Wai Horotiu Queen Street Project

About the project

We've transformed Queen Street into a vibrant, green, spacious street that is safer for pedestrians with less traffic and more space. Traffic lanes have been converted into expanded space for people walking, cycling or on scooters. Part of this space is the Waihorotiu path.    

Over 200 planters filled with native foliage are dotted throughout the lower half of Queen Street bringing more colour and vibrancy to the street. Spaces for eating lunch or having a mid-shop breather have been carved out along the street with well-designed seating.   

An inner-city pocket park now sits on the corner of Fort and Queen Streets, another part of the street that used to be a cut-through for cars and is now a green spot for people to relax in.   

Find out more about Queen Street's new Waihorotiu path and what it means for those on scooter, bike or foot. 

What’s involved

It’s not just aesthetic changes that have been made to Queen Street through this project - changes to the traffic network are working to reduce general traffic, congestion and pollution and show people that they have priority on Queen Street.    

We have done this by:   

• Optimising loading and servicing for businesses and essential services by converting all general car parking on the street to either P15 general loading, P5 GSV loading zones or Mobility Parking. 
• Put in place a peak hour bus lane (4pm-7pm), heading north, between Shortland Street and Customs Street.  
• Converted parts of Fort Street, Vulcan Lane, and Lorne Street into pedestrian malls and we are refreshing the Vulcan Lane pedestrian mall. A pedestrian mall is an area of the legal road corridor where the right to use vehicles is prohibited or restricted. The pedestrian mall prohibitions and restrictions have been designed to reduce the movement of general traffic onto Queen Street. 
• Introduced a new type of vehicle-zone called an Essential Vehicle Area (EVA) on Queen Street between Wellesley and Wakefield Streets, to reduce general traffic using Queen Street as a cut-through. Only buses, motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles, goods vehicles and emergency service vehicles are allowed to use the EVA.  

Dates

The Wai Horotiu Queen Street project was completed in November 2023.

Further Information

Sign up to our new city centre newsletter, or get in contact about the project, email queenstproject@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

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