of Philosophy to Willis Street.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency will make the decision on this proposed speed limit change under a different traffic law and your feedback will be considered by them. We’re asking for feedback on it now as it’s likely all these proposed changes would happen at the same time. 

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Te kauhaurangi
Consultation webinar

In this webinar, the project team talks through the proposed changes and answers questions from the community. It covers both the Ngaio and Aro Valley Connections projects.
 
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From June 2022, we began engaging with residents and businesses about planned improvements for people walking, riding or using buses along this route.

Following discussions with groups in the community and stakeholders, we included the following changes in our proposed designs:

  • Retaining all short stay parking in the shopping area
  • Changing one P20 car park to six bike parks in the shopping area
  • Changing one unrestricted car park to a mobility car park near shopping area
  • Providing car share parking as an alternative to private car ownership
  • Proposing a staged approach over two years to make it easier for people to adapt to change in parking availability
  • Reallocating parking - changing coupon car parks to residents' car parks, and changing unrestricted side street parking to residents' parking
  • Relocating bus stops to make it easier for people to get on and off buses, and moving one to avoid blocking entrance ramp to Waimapihi Reserve
  • Installing a new bus stop on Raroa Road
  • Removing one bus stop outside 47b Aro Street.

As part of our engagement, we’ve worked closely with groups in the community and stakeholders to make changes to the proposed design.

These groups included: 

  • Argo Trust Residential Community Trust
  • Aro Valley Community Council
  • Bus Driver Union
  • Cycle Wellington
  • Disability Action groups
    • CCS Disability Action
    • Blind and Low Vision
  • Greater Wellington Regional Council
  • Let's Get Wellington Moving
  • Living Streets Aotearoa
  • Local businesses
  • Metlink
  • Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency

Proposed roll out of the changes

Our proposal is for an uphill bike lane that would be installed in three stages over two years, alongside other changes that will make it safer and easier for people to walk, use car share and buses. 

  • Stage one (June 2023) would give people living in Aro Valley time to adjust to future parking removal by:
    • providing more residents parking on side streets
    • installing dedicated car share parking
    • installing uphill bike lanes and cycle shoulders on Raroa Road as well as sections of uphill separated bike lane on upper Aro Street
    • removing pinch points for buses and cars
    • installing raised pedestrian crossing by Aro Park
    • installing four speed humps along Aro Street for safer speeds
    • widening paths through Aro Park and Little Palmer Street, and
    • extending 30km/h zone on Aro Street through to Willis Street.  
  • Stage two (Jan/Feb 2024) and stage three (Jan 2025) would remove two sections of parking on Aro Street to create space to complete the uphill separated bike lane.  

For a full breakdown of the proposed changes involved at each stage, see staged approach.

Read a full set of plans and the traffic resolution

You can see the full plans and traffic resolution, as well as other supporting documents.

Raroa Road

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Aro Street

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Aro Park path widening

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Little Palmer Street path widening

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The options we considered

Explore the options that we considered for this project. Full analysis report avaliable.

How we're rolling out changes

We're rolling out the changes in two stages to help residents and business time to adjust to changes

Supporting documents

Read all the detailed plans, traffic resolution report, project assessments and more