Ferguson Street safety improvements

Aerial view of the accident-prone intersection of Ferguson and Pitt Streets.

We're changing Ferguson Street to make the area safer for everyone, and to help traffic flow around our city centre more smoothly.

We’ll be upgrading the stretch from Pak'nSave to South Street.  This includes the notorious intersection at Pitt St.

So, what are we doing?

  • Changing the intersection at Ferguson-Pitt into a traffic-light controlled intersection.
  • Widening the road to four lanes.
  • Pedestrian-controlled traffic lights to across Ferguson St at the Pak ‘n Save fuel station.
  • A wider footpath by Intermediate Normal School.
  • Minor changes to Linton-Ferguson intersection to prevent right turns across four lanes of traffic.

Read the latest progress update

We’ve started rebuilding the corner of Ferguson and Pitt Streets.

This includes installing traffic lights and rebuilding the road. The intersections at South and Pitt Streets will be closed during this period, but all businesses remain open in the area – including Star Cutz Barbershop at 283 Ferguson Street and the Palmerston North Seventh-day Adventist Church.

 

Artist impression of the crossing of Pitt and Ferguson Streets Traffic lights will replace the existing intersection at Ferguson/Pitt.

Safety is driving these changes

Over the past 10 years, there have been more than 34 crashes along this stretch of road and two intersections.

One was fatal and 17 caused injuries, but those only account for crashes where police were called to the scene. There are likely more crashes that were not reported.

Ferguson Street to be four lanes

The stretch of Ferguson Street – from Fitzherbert Avenue to Pitt Street – is the only section of our inner ring road to still have only two lanes of traffic.

We’re widening the road by using the large grass berm that runs along Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School. We previously bought this land in anticipation for this project. We also purchased the block of land on the corner of Ferguson and Pitt Streets.

We will reconstruct the kerb (roadside) and footpath in front of the school. We are also installing pedestrian-controlled traffic lights outside the Pak‘nSave fuel pump.

Artist impression of the Ferguson Linton intersection Pedestrian-controlled traffic lights will also help people to safely cross four lanes of traffic.

Pitt-Ferguson intersection to have traffic lights

We are installing traffic lights at this intersection as it’s notorious for being confusing and dangerous.

Once construction is finished, pedestrians will be able to cross safely at the new lights. Traffic lights on the inner ring road will be re-phased around our city centre to efficiently move everyone around.

Exiting Linton Street to become left turn only

We know the main cause of crashes at this intersection is from people turning right, or cutting across, Ferguson Street. 

This manoeuvre would be more dangerous once the road is widened to four lanes.

As a result, we’ll change the intersection to only allow left-hand turns. This is like what we’ve done at Pioneer/Lyndhurst and Walding/Taonui.

Construction is broken into five stages

The staging map below outlines how construction will take place. The project starts in September and is expected to be finished in early-2023.

Two-way traffic will be maintained along Ferguson Street during construction. However, temporary intersection closures are needed on South Street and Linton Street.

Map indicates the stages of transformation at Ferguson and Pitt streets

 

 

Location

Ferguson Street, Palmerston North Central   View Map

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