Ferguson Street safety improvements

You’ll see some cones remain on the road during the Christmas break, with contractors returning to work on Monday 9 January 2023. They’re installing traffic lights and widening the road to four lanes, which they expect to finish by Easter in 2023.

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.

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.

Pedestrian-controlled traffic lights will also help people to safely cross four lanes of traffic.

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.

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.

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.