Is used by too many rat-runners still, and when there are low ped volumes people race down here. Notably service vehicles are only allowed until 11am anyway, so section and Wellesley and Darby could be closed from 11am. Alternatively putting bollards at the south side of the Elliot/Darby intersection would help, this would keep it a shared space, but stop rat runners. I still think Auckland’s shared spaces are too linear, is a clear line on the street where cars have priority. If there were more obstacles, ie if the benches alternated sides, cars would need to wind there way carefully around, making the space even better.
Darby St should be closed at the Queen St end now. All the time. I agree with making it more inconvenient for rat runners. I think keeping it (Elliott) a through access is good only because cars turning around make it more dangerous for pedestrians.
Yes the rat running is crazy. I was walking down there at about 5pm one day and the whole thing was bumper to bumper cars. How much would some removable bollards like the ones at te entrance to the Te Wero bridge cost? Then after 11am, people who needed access to the off street parking could use those to get access. Seems to work at Te Wero.
Once that car park on the corner has been built on, there will be very few cars that need to go down there.
Yeah. From this point http://goo.gl/maps/H3Z5I towards Victoria St W is always going to be relatively busy due to the entrance for the carpark under the National Bank Tower. However, towards Wellesley St W this is not the case. I would therefore place bollards pretty much where the silver car is, making a physical break in Elliott St for vehicles, and have the entrance for Elliott St (S) from Wellesley and the exit onto Queen St as a one way primarily just for service vehicles. That would mean vehicles heading for / leaving the carparks under the tower and the surface lot would enter / exit via Victoria St. Clear as mud?
Very good point. If we just cut it in half with bollards, that would stop the rat running while not stopping access from either end to parking or service vehicles. It would not impede walking or cycling.
AT, are you reading this? There goes a very cheap and quick fix that will enhance the street scape of this area. Action please.
Agreed, that would work far better.
I think the service vehicles stop it being a rat run, especially in the mornings. Getting stuck for 5 minutes behind a delivery truck a few times deters most people.
Well it didnt deter the 20 or so cars lined up down the street the day I was there. They looked like it was accepted practice and something they did every day.
Does anyone know the story behind the random steps?
The public seating looks as if it has been there for at least a decade – wobbly and skew. The bollards have been smashed to bits. Most of the shops are tacky and litter in the trees … looks more 3rd World than Europe.
It’s a city. Cities are never perfect, they are living compromise. The question should be: Has the urbanity, and people-friendliness of the street improved since a few years ago? Yes. Massively. We are on the right track with this stuff, and I think we should aim to do more (= other streets) before worrying too much about the shortcomings that still exist here.
Aim for the average but compromise with mediocrity – that’s problem in Auckland, people are so quick to accept the mundane and too scared to demand better. Walking down a street with a car on your heels is not my idea of people-friendliness. Neither is it people-friendly when a car hoots at you and tells you to catch a wake up, you are in the way. Nor is it a people-friendly space when cars park illegally when that very same space could be used for people to socialise in. Your Council and Councillors are extremely weak – it is embarrassing. They excel at lip service and selling you lies. As a self-respecting person you should demand more and want more.
The public seating is an extremely crap design, it should be solid and not rely on some little pillar to support it. It doesn’t take much to remove litter out of the trees unless you are lazy and couldn’t care less (an image that is being conveyed rather strongly). Look at the public seating being installed on Daldy Street – now that is a good design.
Exactly so the bollard is doing actually what the intention was which was to get beaten up by cars and spare the awning up above. It’s designed for exactly what appears to be happening to it.
A better idea would be to install public works of art where the bollards are – brightly coloured Pou would be great. The reason people smash into the bollard is because they are too low and people don’t see them. For inspiration look at Melbourne, their bollards are works of art and they aren’t afraid too use them. Auckland Council needs to catch a wake up and start using their imagination – creativity is better than laziness.
There are continual rumours of redevelopment of MidCity, I’ve heard a mall, apartments, offices etc. It will surely happen sooner rather than later, particularly because of the elliot st upgrade, as soon as the economic climate is right.
Yeah I am sure it will, great location and as you say I am sure it won’t be too far off. Hope the Strand arcade gets an upgrade at some point, it’s a lovely old building and deserves to be put to better use than it is at the moment.
I do like Elliott St; the Elliott Stables are awesome, the Atrium on Elliott has a good food court and a number of strange and wonderful stores, and there are arcades through to Queen St. There never seem to be that many people in it, though, when I’ve been there.
One of, if not my favourite area in the city. I know it’s shared but I hate having to keep looking over my shoulder to see if cars are bearing down on me. Maybe one day it will be people, service vehicles and bikes/mopeds only.
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If you squint hard enough, you’d think you were in Paris or some European capital. Nice.
Have the trees grown? It now looks like cars are not invited but that service vehicles are not prevented. Perfect.
Is used by too many rat-runners still, and when there are low ped volumes people race down here. Notably service vehicles are only allowed until 11am anyway, so section and Wellesley and Darby could be closed from 11am. Alternatively putting bollards at the south side of the Elliot/Darby intersection would help, this would keep it a shared space, but stop rat runners.
I still think Auckland’s shared spaces are too linear, is a clear line on the street where cars have priority. If there were more obstacles, ie if the benches alternated sides, cars would need to wind there way carefully around, making the space even better.
