$600k Wellington boardwalk degrading, cars causing damage

Monday, 5 May 2025

Wellington councillor Geordie Rogers, pictured at a parklet near the Dixon St boardwalk, said the “trial” of the boardwalk had been a huge success, going by the crowds who used it. (File photo)

A $600,000 Dixon St boardwalk, opened 2½ years ago, is already degrading with the Wellington City Council looking at a permanent solution tacked onto the Courtenay Place section of the Golden Mile project.

“The parklets are in, the plants are planted, and the boardwalk is down,” the council announced of the $600,000 project in October 2022. “Welcome to a better, brighter, safer Dixon St.”

No mention was made in the announcement of the boardwalk being temporary though there has been some previous talk of it being “transitional”.

But an agenda to the council’s environment and infrastructure committee this week said it was always temporary, was now starting to “degrade”, and was originally going to be replaced in 2025 as part of the now-defunct Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) city-wide transport overhaul with Wellington’s city and regional council and Waka Kotahi/NZTA.

Now the council is aiming to go it alone.

Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said the walkway was always going to be temporary and the council knew it would start to degrade in a few years. The main issue was the wooden boards being hit by cars, he said.

The walkway was always going to be temporary and the council knew it would start to degrade in a few years, a council spokesperson says.

Many of the materials would be able to be used in other council projects.

Mayor Tory Whanau last week turned the sod on a project that would largely pedestrianise Courtenay Place, albeit with bus and cycle lanes, but the only contract currently signed is for the intersection with Cambridge Tce. Whanau is now in a race against time to sign a contract for all of Courtenay Place before October elections deliver a new mayor and different council.

The Dixon St boardwalk, pictured after opening in 2022, is already degrading. Pictured, left to right. are Pukehīnau/Lambton ward councillors Nicola Young, Geordie Rogers and Iona Pannett.

But this week’s agenda shows staff are treating it largely as a done deal and are asking for the council to approve work to start on an “upgraded design” for Dixon St, which joins Courtenay Place. Public consultation would happen in 2026, when a wider upgrade to Te Aro Park on Dixon St would also be discussed.

“The construction of the upgrades will be coordinated with the Golden Mile project to leverage efficiencies as much as possible and minimise disruption to businesses and the transport network,” the council agenda said. It appears the new Courtenay Place cycle lane will continue through Dixon St as part of the plan.

A future council would need to vote on funding the work, including a revamp of Te Aro Park, which was being done with mana whenua involvement. A pā was once at the site.

Councillor Tim Brown, who chairs the infrastructure committee, said the temporary walkway pre-dated his time on council though was clearly temporary.

“I think it was pretty poor. The total cost of removing car parks and installing the walkway and planters must have been substantial,” he said.

“Quite what benefits were assumed I can only guess at. However, as it was a LGWM initiative I'm not surprised.”

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau leads a blessing and sod-turning ceremony for the Golden Mile project last week.

Pukehīnau/Lambton ward councillor Nicola Young understood the long-term plan was to make the stretch car-free but she had already talked to non-hospitality business owners who were “beside themselves” with how the already-removed parking had affected business in the area.

“We just have to stop spending – that is what ratepayers have to do,” she said

“Everyone is stopping spending except the Wellington City Council.”

Fellow ward councillor Geordie Rogers said the “trial” of the boardwalk had been a huge success, going by the crowds who used it. He was not on council when it went in but understood it was always temporary until broader Dixon St and Te Aro Park work happened.

The council needed to get to work making the changes permanent in order to build an “energetic” city where people wanted to spend time and money.

“Through the pandemic many transitional/temporary/trial improvements were made to quickly enable businesses to adapt by providing outdoor dining (parklets) and increasing pedestrian space,” Rogers said in an email on Sunday.

And Iona Pannett, the final ward councillor, said the trial of the boardwalk had been a success and was the type of project many of those on council campaigned on. Making it permanent made the city the kind of place people wanted to visit, she said.

“We like going to places with nice public spaces.”