Project details

Botanic Garden ki Paekākā to city
Planning
Projects  > Botanic Garden ki Paekākā to city  > Project details

Preparing for the future – more choice for more people

The changes are preparing these streets for the future by making it safer and easier to walk, ride a bike/scooter and catch the bus.

Changes at a glance

BG2C route v22x

The route

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.

Impacts
  • New street layouts with separated bike/scooter and bus lanes where they haven’t been before
  • New bike lanes on both sides of Whitmore Street, between the waterfront and Lambton Quay/Bowen Street
  • Uphill bike lane on Bowen Street to Tinakori Road and the Botanic Garden ki Paekākā main entrance
  • Safer and easier for people crossing at The Terrace/Bowen Street intersection
  • Faster and easier bus journeys with a new downhill bus/bike lane between 7am and 9am on Tinakori Road, and full-time on Bowen Street
  • Additional mobility park on Bowen Street, outside the Ministry of Education building
  • On-street coupon and commuter parking significantly reduced. Details of alternative parking options available here.

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Bowen shared lane2x Tinakori Bus stop example2x

Changes for people using the bus

Bus journeys will be quicker and easier coming into the central city.

Impacts
  • New shared bus/bike lane downhill between 7am and 9am on Tinakori Road, and full-time on Bowen Street as far as The Terrace intersection
  • New in-lane bus stops so it’s quicker and easier for buses to pull in and out of traffic

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Bike lanes Copy2x Bike lanes2x

Changes for people riding bikes

These changes will create a connected, protected route between the waterfront and the Botanic Garden ki Paekākā on Tinakori Road (the bottom of Glenmore Street). It will also provide a connection for people biking in from Hutt Road/Thorndon Quay on Featherston Street and up Whitmore to Bowen Street and The Terrace.

Impacts
  • Separated bike lanes on both sides of Whitmore Street between the waterfront and the Lambton Quay/Bowen Street intersection
  • Uphill bike lane on Bowen Street and Tinakori Road to the main Botanic Garden ki Paekākā entrance (at Glenmore Street)
  • Shared bus/bike downhill lane from the Botanic Garden ki Paekākā on Tinakori Road between 7am and 9am and full-time down Bowen Street to The Terrace intersection

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Walking BG2C2x

Changes for people walking

Pedestrian safety and accessibility will be improved.

Impacts
  • New signalised crossing over Bowen Street from the Lambton Quay side of The Terrace (outside The Treasury building)
  • Footpath-height pedestrian crossing over the existing slip lane to Bowen from The Terrace (Reserve Bank side)
  • People on e-scooters will be able to ride in the bike lanes instead of on footpaths

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BG2C drving v22x

Changes for people driving

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

Impacts
  • New street layout with separated bike and bus lanes where they haven’t been before
  • Bike lanes on both sides of Whitmore Street
  • Uphill bike lane on Bowen Street and Tinakori Road to the Botanic Garden ki Paekākā
  • Shared downhill bike/bus lane on Tinakori Road between 7am and 9am, and full-time on Bowen Street to The Terrace
  • New signalised crossing across Bowen Street at The Terrace/Bowen Street intersection
  • Additional mobility park on Bowen Street, outside Ministry of Education building
  • Coupon parking and clearways removed along Tinakori Road, between the Botanic Garden ki Paekākā and Bowen Street (some short term and residents parking relocated to side streets).
  • Coupon parking and clearways removed on both sides of Bowen Street to Lambton Quay
  • Taxi stand on Whitmore Street relocated to Stout Street
  • No right turn for vehicles into Stout Street from Whitmore Street

Read more about the parking changes and alternative parking options

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Expand All

From the end of 2021, we began engaging with residents and businesses about planned bus and bike improvements along this route.

Following discussions with groups in the community and stakeholders, we changed the initial designs as below:  

To allow for business parking outside of commuter hours, we’ve made the following changes:  

  • On Tinakori Road from the Glenmore Street crossing to Botanic Garden to St Mary’s Street, the bus lane has been changed from full time to commuter hours only (between 7am-9am)  
  • On Bowen Street near the intersection of Tinakori Road before Sydney Street West, the clearway was proposed to be extended to full-time, but this will remain at commuter hours only (between 7am-9am)
  • Changing the Thorndon Residents parking zone boundary to include Patanga Crescent and St Mary Street.
  • Extending the bus stop in the westerly direction on Tinakori Road and removing 1 P120 parking space, and keeping 2 P10 parking spaces outside the antique shop.
  • Relocating taxi stands from Whitmore Street to Stout Street. 
  • Installing a mobility parking space on Bowen Street at The Terrace intersection.  

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: 

  • Accessibility community
  • Businesses along the route
  • Cycle Wellington
  • Fire and Emergency New Zealand
  • Living Streets Aotearoa
  • Metlink
  • Ministry of Education
  • NZ Bus
  • Taxi companies
  • Thorndon Residents Association
  • Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency

You can read the full set of plans and traffic resolution

Find out more and read the full set of plans and traffic resolution for the Botanic Garden ki Paekākā to city project.

View the plans and read the traffic resolution - TR 134-22

Tinakori Road

A new bus stop platform and uphill bike lane on Tinakori Road. View towards the Botanic Garden Ki Paekākā entrance.

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Bowen Street

Shared downhill bike and bus lane and a separated uphill bike lane on Bowen Street (at the corner of Ballantrae Street). View toward the city.

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Bowen Street

Separated uphill bike lane with a shared bike and bus lane downhill on Bowen Street (near The Terrace). View towards Tinakori Road and the Botanic Garden ki Paekākā.

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Whitmore Street

Separated bike lanes on both sides of the road on Whitmore Street (near Stout Street). View towards the waterfront. 

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Find out more

Supporting documents

Look at the plans, parking management plans, detailed information on the options we considered and more.

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Evaluating the changes

We'll be monitoring and evaluating the street changes alongside community feedback.

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The options we considered

We developed a list of possible options that could improve this route. We looked at things from a range of perspectives.

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