Feedback: Featherston Street safety upgrades: North St to Vogel St

Submissions closed on 07 April 2023, 05:00 PM

Woman biking towards a cross, dwarfed by passing vehicles on the painted bike lane.

We want you to have your say on how we could make Featherston Street safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The area we want your feedback on this time is the stretch of road between North Street and Vogel.

Last year we sought public feedback on safety improvements on the street between Botanical Road and North Street, after receiving funding from Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency as part of its Streets for People programme. Now the agency has now provided additional funding as part of its Transport Choices programme for us to continue with cycling and pedestrian improvements between North and Vogel Streets.

This means we need your feedback!

That means we’re now keen to get your feedback on the area between North and Vogel Streets. 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.

In March/April, we asked for your feedback on how we could make these streets safer. Our team are now working on proposed designs and will again seek your feedback in July/August. 

We don’t have a design yet but once we get your feedback we'll start working on it

This new Transport Choices funding from Waka Kotahi is specifically focused on the cycleway and pedestrian improvements, to help make it easier and safer for people to use Featherston Street, and to help reduce carbon emissions.

If you’re a pedestrian (or a family member or friend is) we’d love to know how you use the street, whether you feel safe, whether we need more crossings or any other feedback you might have.

The cycleway will be protected from vehicles with a physical separator. Don’t worry, you won’t see planter boxes here. But we'd like to know what kind of cycleway you’d like to see. If you already ride a bike, how could we make you feel safer? If you don’t ride, what could we do so you might feel comfortable trying?

To fit the cycleway on Featherston Street it’s likely we’ll need to make changes to on-street parking and/or the median strip. What do you need us to know about that?  Could we assist with changing parking time restrictions in the area at the same time?

Please let us know your thoughts by submitting our online form before 5pm on Friday 7 April.

In addition to this project, we are looking at some potential safety changes to intersections at Heretaunga Street, Ruahine Street and Russell Street.  We’re in the early stages of investigating these and will talk to people close to these intersections again before making any changes, as well as letting the wider public know. Any intersection change is likely to be at least a year or two away and would work with the cycleway design.

You’ll hear from us again in winter to show you our proposed design

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. 

Council discussed the final design of Featherston Street on Wednesday 27 September. Designs for the street are being updated following this meeting and more conversations are being had with businesses on the street. Keep an eye on our project page for the next steps.

Parts of the project may occur at different times

Towards the end of this year and in the first half of 2024, the cycleway and pedestrian improvements will be installed between Botanical Road and Ruahine Street.

Why are we building cycleways?

Our Urban Cycle Network Masterplan is about helping Palmy move across the city safely and efficiently.

You’ve probably noticed your daily commute is taking longer than it did a few years ago as our city and region grows.

More people riding bikes makes our city safer, our commutes more efficient, and our community healthier.

More people riding bikes means your commute time won't keep getting longer.

In 2019, when we developed our cycle network masterplan, many people told us they wanted to bike, but didn’t feel safe. The idea of our masterplan is to create a network of streets connected across the city with best practice cycleways, so people are safer sharing the road with motor vehicles.

It’s not until most or all of these are installed in the city that we’d expect to see a large increase in people choosing to ride bikes. We know there can be some limitations to riding bikes, such as dropping kids at school or the weather, but over time we’re hoping people will consider a different choice because they feel safe to do so – even if it’s just a day or two a week.

Biking is great for our physical and mental health, and of course saves money on fuel and the stress of finding parking. It’s also a way we can help our planet by reducing our emissions.

Location

Featherston Street, Palmerston North Central 4414  View Map

Google Map

The Transport Choices - Climate Emergency Response Fund Programme logo

The Transport Choices Fund is part of the government’s Climate Emergency Response Fund, $350m has been allocated to rapidly reallocate existing street space for walking, cycling and public transport. The Expression of Interest for funds was released to councils in the first week of August and Waka Kotahi was then involved in many conversations to refine the final programme to be presented to the Minister for approval in October.

Transport Choices is an investment package that local councils can use to begin immediate work for reduction of emissions, as part of the Emissions Reduction Plan released in May 2022. Its purpose is to build momentum, capability, and public support ahead of more detailed VKT (Vehicle Kilometres Travelled) reduction planning and investment programmes that will happen over the next few years.

Transport Choices programme | Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (nzta.govt.nz)

The Streets for People programme 2021-24 aims to make it easier and faster to create more people friendly streets in our towns and cities.

The programme is investing $30m to enable councils to partner with local communities by testing street changes that better meet community needs. In early September, Waka Kotahi announced that 13 councils across the country will receive funding to test street changes as part of Waka Kotahi Streets for People programme 2021-24.

About the programme | Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (nzta.govt.nz)