Changes for Hutt Road cancelled
The changes proposed for Hutt Road as part of Let's Get Wellington Moving have been cancelled.
Let’s Get Wellington Moving was 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 of this work.
Before the programme was dissolved, public engagement and planning for changes on Hutt Road and Thorndon 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
- December 2023 – public consultation on designs and traffic resolution for Hutt Road.
Wellington City Council paused this project in early 2024 pending a decision through the Long Term Plan, which recommended that the Hutt Road proposal be withdrawn to save costs. This was approved through the Long Term Plan process and the project has now been cancelled.
The construction already underway on Thorndon Quay and Aotea Quay will still be completed. The designs for the Jarden Mile intersection will still progress but will be delivered at a later stage via a separate project.
Complete: two-way bike path and separate walking path
New walking and biking paths along Hutt Road were officially opened on 11 November 2019.
We turned the old shared path between Caltex Fuel Stop and the Thorndon Quay/Tinakori Road intersection into a two-way bike path and separate walking path.
It's one of our busiest commuter routes and a crucial link in the region's wider cycle network. About 1200 trips a day are made by people on bikes and the number choosing to use the shared path has doubled in the past 10 years. On an average weekday, more than 10,000 people travel this route by bus.
In time, it will be part of Te Ara Tupua, the Wellington to Hutt Valley cycling and walking link to be built by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
Work on the first phase of upgrading the shared path started in October 2016 when we began replacing the street lights on the western side of Hutt Road. Preliminary construction on the pathway got under way in April 2017 and continued until mid-2018 as far as the Tinakori Road intersection. Widening the bridge over Kaiwharawhara Stream took place from August to November 2019.
The project was developed in three sections:
- Section 1, between Caltex Fuel Stop and Aotea Quay overbridge. We created separate walking and biking paths to replace the former shared path, and made changes to parking. View the details.
- Section 2, between Aotea Quay overbridge and Tinakori Road intersection. We widened and upgraded the shared path to create separate biking and walking paths. View the details.
- Section 3, widening the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge to connect the new walking and biking paths on either side. View the construction details.
Consultation
The proposed Hutt Road cycleway opened for public consultation on 16 March 2016. We also held two open days for people to come along and find out more. 991 people provided feedback before consultation closed on 18 April 2016.
Councillors heard 45 oral submissions from the public at a Transport and Urban Development Committee meeting on 5 May 2016.
Phased approach
In 2016 the Council approved a phased approach to constructing the Hutt Road cycleway to allow more investigation into:
- the impact on parking
- potential for traffic lights outside Spotlight
- transit lanes for bus priority.
Parking surveys have found that 40% of people parking along Hutt Road are commuters who continue on into the city on foot, by bike or bus. We investigated alternative options for parking in the area to accommodate the 60% of people who park along Hutt Road near where they work.
Traffic lights at Spotlight were investigated but not recommended. The Council agreed to leave the intersection as it is. While there were some safety benefits for people accessing Spotlight, the loss of parking to make room for extra lanes and the overall delays to all road users would be significant. This, combined with the narrowing of the median at the intersection, would also result in increased risk to people on the path.
Hutt Road is one of our busiest commuter routes and a crucial link in the region's wider cycle network. More than 400 people cycle this way at peak times, and the number choosing to use the bike path has doubled in the past 10 years.
Hutt Road was selected as the most viable route to provide a northern connection in Wellington’s wider cycling network. Long-term, a coastal route could possibly be developed as part of Te Aranui o Pōneke / the Great Harbour Way.
Hutt Road pathway map
