Two weeks ago I posted about the excellent Ponsonby Rd Masterplan – note: there is a public open day at the Leys Institute Library Ponsonby, 20 St Mary’s Road, St Marys Bay from 10am-3pm today. In the comments of that post Steve D pointed out an excellent online resource called Streetmix which allows anyone to make simple road cross section diagrams. Below is one of the designs we came up with for Ponsonby Rd.
The tool is such a neat idea and so useful. In the past we have often talked about street layouts but have sometimes struggled to express them visually but this gives us a way to do that in such a simple way.
But Streetmix was just an initial prototype and the team behind it have now released a beta version adds a that adds a new visual style but more importantly a whole lot of new features that allow for a lot of customisation. Some of the new features include
- new vehicle types like being able to add trucks or light rail
- being able to add street furniture like bus stops, signs or seats
- being able to add different road functions like turning bays, as well as both side and perpendicular parking
- the addition of different median options from a painted stripped buffer through to bollards or trees
- the ability to change the building type, height or not having a building at all with other options available like a waterfront, plain grass or an off street car park
- Being able to name streets and save your designs.
All up these are great improvements so a big thanks to the team at Code for America for this.
The tool is going to so handy for explaining street layout ideas on the blog but also in submissions. With this new version, I thought I would have a go at visualising some of the streets we have talked about on this blog in the past.
Dominion Rd
I’m doing this one as we are proposing light rail as part of our Congestion Free Network. The real limitation with this street is in the town centres where is impossible to widen without destroying the heritage buildings and character that exists. In those areas the streets are generally only about 20m wide and there are obviously a lot of competing uses for the space. So here is one idea.
Obviously there would need to be stops somewhere here is what it could be like. I imagine in this scenario the stops would be offset rather than being right next to each other.
Hobson St
We have called for both Hobson and Nelson Sts to be returned to two way operation rather than being the de-facto motorways that they are currently. These two streets are a bit wider at about 27m each – although they widen further at some intersections. One key part to this idea is to change the connections on the motorway ramps so that the North Western hooks up in both directions to Hobson St while the Southern motorway connects into Nelson St. The idea I have gone with keeps three lanes northbound to match the number of lanes on each of the motorway ramps while only has two lanes southbound, again which matches the ramps. It also adds a protected cycleway and a planted median to the road. Further north – perhaps Wellesley or Victoria – there is probably the opportunity to drop the extra northbound lane and increase the footpaths and median strip.
Customs St
Customs St is going to be a key route for buses as part of the new network and desperately needs some bus priority. We have suggested that there needs to consideration for a busway, probably on the Northern side of the road. The road is wider than the previous two, this time 30m wide and I have also assumed that the key cycling routes will be either on Quay St or on the share space of Fort St (and hopefully some shared spaces within the Britomart area). Like with what I suggested for Dominion Rd, I’m thinking that the bus stops are likely to be offset and outside of the bus stop areas the lane could be used to either widen the footpaths or allow for turning lanes.
Anyway that’s enough playing for one day but also shows the kinds of things that you can do with the tool. Have a go yourself and see what designs you can come up with for these or other streets.
Oh and once again thanks to the awesome people at Code for America for making this tool.
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You can get street width from google Maps
http://streetmix.net/Willuknight/1/riccarton-rd
What can be done with Quay St. Seems to me to be a biggie, especially as we try to open up the port.
A great deal; but best considered in conjunction with Customs St; they are the northern most east/west couplet.
In my view customs should carry the buses, as Matt has above, and the west bound traffic, and Quay St, much wider pedestrian space, proper bike lanes, and east bound general traffic.
No buses within Britomart. Removal of the viaduct at the west end of Quay, but not full pedestrianisation of Quay, which the Council’s urban design team are after. I just don’t see that working. Some bus movements will be needed on Quay as part of accessing Queen St and connecting with Britomart and the Ferry Building.
Actual busway on Customs will need more space than shown above in my view as the quantities of buses is just going to grow before the Shore Rail Line is built to help relieve that pressure. Even post CRL there will still need to be plenty of buses through this part of the CBD.
Agreed. That’s totally the way to do it.
Well done on Dominion Road. This is similar to street layouts along certain Light rail corridors in Cologne. They were quite obviously main general road thoroughfares but have been converted as you have shown with Light Rail down the middle including stations (off-set where necessary). Along the sides is a service lane in each direction for local traffic, again, as you have indicated. For Cologne, it appears that the major general road traffic that may have once used these streets (typically 5 story high mix of retail, work-spaces and residential), has been diverted onto new arterial roads and motorways.
