Motorway configuration for Pipitea

This is a quick sketch showing a motorway entry and exit ramps for the Pipitea (railyards) area. If it were ever planned cohesively something of this sort would allow traffic from the southern/eastern suburbs to use the motorway for efficient access to Pipitea. And would also allow connectivity between Hutt Rd and the motorway to better serve Ngaio/Khandallah residents.

ABC Competition (Part 2)

02. Adelaide Rd (and Cambridge & Kent Tce)

The proposal is that the Adelaide Rd area is intensified as a mixed used area and seen as a secondary commercial district. The height limits along Adelaide Rd are set to 28m, which is suitable for the proposed new width of the road (any lower and this would look like a suburban strip not an avenue). At the edges of the Adelaide area the height limit drops to 16m.

The road itself is widened to 28m in this example, to accomodate a dedicated public transport right-of-way along the Eastern side, dedicated (safe) cycle lanes, and a 3-lane contraflow for vehicles. Should the 3-lanes be unnecessary (e.g. the proposed expressway in Package 1 is to be built) then 1-lane can be removed and used for a median and to widen other pedestrian sections.

The public transport ROW is on the sunny side of the street, along with a wider and more attractive pedestrian edge to allow for more activities, e.g. outdoor cafe seating, to develop as the area intensifies.

A network of lanes is reserved and overtime completed throughout the area to improve pedestrian links. A new small street is completed along the edge of Government House. This provides a visible border to Government House which can be planted and nicely fenced. During this process some land is reclaimed and developed into residential units. This can help fund all of these proposed improvements.

A new entrance to Government House is created on Adelaide Road itself.

NOTE: The current reserve on Adelaide Road allows 26.5m, however it is assumed the council will act quickly to ensure the further 1.5m necessary is reserved before redevelopments begin. Without this it will be difficult to provide all the necessary transport enhancements without making the street very bloody ugly. Or more likely something would go, e.g. cycle lanes, which would be stupid. It might even be sensible to take more than another 1.5m, but I assumed the Council would be against that.

Quick overview map and 3D sketch:



Elevation:

The Cambridge & Kent Tce elevation. A linear park is developed along the Eastern side, as this is the sunny side of the street. This allows pedestrian activities to occur such as outdoor cafe seating. The Light Rail ROW is on the eastern side also, as it can merge into the linear park quite attractively, and allows stops and such to be within the park itself. Also this side does not intersect with major streets (Vivian St, Abel Smith St extension) and all the SoCo lanes. Intersecting the Light Rail ROW with these streets would be more distruptive to traffic (both private and public).

It is thought that a notable feature could be the regeneration of the stream that runs below ground, linking this up with the stream at Waitangi Park when the New World is one-day demolished. Also the general theme of Waitangi Park could be used along the Linear Park to connect the areas (and to reflect the formerly swampy nature of parts of this area).

Elevation:

ABC Competition (Part 1)

01. Transport

A rudimentary evaluation of the statistics on population growth, mode of travel, and the current capacities, led to the following conclusions.

By 2041, with no major shift in the mode of travel (60% private, 27% public), the indication was: that peak demand would require 4- to 6-lanes of roadway serving the Southern suburbs and 6-lanes of roadway serving the Eastern suburbs. The number of passengers per hour could still be served by bus alone.

By 2041, with a major mode shift towards public transport (40% private, 45% public), the indication was: peak demand would require 3- to 4-lanes of roadway serving the Southern suburbs and 4-lanes of roadway serving the Eastern suburbs. The number of passengers per hour would completely saturate a bus service and a higher capacity Light Rail service would be required along the Growth Spine to alleviate this.

By 2041, with an extreme mode shift towards public transport (35% private, 50% public), the indication was: peak private vehicle demand could be served by 3-lanes of contraflow roadway serving the Southern suburbs and 3-lanes of contraflow roadway serving the Eastern suburbs. The number of passengers per hour would completely saturate a bus service and a higher capacity Light Rail service would be required along the Growth Spine to alleviate this.

