Pipe work brings motorists seven months of disruption

Thursday, 9 January 2025

A wastewater pipe will be installed on Wakefield St between Tory St and Kent Terrace.

Pipe installation work throughout Wakefield St - bringing disruption to motorists and businesses - will take about seven months to complete, says Wellington Water.

The work is scheduled to begin on January 21 and is part of the Wellington City Council’s major CBD renewals programme involving six projects over five years.

It will involve installing 270m of pipe between Tory St and Kent Terrace and 50m of pipe on Chaffers St between Wakefield St and Pump Station 4, located at the Chaffers St entrance to the New World car park.

Motorists on Wakefield St would be restricted to one lane and all on-street parking would be removed but access to garages, parking buildings and retail premises would be maintained throughout, WW said on its website.

Amanda Holland, owner of Small Acorns and Squirrel NZ cafe on the corner of Wakefield and Blair streets, was concerned about the traffic being reduced to one lane, as traffic banked up on Wakefield St even under normal conditions.

“If the council also thinks they might start Courtenay Place at the same time, then we really are caught between a rock and a hard place.”

Holland said her business was lucky to have Blair St parking but she still worried her customers might not have a way of finding parks.

“Everybody knows parking around Wellington is difficult at the best of times.”

A 50m long wastewater rising main will be installed on Chaffers St.

Holland said she had been told about the works from another retailer but had not yet been officially told by the council.

Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said motorists wanting to drive across town to the north could go through the Mt Victoria tunnel, the Basin Reserve and Karo Drive if they want to avoid delays on Oriental Parade and Wakefield St.

He recommended New World supermarket shoppers use the Cable St entrance and exit - especially at peak times.

MacLean said using Courtenay Place as an alternative route would not interrupt the proposed Golden Mile project to make the street car-less.

The work to install a new wastewater rising main to link the existing Kent Terrace and the new Taranaki St rising main was scheduled to end on August 4, WW said.

The work would be undertaken in two sections, starting between Tory St and Chaffers St before moving to between Chaffers St and Kent Terrace.

The renewal of the section of Wakefield St between the intersection with Tory St and the BP Petrol Station on the corner of Wakefield and Taranaki streets had already been completed.