Net loss of parking from changes to traffic, buses

Creation of a one-way street in central Dunedin will help to create an orderly space for 32 car parks, but improving access to bus stops in the wider city will come at the cost of 40 car parks.

Overall, a series of changes to parking restrictions will result in 28 car parks being removed from what Dunedin city councillor Sophie Barker described as "suburbs".

The Dunedin City Council endorsed the recommendations of its regulatory subcommittee yesterday, approving changes to parking controls and changing traffic restrictions.

Ward St, between Halsey St and Wickliffe St, in the wharf area, will change to one-way traffic and markings for 32 car parks will be added.

Ward St had been used for what the council has called "informal parking".

A report by council staff ahead of yesterday’s council meeting said the Ward St road reserve was in poor condition.

An "undesirable" right turn from Wickliffe St into Ward St would be removed by the change to one-way traffic.

Another change affecting motorists in the central city follows the completion of the University of Otago’s Faculty of Dentistry development.

Several parking spaces will be added there.

The Otago Regional Council has proposed a series of changes to its bus service, including the location of bus stops.

The city council decided to support this with no-stopping lines that would create easier entries and exits for buses using those bus stops.

Cr Lee Vandervis took issue with changes being made in the name of safety and did not think the argument stacked up for removing 40 car parks.

"I can’t see a genuine safety reason for doing it."

People needed off-street parking to give them suitable access to their homes, he said.

Cr Vandervis said he was concerned "safety" was a word used increasingly to silence criticism.

Mayor Aaron Hawkins said any suggestion the word was being used to further an anti-car agenda was insulting to council staff.

grant.miller@odt.co.nz

Comments

Problem is a mayor and transport manager nick seargant who are both under-qualified and hate cars. They have influence, lack objectivity and have risen beyond their abilities.

So where will the logging trucks double-park now? For several years this section of Ward St between Halsey and Wickliffe Streets has been literally smashed to pieces by logging trucks going to the log scaling depot that sits between Ward and Sturdee Streets. They sit double-parked in Ward Street or pulled across the footpath. I will give the new pavement here six months before it starts to break up again. And I bet the logging trucks are allowed to continue to double-park. A complaint to the log scaling depot about two years ago, after I could not get down this road for illegally parked trucks, brought the response that both DCC Parking Services and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Team at the NZ Police were aware of the problems here but were "turning a blind eye". The DCC is pouring a load of money into a road that is literally going to be smashed up in the blink of an eye by the trucks. Take a look at Sturdee St where the trucks exit the scaling depot - smashed road pavement that gets patched up repeatedly but falls apart again within days. The trucks needed to be sorted before bulk money was thrown at this road.

This idiot Mayor and most of the council have to go, a cabbage has a higher IQ than all of these clowns put together.

 

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