Featherston Street safety upgrades
We want to make Featherston Street safer for everyone and we want to hear your ideas.
There have been 442 crashes in the past 10 years between Botanical Road and Vogel Street. Two people were killed.
Waka Kotahi - NZ Transport Agency is funding pedestrian improvements and upgrades to the existing cycleway in this area. under its Streets for People project and Transport Choices programmes.
We identified the street as one of the top priorities in our 2019 Urban Cycle Network Masterplan, which aims to provide a network of protected safe cycleways to encourage more people to choose to ride bikes. We can promise that planter boxes will not feature in the final cycleway design!
Where we are now
In late 2022, we completed the first phase of community feedback on the proposed upgrade. This focused on the section from Botanical Road to North Street.
We received more than 210 submissions online, along with extensive feedback at our online and drop-in sessions.
Read our Engagement Summary(PDF, 2MB)
In March 2023, we held our first co-design session which is primarily focused on the area between North Street to Aroha Street (Boys' High to Central Normal).
Read the summary of the first co-design session for Featherston Street(PDF, 2MB)
Read the Featherston St + Summerhill/Aokautere Drive Engagement Summary March/April 2023(PDF, 2MB)
In May 2023, we held our second co-design session which is focused on the three proposed cycleway options between North Street to Aroha Street.
Read the summary of the second co-design session for Featherston Street(PDF, 887KB)
Our next steps
We will be completing construction to Ruahine Street to start, and then over the next couple of years we’ll connect the section to Vogel Street.
After getting your feedback, we'll start working on what we can incorporate into our design. There are some things we can’t do due to engineering requirements or road safety requirements – for example there are lots of rules about how wide traffic lanes or cycleways can be. We also don’t have space on Featherston Street to create more roundabouts as they would cause traffic issues close to Ruahine and Rangitikei Streets.
We're aiming to show you our proposed design from late-July to get your final comments. .
For more information
This work will encourage more people to choose to walk, bike or catch a bus to get around town. It supports our goals to be an innovative and growing city, and a creative and exciting city. You can find more detailed information about how we plan to achieve this in our Urban Cycle Network Masterplan, Active Communities and Transport Plans.
This is also part of the Palmerston North Integrated Transport Initiative (PNITI), a 30-year plan and a package of transport projects to increase freight efficiency over time and make the CBD more focused on moving people around.
Part of this project is funded from the Streets for People and Transport Choices programmes by Waka Kotahi. You can read about it on Waka Kotahi's Street for People programme or Transport Choices webpages.