Looking at Auckland, given the road building programme now and in the future, I suggest that similar opportunities are available to divert significant “through traffic” without inconvenience to motorists and commercial road users away from Dominion Road. Another possible example, is the Great North Road east of Point Chevalier all the way through and into Karangahape Road. An opportunity to create intensified PT, local traffic and pedestrian friendly corridors. I know that at present local businesses will be sceptical, but I am convinced that they will come around when they see the results. A track record so to speak – starting with trams from Wynyard Quarter through to Queen Street and beyond.
The one change that I would suggest is due to the Cologne corridors being just a little wider than in Auckland. I love the street trees over the footpath. However, the pragmatist in me suggests that where there are no tram stations, the space allocated to trees probably needs to be allocated to on-street carparking, a somewhat tight footpath and no planter strip down the middle. There will be opportunities for greenery, but it is going to be at strategic locations rather than a shelter belt of trees all the way down Dominion Road.
There are opportunities to create exactly what you are looking for along Great North Road east of Point Chevalier and especially toward K’Road. The built environment here has been substantially modified and compromised from its original form. With all the heavy traffic diverted along the super-sized Northwest Motorway and its Mt Roskill/SH20 connection, the possibility of a tree lined rejuvenated Great North Road “boulevard”, along with accompanying intensification, space for trams, local traffic and car-parking, bikes and footpaths looks like a huge gain for the inner west. The one through traffic that might be “allowed” to use such a corridor is from the Northwest Busway……
On Dominion Rd, the light rail lanes need only be 2.8m wide, and I don’t see any need for a raised median (if you want a median, raise the tram lanes a bit?). So that might give you enough width for bike lanes with a little tweaking.
Like this (hope the link works):
http://streetmix.net/-/5908
Surely if you were going to do that you would do contra flow to safeguard the cyclists a bit more, maybe also on a raised or lowered lane?
Copenhagen lanes would work nicely. Contraflow has it’s own problems on roads with driveways as drivers don’t look to the right of the road or driveway, they are turning into, when turning right. Fine on a short one way road though (with, I would think the contraflow lanes on the left).
I was told that grade seperate cycleways were not possible in the narrow parts of Dominion Road, and indeed if you try to create such a street you’ll have difficulty – you’d really need to squeeze every aspect to it’s minimum size, which is a traffic calming measure in itself, but obviously has problems.
One solution I came up with was to single track the light rail for these most narrow parts of the road. The idea obviously has merits and drawbacks, but is worth considering, as it does create the most pedestrian-friendly space.
Example from Amsterdam:
https://maps.google.co.nz/maps?q=amsterdam&hl=en&ll=52.364668,4.883576&spn=0.001433,0.004128&sll=-36.888162,174.747717&sspn=0.002655,0.004128&t=h&hnear=Amsterdam,+Government+of+Amsterdam,+North+Holland,+The+Netherlands&z=19&layer=c&cbll=52.364715,4.883723&panoid=iG9GuD0Z0ZlLKiY0r91rFA&cbp=12,50.23,,0,8.25
http://streetmix.net/-/5934
to
http://streetmix.net/-/6296
Oops – reply went to wrong place, refer to entry below….
What screws up all of these plans is the continued insistence for on-street parking on nearly any street in Auckland.
I can’t see locals and business owners on Ponsonby being very happy about losing some parking spaces. After all people want to see and be seen pulling up in flash cars to go to cafes don’t they? It’s the NZ equivalent of the Spanish ‘paseo’ – going for a stroll about.
Apparently in the latest round of consultation with business owners in Ponsonby, there was some recognition that the street environment needs to change and that giving up parking was part of that. The plan now is for separated cycle lanes on Ponsonby, though the process is still going.
There is good evidence now from New York, Portland and San Francisco that cycle infrastructure leads to a big uptick in retailer activity. Cyclists buy less but buy more often.
Do many people really go to Ponsonby with the attitude that if they cant park on Ponsonby Road near the business they want, they are going home? I always accept that I will need to walk at least some distance.
I agree that every time I drive to ponsonby I don’t expect to park right outside where I’m going, but then again I’m normally going to ponsonby and not one specific place.
Most times I go there I will either find q car park sort
Continued: most times I go there I will find a car park sort of near to where I want to go and I have on occasion gone somewhere else due to their not being a car park. During peak times I tend to either bus or taxi there to save looking for a park.
Not once however have I thought of making a 5km bike trip there going up and down the various hills on the way. I somehow doubt the bars there would appreciate a sweaty cyclist turning up.
“Not once however have I thought of making a 5km bike trip there going up and down the various hills on the way. I somehow doubt the bars there would appreciate a sweaty cyclist turning up.”
You’re probably just trying to provoke a reaction, and I should know better than to engage you, but I frequently cycle to Ponsonby to go to bars, and my custom always seems to be appreciated. Even the notoriously snobby Golden Dawn has been welcoming when I’ve gone there with as many as 15 cyclists.