Two transport packages are suggested. The first package is significantly more expensive and proposes an entirely new expressway route to serve both the Southern and Eastern suburbs with the same expressway. The estimated cost was $1.2 billion over 30-40 years. The second package upgrades the existing route and demands significant public transport usage. Two variations on this package exist, one includes an covered expressway between The Terrace Tunnels and Mt Victoria Tunnels, the other removes the bypass, replacing it with an extension to Abel Smith St. The estimate cost was $700m to $900m depending on the variation.

Both packages include Light Rail along the Growth Spine as the very first step. This is to encourage a mode shift towards public transport and meet increasing demands placed on the public transport system. This may also head off increasing equipment costs and lead times caused by increasing demand when peak oil causes countries to re-invest in public transport. New Zealand cannot afford to compete with other richer countries for this equipment.

Key to packages

1. Terrace Tunnel and Shell Gully Viaduct duplication


2. Future Tram-train or EMU subway right-of-way reserved in plans now for future construction post 2040-2050


3. Light Rail right-of-way, some parts shared with bus services


4. Te Aro Tunnel, a 4- to 6-lane cut-and-cover tunnel that ends at an at grade intersection with Taranaki St to reduce cost and better control traffic flows


5. Memorial Park Tunnel, a 4-lane cut-and-cover tunnel that starts at an at grade intersection with Taranaki St and the Te Aro Tunnel, this would designed and built in conjunction with the Memorial Park if this variation of Package 2 were selected


6. Mt Victoria Tunnel duplication and link to Cobham Dr


7. Possible future Mt Cook tunnel to link Southern suburbs to the CBD and Te Aro Tunnel (post 2040-2050) if Package 2 is selected and Adelaide Rd ever became to congested


8. New Street in Newtown to better distribute traffic, provide more pedestrian linkages as the area intensifies, and permit the closure of parts of Riddiford St to allow a Light Rail/bus right-of-way. Land reserved in council plans immediately.


9. Newtown Transit Tunnel (for Light Rail and busses serving Eastern suburbs), one possible example of a route


10. Newtown/Zoo Transit Tunnel (for Light Rail and possibly some busses serving Eastern suburbs), one possible example of a route, 20-50% cheaper than above option


11. Possible future Light Rail/Streetcar extensions


12. Te Aro Tunnel (Package 1), 6-lanes cut-and-cover, with on/off ramps to major streets


13. Mt Cook Tunnel (Package 2), 6-lanes, twin bore expressway


14. Newtown Tunnel (Package 2), 4-lanes, twin bore expressway


15. Abel Smith St extension

Package 1 -- the "OMG I hope we strike it rich in the Southern Ocean Basin package"

The major feature of this is the new expressway route which could be completed in phases, this might allow reduced construction costs as one of the bores is completed first, opened to traffic, then the tunnel boring machine (TBM) and associated equipment is reused to complete the second bore. The TBM used for the Newtown Tunnel section might also be able to be used for the two 2-lane expressway bores, and the Light Rail transit tunnel bore.

The expressway would have intersections with Hutchison Rd/John St serving Vogeltown, and Hall/Adelaide Road serving Southern suburbs, and Riddiford St serving Southern suburbs. From the tunnel opening to Riddiford St much of it would be in a trench. The Riddiford Street intersection is also the intersection with the Newtown Tunnel section of the expressway to the Eastern suburbs. This would be at grade so to be less visually intrusive, and later a viaduct completed only if required.

Package 1 Map:



Package 2 -- the "NZ is not rich from oil like Norway package"

This package is fairly well understood and is the expected evolution of the city's existing transport routes.

The major variation whether the Memorial Park will have a tunnel constructed, if not then the bypass would be forgone entirely, and the main route would be via Vivian St and Abel Smith St.

Package 2 Map:



Appendix, definitions, assumptions, constraints, etc.

