‘Welcome to cones central’: Auckland mayor Wayne Brown blasts roadworks and Auckland Transport

Monday, 10 February 2025

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown criticises Auckland Transport’s roadworks, calling it ‘cones central.’ He says millions have been spent, but no one understands the changes.

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has criticised Auckland Transport (AT) for its roadworks in the city centre.

He said the road cones in place represent a waste of money and nobody even knows what they are for.

Brown also suggested the roadworks were causing traffic congestion.

“Welcome to cones central,” Auckland mayor Wayne Brown says, as he walks down a congested, road cone-filled street in the CBD.

He’s on Victoria St West in our biggest city’s centre, right at the base of the Sky Tower and near Britomart and Viaduct Harbour.

“Here we have what was formerly a nice clean two lanes to go up to a very important intersection,” Brown said in the video posted to social media.

“Now, as you’ll see, it doesn’t work like that. We’ve spent all this money and nobody knows what it’s for.”

Mayor Wayne Brown criticises Auckland Transport's roadworks in the CBD.

Is it for a bus lane, or a cycle way, he questioned.

“I’ve been doing roads all my life, I can’t even guess what it’s for.”

Not only that, but it’s caused congestion, Brown said, with cars that “can’t get anywhere”. He said motorists were also having to turn across three lanes to head left.

“I don’t think Auckland Transport is listening,” he said. Two of the biggest car parks in Auckland were in the intersecting Federal St, making it harder for motorists.

“And all of this expensive real estate which had a perfectly good road on it, is now available for what? It’s not as if there’s not enough room for walking, there’s plenty around here.”

“This is a complete waste of money.”

An AT spokesperson said this section of Victoria St was already scheduled for essential road maintenance this year, so it was taking the opportunity to close a gap in the city cycle loop.

As part of the City Centre Masterplan, it said the Auckland Council completed the first section of its Te Hā Noa project on Victoria Street between Elliott Street and Queen Street.

Among the upgrades was a two-way cycleway that fed into Auckland’s city cycle loop, which the spokesperson said was convenient and efficient routes that were safely separated from traffic and footpaths.

There were existing lanes on Victoria St running from College Hill as far as Nelson St, so this left a noticeable gap in the cycle loop.

The spokesperson said installing a cycle lane was done at the same time as other road maintenance to avoid more disruption in the future.

“This work is currently still under way and we will continue to do everything we can to reduce disruption and traffic management while keeping everyone on the roads safe.”