Darby St should be closed at the Queen St end now. All the time. I agree with making it more inconvenient for rat runners. I think keeping it (Elliott) a through access is good only because cars turning around make it more dangerous for pedestrians.
Yes the rat running is crazy. I was walking down there at about 5pm one day and the whole thing was bumper to bumper cars. How much would some removable bollards like the ones at te entrance to the Te Wero bridge cost? Then after 11am, people who needed access to the off street parking could use those to get access. Seems to work at Te Wero.
Once that car park on the corner has been built on, there will be very few cars that need to go down there.
Yeah. From this point http://goo.gl/maps/H3Z5I towards Victoria St W is always going to be relatively busy due to the entrance for the carpark under the National Bank Tower. However, towards Wellesley St W this is not the case. I would therefore place bollards pretty much where the silver car is, making a physical break in Elliott St for vehicles, and have the entrance for Elliott St (S) from Wellesley and the exit onto Queen St as a one way primarily just for service vehicles. That would mean vehicles heading for / leaving the carparks under the tower and the surface lot would enter / exit via Victoria St. Clear as mud?
Very good point. If we just cut it in half with bollards, that would stop the rat running while not stopping access from either end to parking or service vehicles. It would not impede walking or cycling.
AT, are you reading this? There goes a very cheap and quick fix that will enhance the street scape of this area. Action please.
Agreed, that would work far better.
I think the service vehicles stop it being a rat run, especially in the mornings. Getting stuck for 5 minutes behind a delivery truck a few times deters most people.
Well it didnt deter the 20 or so cars lined up down the street the day I was there. They looked like it was accepted practice and something they did every day.
Does anyone know the story behind the random steps?
https://maps.google.co.nz/maps?q=elliot+st,+cbd&hl=en&ll=-36.850067,174.764387&spn=0.003327,0.005284&sll=-36.90044,174.924304&sspn=0.009403,0.021136&t=h&hnear=Elliott+St,+Auckland+CBD+1001,+Auckland&z=18&layer=c&cbll=-36.84985,174.763954&panoid=wv00W5b4JCuQBxK0RtPFLA&cbp=12,104.13,,0,7.22
Always wonder when I’m walking past.
Fire exit from the abandoned mid city cinema multiplex.
Elliott St has two ‘t’s’ 🙂
It just needs a tram on it to look like a real european city!
The public seating looks as if it has been there for at least a decade – wobbly and skew. The bollards have been smashed to bits. Most of the shops are tacky and litter in the trees … looks more 3rd World than Europe.
That’s because daft drivers keep crashing in to them!
Evidently you haven’ actually been to Europe?
I can only compare it to the best parts of Europe, I don’t pay money to see crap – sorry.
It’s a city. Cities are never perfect, they are living compromise. The question should be: Has the urbanity, and people-friendliness of the street improved since a few years ago? Yes. Massively. We are on the right track with this stuff, and I think we should aim to do more (= other streets) before worrying too much about the shortcomings that still exist here.
Aim for the average but compromise with mediocrity – that’s problem in Auckland, people are so quick to accept the mundane and too scared to demand better. Walking down a street with a car on your heels is not my idea of people-friendliness. Neither is it people-friendly when a car hoots at you and tells you to catch a wake up, you are in the way. Nor is it a people-friendly space when cars park illegally when that very same space could be used for people to socialise in. Your Council and Councillors are extremely weak – it is embarrassing. They excel at lip service and selling you lies. As a self-respecting person you should demand more and want more.
The public seating is an extremely crap design, it should be solid and not rely on some little pillar to support it. It doesn’t take much to remove litter out of the trees unless you are lazy and couldn’t care less (an image that is being conveyed rather strongly). Look at the public seating being installed on Daldy Street – now that is a good design.
Exactly so the bollard is doing actually what the intention was which was to get beaten up by cars and spare the awning up above. It’s designed for exactly what appears to be happening to it.
A better idea would be to install public works of art where the bollards are – brightly coloured Pou would be great. The reason people smash into the bollard is because they are too low and people don’t see them. For inspiration look at Melbourne, their bollards are works of art and they aren’t afraid too use them. Auckland Council needs to catch a wake up and start using their imagination – creativity is better than laziness.
+1
I like the street upgrade but the Mid-City/Strand complexes will need to be completely overhauled before it is a ‘nice’ place to be, IMO.
There are continual rumours of redevelopment of MidCity, I’ve heard a mall, apartments, offices etc. It will surely happen sooner rather than later, particularly because of the elliot st upgrade, as soon as the economic climate is right.
Yeah I am sure it will, great location and as you say I am sure it won’t be too far off. Hope the Strand arcade gets an upgrade at some point, it’s a lovely old building and deserves to be put to better use than it is at the moment.
Especially with Aotea going in basically right next door.
As long as they keep the arcade upstairs, where else can I play http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiko_no_Tatsujin?
I do like Elliott St; the Elliott Stables are awesome, the Atrium on Elliott has a good food court and a number of strange and wonderful stores, and there are arcades through to Queen St.
There never seem to be that many people in it, though, when I’ve been there.
When it opened “The Atrium” was arguably the best retail mall in the inner city. Kind of depressing these days. It must be twenty years old.
Very nice; why can’t they do this here in Wellington??? There are many small alley-like streets that would be perfect.
One of, if not my favourite area in the city. I know it’s shared but I hate having to keep looking over my shoulder to see if cars are bearing down on me. Maybe one day it will be people, service vehicles and bikes/mopeds only.