He tāone e hāngai ana ki te anamata
A city fit for the future
We're rebalancing our streets to give people more low carbon transport options in Wellington and improve safety for all users. To make it safer and easier for more people to walk, bike, scoot or take the bus along Hutt Road and Thorndon Quay, we’ve built a roundabout on Aotea Quay to redirect freight and ferry traffic onto the state highway.
Project at a glance
Aotea Quay is a critical part of the road network in Wellington, providing a key northern connection to State Highways 1 and 2 from the city centre, as well as being the main access route to CentrePort.
We’ve built a roundabout on Aotea Quay to replace the traffic lights at the KiwiRail container terminal entrance. It allows:
- direct access to the ferry terminal from State Highway 1, meaning that people driving can get there via State Highway 1, rather than using Hutt Road
- trucks and other vehicles coming from the north to stay on State Highway 1 and have a safe place to turn to reach the ferry terminal. This will help remove heavy traffic from Hutt Road and improve safety for people walking, biking, and taking the bus along Hutt Road and Thorndon Quay.
This project was originally part of Let's Get Wellington Moving - a partnership programme between Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, Greater Wellington Regional Council, and Wellington City Council - with the directive to help move more people in Wellington with fewer private vehicles. This programme was dissolved in early 2024. Wellington City Council has now taken the lead on some key projects.
Before the programme was dissolved, public engagement and construction work on Aotea Quay was being led through Let's Get Wellington Moving. This included the following milestones:
- 2020 Development of project objectives and options for a proposed solution.
- May–June 2021 Public consultation on project objectives and proposed solution.
- June–July 2022 Public consultation on designs and traffic resolution of the Aotea Quay roundabout.
- August 2022 Pūroro Waihanga, the Infrastructure Committee, approved the traffic resolution.
- Mid-2023 Construction begins on Aotea Quay.
- April 2024 Roundabout complete and in use.