Changes to layout of Hawkestone Street, Wellington

The NZ Transport Agency and Wellington City Council will be introducing changes to the Hawkestone Street/State Highway 1 intersection to improve safety and efficiency for road users and pedestrians.

The Hawkestone Street intersection with State Highway 1 is currently used by some commuters as a detour to skip ahead of queues when travelling south on State Highway 1, particularly during morning traffic.

The Transport Agency’s Regional Transport Systems Manager Mark Owen says this creates delays for other commuters travelling south on State Highway 1, adds to the congestion and poses a significant safety risk to road users and pedestrians on Hawkestone Street.

“To address this, we will be introducing changes to the layout of the Hawkestone Street intersection which will make it safer, improve traffic flow along Hawkestone Street, and prevent urban motorway commuters from using the intersection as a detour,” Mr Owen says.

The changes will include:

• altering the shape of the traffic island on Hawkestone Street so it extends around the entry to the southbound on-ramp. This will mean vehicles can only enter the State Highway 1 on-ramp from Hawkestone Street and won’t be able to enter from the State Highway 1 off-ramp anymore;
• a new give way intersection on the on-ramp to make merging safer and more efficient;
• raising the central median area next to the on-ramp on Hawkestone Street to create a traffic island and pedestrian refuge; and
• creating a new pedestrian path across Hawkestone Street so it’s safer and easier to cross.

The new layout means there will also be changes to parking on Hawkestone Street. The coupon carparks on Hawkestone Street will be removed and replaced with coupon carparks on Tinakori Road and one coupon carpark opposite the bus stop on Hawkestone Street.

Construction of the introductory layout is due to begin on Monday 18 March and expected to take two nights, depending on weather. It will involve installing flexible bollards which will set the new layout.

“The new layout will be in place for three weeks while we carefully monitor road user and pedestrian behaviour, which will help us determine the success of the new layout and identify any unforeseen issues before making the improvements permanent,” Mr Owen says.

“Once we are certain that the layout works, we will remove the flexible bollards and install the permanent road layout using concrete.”

For more information, visit www.nzta.govt.nz/hawkestone(external link)