• "Southern suburbs" incorporates: Mt Cook-Wallace Street, Vogeltown, Kingston, Island Bay West, Island Bay East, Melrose, Berhampore, Newtown West, Newtown East, Adelaide


• "Eastern suburbs" incorporates: Hataitai, Kilbirnie East, Kilbirnie West, Lyall Bay, Strathmore Park, Miramar South, Miramar North, Karaka Bay-Worser Bay, Seatoun, Maupuia


• The WRC expects population growth of 0.5% for the region, however


• Growth in the Southern and Eastern suburbs has been 1% over the past 10 years and 2% over the past five years according to Census data. With the major intensification strategies, and increasing migration, a sustained 2% population increase along the growth spine is assumed.


• Based on taking the average from various sources the following transport capacities are assumed.
  
  
  
  • Metro - 40,000pph
  
  
  • Suburban rail - 30,000pph
  
  
  • Light rail - 15,000pph (dedicated ROW and priority at interesections)
  
  
  • Bus lane - 7,500pph (some priority at intersections)
  
  
  • Motorway lane - 2,000vph
  
  
  • Road lane - 1,500vph
  
  


• Sea level rise will not threaten the CBD or Kilbernie, or any sea level rise will be mitigated in some way.


• Any strategy developed for Wellington will be respected by the wider regional strategy (i.e. the region will not continue to build roads to dump cars into Wellington city if the local strategy favours public transport growth).


• EMUs will continue to provide the backbone of Wellington’s wider public transport systems as conversion to a Tram-Train or Light Rail operation is inappropriate in the near term due to many reasons including the recent investment in new EMUs, increased cost per passenger (when suburban rail already exists), and capacity/speed reductions.


• The following costs are based on taking the average from various recent international projects of similar types and Transit/Council reports.
  
  
  
  • Dual 3-lane road tunnels: $246,000 NZD per metre
  
  
  • Dual 2-lane road tunnels: $187,000 NZD per metre
  
  
  • Single 3-lane road tunnel: $132,000 NZD per metre
  
  
  • Single 2-lane road tunnel: $93,000 NZD per metre
  
  
  • Heavy rail 2-lane tunnel: 131,000 NZD per meter
  
  

Underground Easement

Quick sketch of where I think the Council should maintain an underground easement for a possible rail tunnel connecting either a Tram-Train ROW around the Quays to Taranaki St, or possibly even a subway on the same alignment (as described by the Opus report).

The orange line shows the alignment. The orange box a potential underground platform servicing it. The solid blue outline shows the new Holiday Inn, and the dashed blue outline the proposed new 1 Featherston St building.

Axis of Memorial

I got bored tonight and inspired by the Memorial Park competition I thought I'd sketch up my idea for said park.

See here, here, and here for some background.

The idea is based something I think is a cool fact about Wellington, and which I'm pretty sure is a complete accident. Parliament, the Cenotaph, Post Office Square, Civic Square, "that-place-that-should-be-a-square", and the War Memorial line up perfectly on a north-south axis. One of my favourite cities in the world is Washington, DC, I love the grand avenues, the grid, the grand parks and memorials everywhere, with surely the most well conceived street layout of all time.

Anyway, Wellington can never be DC, but that doesn't mean Wellington couldn't make a connection between its memorials that spans the city. The Axis just seems too cool not to be that connection and for emphasis in any planning. Future sculptures, monuments, memorials, could be located in the squares along the axis.



The idea carves a parade avenue along the Axis through the nearby area, depending on how ambitious the Gods of Wellington wanted to be it could stretch up to "that-place-that-should-be-a-square", but the intersection of Taranaki and Vivian seems a good place to stop. The grid is completed with the extension of Abel Smith Street. The bypass (Karo Drive) is destroyed and SH1 uses Vivian + Abel Smith Sts. Potentially Mt Cook school would have to be relocated because of the busy Abel Smith St extension.



Or, for more money, the bypass isn't destroyed, and a four-lane tunnel cut under the park for SH1 traffic.