Are back-to-back road works stalling city?

Saturday, 10 May 2025

Road works are all around us in Wellington, with several key routes blocked off in the name of progress.

The Wellington City Council says the disruptions are necessary for long-term improvements, but some residents argue the scale and timing points to poor planning.

The long debated Golden Mile project put shovels in the ground this week, with road cones lining the Kent and Cambridge terraces intersection - set to stay for at least the next eight months.

It’s a similar picture only one block away, with a choke point where traffic slows to a crawl on Wakefield St while Wellington Water installs a new wastewater main.

Councillor Tim Brown said it was completely irresponsible to have two sets of road works back to back on a key route.

He said Wellington Water had not applied the necessary level of urgency to the project and put additional resources on.

The amount of traffic that went through the Wakefield St bottleneck was ”substantial” and it was incredibly inconvenient, he said.

“Wakefield has dragged on way longer than it needed to and now it’s getting clogged up with the other one.”

With entire lanes being closed off on Kent and Cambridge terraces, he said the chance it wouldn’t cause a massive disruption was about zero.

Later this month, the right-hand turn bay from Cambridge Terrace into Majoribanks St will be closed for around four months.

The council detour routes are to either to turn down Elizabeth St, or drive through the Wakefield St roadworks by turning into Chaffers St, driving up Cable St and Kent Terrace and turning left onto Majoribanks St.

Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said Thorndon Quay and the Kent and Cambridge terraces works weren’t causing any significant problems for traffic flows across the city.

“The council is making all efforts to complete the roadworks as quickly as possible, and as part of this the council is working to understand trade-offs on cost and increased disruption to businesses and public transport.”

The intersection will have a new kerb, a temporary bike lane and centre island.

Bus diversions for the Cambridge/Kent intersection will be in place once the Wakefield St work is completed. Most of the construction work will be done during the day, and some work will take place at night to minimise disruption.

Amanda Holland, owner of Small Acorns and Squirrel NZ cafe on the corner of Wakefield and Blair streets, questioned the timing of the Golden Mile road works.

“In general around Wellington, could they just finish something first before they start something else?

“I think that's what everybody wants, whether you're a business, a pedestrian, a cyclist or whether you're in a car, you just want something to be finished first.”

Holland said while customers did complain the Wakefield St road works made it harder to access her store, and there were considerably fewer cars parked at Chaffers St New World, she felt the pipe project had been managed “really well”.

Roseneath Residents’ Association chairperson and former Wellington City councillor Sean Rush avoids the Wakefield St route to the city as much as possible, driving via Palliser Rd rather than Oriental Parade, which had become prone to traffic jams.

Rush was stuck in gridlock on Rongotai Rd last Saturday, trying to reach the Mount Victoria tunnel. He said congestion around Oriental Parade was pushing more drivers toward the tunnel, and worsening the traffic.

Using Courtenay Place as a bypass to the Wakefield St bottleneck, he said it was “poorly planned” to see the intersection now blocked with road works too.

“Was there a need to start this now? I don't really see it.”

Rush questioned whether the project could be done more efficiently, and said it was a missed opportunity to not have workers rostered on during the weekends and nights.

“If this was anywhere else in the world, it would be done as a 24/7 project.”

But working nights might not be ideal, with one Thorndon resident complaining of night works during several weeks in March.

A Wellington Water spokesperson said contractors’ typical hours of work were 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with overnight and weekend work only when required by urgency.

Operating 24/7 was unsustainable and unsafe over an extended period due to the need for rest and breaks for the crews, the spokesperson said.

The hours were chosen to reduce the impact of lights and noise on nearby residents and hospitality businesses.

Wellington Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Simon Arcus said while sometimes disruption couldn’t be avoided, it needed to be minimised.

Timing is a key element, and starting the Golden Mile project now means for at least the next two months, two of the city’s major arteries will be under construction simultaneously, only a few hundred meters apart.

“We all recognise the need for improvements, but digging up the city in the middle of a downturn – and before other major projects are finished – has Wellington businesses concerned.”

Arcus said Auckland’s City Rail Link (CRL) project was a “very clear” lesson that small businesses paid the price for major infrastructure projects. He said the council needed a scheme for compensation like Auckland’s $12m Targeted Hardship Fund, which was established after a fight by struggling businesses.

“When council projects are a threat to business, it’s only fair we support them through.'

The council had said it would not be providing financial compensation for businesses along the Golden Mile during construction.

He pointed to a paper by New Zealand Institute of Economic Research that detailed the need to incorporate short-term disruption impacts into infrastructure investment decision-making. CRL, which did not provide compensation for years until businesses were closing, was used as an example.

The Thorndon Quay road works, which have caused controversy because of businesses closing the ageing pipes that lie beneath, was also causing its fair share of disruption with the traffic flow on Murphy St especially congested.

Richard Murcott, from the Thorndon Residents' Association, said residents had reported short trips taking more than 30 minutes to travel a few hundred metres down that road.

“It’s incredibly disruptive to the economy at this end of the city and frankly it makes the area feel unwelcoming.”

Road works might not be worthwhile

Meanwhile, the future of the Courtenay Place road works, part of the Golden Mile project, might be uncertain with an election around the corner and the remaining contracts still unsigned.

Mayoral candidates have spoken out with Andrew Little advising council officers to hold off on signing, Karl Tiefenbacher saying he would look to have any Golden Mile contracts cancelled and Ray Chung planning to cut the project to help with a campaign to freeze rates.

Andrew Little told The Post he would prefer that mayor Tory Whanau 'doesn’t simply barrel ahead, and leaves this key decision to the incoming council'.

“If elected mayor I would want the opportunity to run the ruler over any contracts before they are signed.”

He said too many major projects had resulted in delays and cost blowouts.

Whanau said while candidates may have their own views, they did not have the mandate to demand the council cease progress on any democratically agreed-upon projects and said delaying the project would almost certainly increase costs and affect rates.

“Regardless of what a loud minority may say, this is what the people of our city want.”