Work begins on Marine Parade traffic calming

Published: 25 August 2017

With work underway on the Marine Parade traffic calming project, Napier City Council is seeking public feedback to ensure the changes work out as intended.

Overview of the Marine Parade traffic calming project

Comments can now be made to the Napier City Council website about changes in the road layout on Marine Parade.

The changes, between the i-SITE and Vautier Street, have been designed to slow traffic travelling through this section, and improve safety and the outlook for pedestrians, businesses and residents on the city side of the Parade.

The physical construction works, led by Higgins, began on Monday, with all works near the i-SITE expected to be completed before the first cruise ship visit in October, the rest in November.

Changes introduced as part of the Marine Parade traffic calming project include having all north and southbound traffic travelling on the seaward side of the median, a new roundabout, a new parking precinct on the city side of the median, and improved accessibility to the waterfront. Lanes for cyclists will run through the parking precinct, and they will also be encouraged to use the Rotary pathway by the sea.

Napier City Council's Fleur Lincoln: "People’s feedback is important. We will be monitoring the impact of these changes, and making adjustments to remedy any issues over the next three months or so."

The project is a “live study”, and Fleur Lincoln, Strategic Planning Lead, City Strategy, hopes people will visit the new interactive survey map on the NCC website once they have experienced the changes to give their feedback.

“People’s feedback is important, because although we’re confident that the new layout will be a success, we will be monitoring the impact of these changes, and making adjustments to remedy any issues over the next three months or so. Significant investment in amenity improvements associated with the layout change will be delayed until the project has been proven a success,” she says.

The Traffic Calming Project has grown out of City Vision, a document that supports a different approach to testing scenarios and design outcomes. This ‘lighter, quicker, cheaper’ approach allows Council to try things out in real time and to be brave and have fun with design choices. It also means that Council can experiment with ‘light’ options before committing significant budget and resource to a permanent change.

To provide more feedback and to find more information about the project, go to www.napier.govt.nz, search keyword #marineparadecalming, and click on the interactive survey map to have your say.

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