Yer to be honest I think if you turn up there on a Sunday afternoon or something they would be more than happy as weekend riding is classed as trendy.
Trying biking up to some of the swanky bars on a Friday or Saturday night you may find it a different story.
So fair to say some commentators on this blog have not been to the Golden Dawn on a Friday or Saturday night then.
We don’t have “sidewalks” in New Zealand – we have footpaths.
Yes – your link works nicely.
The debate on bike lanes versus on-street parking is quite a challenge.
If bike lanes are to be provided, they should be raised.
Looking at the Cologne model, and with a little inspiration from Auckland’s own shared use inner city streets, could we do a blanket 20 km/ph speed limit down Dominion Road for cars? This may make it safer for bikes though not as ideal as bike lanes……the big issue from my days of commuter cycling were parked cars opening their doors out without looking. A 20 km/ph limit would encourage the vehicular through traffic elsewhere – to those massive roading projects in the vicinity.
Would it work to make make the cycle lanes the priority at either one or both of the main parallel arterials – Sandringham/New North Road, and Mt Eden Roads? For cyclists wanting to commute at speed this may be the better way to go although I understand that neither of these arterials have the width of Dominion Road. Diversion of high-speed commuter cyclist cycle-ways could then leave Dominion Road with the focus on densification, low speed side roads and parking, dedicated corridor PT. Cyclists would need to treat the route as a slow speed local journey, in the same way that they would when say, heading up High Street in the city.
Any potential there? Could the transformation of Dominion Road be progressive?
Next question really has to be – how many other 20m wide road corridors are there around Auckland that might suit a similar treatment to that being suggested for Dominion Road?
On-street parking versus bike lanes is a pretty easy decision. There’s not a lot of need for on-street parking on Dominion Road anywhere, really. There’s a lot of side streets with tons of room for parking, and quite a few of them have already been arranged with angle parks. But you can’t consistently tuck the bike lanes down side streets.
But Steve that’s exactly what they propose to do: http://greaterakl.wpengine.com/2013/07/24/more-details-on-dominion-rd-released/
You’d think that, Steve, wouldn’t you? Except that after 3 years of deliberation, they have decided to keep the carparks and damn the cyclists.
http://caa.org.nz/auckland-transport/dominion-road-a-progression-of-disappointments/
The section at Three-Lamps is only one way anyway, so is very bizzare the road becomes a full on arterial immediately south of there, it is really horrible.
As a compromise for annoying retailers could have parking that becomes a buslane during peak times, and only one general traffic lane.
Having a all day buslane difficult to justify, as Link only all day service in the 2015 frequent network, and that is downgraded to 15min interpeak. From 2022 the new Ponsonby – Mt Eden-Remuera service will be a frequent, but from 2016 only be a 30 minute off-peak. So not really enough buses off-peak to justify a buslane.
Between Richmond and Franklin Roads the Richmond Road frequent service will also run so more justification there.
why not keep Hobson/Nelson one way and only 3 lanes each way? with the rest for pedestrians and cyclists? Seems like a no-brainer.
High Street Nortchote in Melbourne on tram route 86 has been remade in a similar same way to what you illustrate for Dominion Road. The trams have island superstops in the middle of the road, but they are not offset, they seem to work quite well. It means passengers no longer have to get on and off by crossing the traffic lanes in a street to narrow for traditional safety zones at stops.
The 86 is Melbourne’s busiest tram route and replaced a bus route in 1956 — the very year Auckland’s trams were closed. It has been extended many times since 1984 and is now nearly 25 kms long and carries 50,000 passengers a day efficiently and all on street (though the post-1984 extensions at the outer end are in a median strip of much wider roads than High Street).
I’ve long thought Dominion Road was ideal for trams.
This council-made video shows the 86 High Street project with lots of comments from cyclists 🙂
Thanks for that link. Great little video. What is the tram patronage like along that route?
50,000 a day, the most of any Melbourne route though that is helped by its 25km length. Trams run about every six minutes in the peaks and every eight minutes off-peak.
Timetable here: http://ptv.vic.gov.au/route/view/1881
Hello, my name is Ana isabel, I’m an architect and a researcher at grupo Indisciplinar, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
I’m writing my masters dissertation on open source urbanism and digital tools for civic participation and collaborative design and space production. One of the tools I approach on my work is StreetMix.
It would be great to learn more about the experience you had with the tool, whether it was used in any decision making context, what the outcomes were and if you used it again in different situations. Any information you could share would be very useful for my research.
Thank you very much,
Best regards,
Ana
As said in the previous post, I’m researching streetmix for my masters dissertation. I made a form with some questions which can be filled in a few minutes: http://goo.gl/forms/Ma3T1E2kBn
If you had any experience with the tool, please answer it so I can know more about it. All the responses can be anonymous and will be used for academic purposes only.
Thank you very much,