The Parade in Island Bay is an important part of a future safer biking connection between the south coast and the central city that will pass through Berhampore, Newtown and Mt Cook, and provide links to local destinations in these neighbourhoods.
Work with the community to plan routes and street changes through these three suburbs is under way as part of the Newtown Connections project. Our aim is to secure as much Government funding support as we can for work in the south (up to 75 percent).
So on the advice of the NZ Transport Agency, and in line with a unanimous decision made by Councillors in October 2018, we are planning all the connections between the south coast and the city so funding can be sought for the whole lot in one go. This includes planned redesign work on The Parade.
Councillors agreed on a redesign for the layout of The Parade, including bike paths, at a meeting of the City Strategy Committee on 27 September 2017.
A consistent concept design for the layout of the road, footpaths and bike paths is planned for The Parade, from just north of Reef Street to just south of Dee Street, with some variation through the main shopping area.
If you have information or suggestions that could help the designers during the detailed design phase for The Parade, email transport@wcc.govt.nz
Work carried out on The Parade in late 2018 and early 2019 was standard road maintenance and line marking work. As part of the work, some redundant (ghost) roadmarkings were removed or improved.
The work included:
It wasn't possible to waterblast old markings in areas with chipseal (the stony road surface), as the water blaster would have removed stones and damaged the road surface.
The road surface between Dee and Tamar streets was repaired and then resurfaced with asphalt in March. This work had to be done because the road surface on this block had deteriorated more than other parts of The Parade.
Councillors discussed a co-funding opportunity at a meeting on 18 October 2018, and unanimously agreed it was the best approach. This affects the timing of reconstruction work on The Parade.
The Labour-led Government has more than doubled the available funding and increased the financial assistance rate to local authorities, giving Wellington the opportunity to potentially secure up to $24 million in government funding for walking and cycling improvements in the city's southern suburbs.
To do this, we need to put forward a plan for integrated, high quality improvements from the south coast to the city. This includes the agreed improvements to The Parade, and the plans in development for the wider Newtown area.
With the $8 million in ratepayer funding already approved, this would enable us to do a lot more in more places, without any additional ratepayer funding.
During 2019, we will work closely with NZ Transport Agency and community to develop a plan for improvements that meet the funding criteria.
Apart from the routine maintenance carried out in late 2018/early 2019, construction on The Parade will not happen until the NZ Transport Agency has considered the plan for the whole route and confirmed what level of funding it will provide. The Agency is likely to make these decisions once consultation in Newtown, Berhampore and Mt Cook is complete later in 2019.
News release - Council to work with the Government on walking and cycling - 18 October 2018
Between August 2016 and July 2017, we worked closely with the Island Bay Residents Association, Cycle Aware Wellington and local businesses to set up a syndicate for a community-based design project looking at the future of Island Bay and The Parade.
A community network, Love the Bay, was set up to involve everyone in place-making and design. A pop-up community shop on The Parade was a place where people could go to look at ideas, leave comments and talk to Council representatives.
Public workshops were held in 2016 to establish a shared vision and goals for the community. More than 200 people attended, and several hundred more participated online.
The feedback received was used to develop community design objectives and options for how different parts of the bike paths and road layout could be treated. Following further public feedback, four design options were developed and these went out for wider public consultation in June 2017. Over 3700 submissions were received. You can read the feedback report here.
In September 2017, Councillors agreed on a design at the City Strategy Committee meeting.