Fort Street area upgrade

Background | About the area | Final design | Design features | Public feedback

Final design

The Fort Street area upgrade aims to transform the area into a lively, people focused destination that reflects the area's rich cultural and geographic history.

Public consultation on the draft design ran in September 2009. Public feedback and advice from council officers and specialist advisers was taken into consideration by the council's Arts, Culture and Recreation Committee and Transport Committee who approved a final concept design in December 2009.

Areas of shared space, widened footpaths, new artworks, interesting design features, seating, vegetation, lighting and high quality stone paving will create an attractive, interesting destination in the CBD.

Traffic access, will be retained through the area, along with the existing provision for public transport. Parking, loading, bus stops and taxi ranks will be rearranged to create successful pedestrian focused spaces, whilst meeting the needs of business.

Fort Street overall plan (1,166kb PDF)

Key
1. Fort Street East
2. Fort Street mid section
3. Fort Street West
4. Gore Street
5. Commerce Street
6. Jean Batten Place
7. Fort Lane

Jean Batten Place, Fort Lane, Fort Street (west and east)

Shared space is being introduced throughout the project area and includes the western end of Fort Street, along with Jean Batten Place and Fort Lane. Our shared space design sees paving across the width of the street and the removal of kerbing, with the reduction of street signs and marking. The introduction of interesting artworks, lighting, planting and street furniture will improve the environment for people without needing to restrict traffic. Introducing shared space will help to calm traffic, support business and retail activity, and encourage diverse outdoor activity including events and outdoor dining.

Other streets within the CBD streetscapes programme are proposing to incorporate shared space. To see how shared space will look and feel in Auckland's CBD watch our video clip.

The first stage shared space (Fort Street West and Jean Batten Place) will be evaluated prior to determining the final configuration of stage three (Fort Street east). Stakeholders will be invited to participate in this process.

Gore and Commerce streets and mid block Fort Street

Wider footpaths will be introduced in some areas within Gore and Commerce streets and the mid block area of Fort to create more space for pedestrians and other activity. Within the road space, bus stops, on street parking, taxis and loading at various times of the day will be accommodated. New street furniture and planting as well as lighting to improve the environment at night, will be introduced.

Shortland Street (between Queen Street and Jean Batten Place)

The southern footpath will be upgraded with high quality basalt paving and new lighting will be installed. The northern side of the footpath has been upgraded as part of the 80 Queen Street development. Parking in this area will incorporate mobility, loading and taxi space.

Design changes

Feedback from consultation undertaken in September 2009 as well as specialist advisers resulted in a number of changes and refinements to the final design. These include:

extending the shared space paving to meet kerb lines (rather than building lines) to provide better clarity for pedestrians and vehicles between shared space and adjacent footpaths
developing a 'flexible zone' within some areas of the shared space that will be used for activity such as outdoor dining, loading and/or parking
introducing a raised mid block vehicle crossing at the junctions of Fort Street and Gore and Commerce streets to make vehicle entrance into the area more obvious and provide easy and safe pedestrian crossing
changing the Fort Lane paving to a single colour to better compliment and enhance the lane's historic character
including physical elements at corners to slow down and discourage vehicles from cutting corners
removal of kerb build out on Gore Street west to accommodate coach and taxi drop off for the proposed hotel development.

Some aspects of the design identified during consultation will be confirmed in the next stages of design, with further input from stakeholders. These include the traffic direction in Jean Batten Place and the final parking plan, including the restrictions for both parking and loading in the area.

The first stage shared space (Fort Street west and Jean Batten Place) will be evaluated prior to determining the final configuration of stage 3 (Fort Street east). Stakeholders will be invited to participate in this process.

A number of other elements not currently part of the project are dependant on additional funding. These include a raised vehicle crossing at Shortland Street, water collection for trees, the proposed tidal marker and a public toilet. If funded, the location of the public toilet will be confirmed with stakeholders.

Published December 2009