Henderson Streets for People

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I made a small music video for fun that is of the blue street on my "wheelie waka".

Hi there. Ive worked around Henderson for a number of years, and most days i take a walk around the area. I dont want to comment on any of the additions other than the entry to the westfield carpark on Railside Ave. This has always been a very dangerous area for pedestrians, with cars entering and exiting from different directions. I have had many close calls walking around here, nearly being hit by drivers who are rushing through small gaps in the traffic. I fully support retaining the current changes to this area, and not allowing people to turn right into the carpark from railside. Also support continuing no right turn exit from the carpark. Please retain these changes!!! It is so much safer now for pedestrians! Thanks,

Hi, I pressed next too soon on the feedback so didn’t get to fill in the text fields and it doesn’t seem to let me go back. I won’t participate in the forum because it’s pretty nasty in there and I could do without replies to my posts. I love many of the changes on this trial. The artwork colour and design is great - really vibrant and exciting and certainly better than tarmac grey. The red planters are also awesome, make it quite difficult for errant drivers to circumvent them, and the colour is a great contrast. The separated cycle lanes are really great, they allow me to cycle bits where before I would have been on the pavement.
Since the project has been underway, I have discovered lots of new shops and eateries in Henderson town centre I didn’t know about before.
The Gt North Rd bit in particular seems like a really good reallocation of live lane to parking lane and the bit at the Alderman end which takes away the slip lane is possibly my favourite bit - that junction is one of the worst bits of Henderson on a bike or on foot - the slip lane always made it worse because it gives you an extra leg to cross and the cars were not very predictable here. So this is very appreciated. My criticism of the cycle lanes is that it’s not super clear what they are - I know officially they are shared paths - but so far I have seen cyclists stay on the footpath, probably because they’re not aware these are spaces for them to use. You can’t expect people to change the habits that keep them safe without some pretty direct instruction. Also the ends of them (on Ratanui and Railside) are kind of difficult to get into. I know they are probably like this to stop cars driving down them but maybe this could be a bit clearer too. (In fact the Ratanui entrance was entirely blocked by a giant SUV - from the protest I think - when I visited last weekend.) In terms of driving, I haven’t driven here but it looks like Railside is carrying just as many cars as it did before, even though it’s supposed to be buses only. The Trading Place stuff is good and the cut through to Falls is excellent, I have been using that for a while (apart from the staples to cross the bridge need to go). The next obvious bit would be to link the main intersection with the Trading Place bit via Gt North Rd. I noticed Gt North Rd needs heaps more bike parking - the traffic light and sign poles along here have big square bases which means you can’t lock your bike to them. The best thing next would be to join the trial bits with the existing bits of twin streams - something better for the Alderman intersection (including much better signage to show the twin streams paths) and the completion of the Henderson Creek path with Vitasovich through the mall car parks.
I’m not sure if the boardwalk bit outside Wood Bros is finished? It would have been good to add some seating and/or some bike parking here.
The main criticism I have of the whole project is its rollout - it was so piecemeal for so long that I think people didn’t quite know what was going on and so didn’t have a “date” to change their driving habits - they kept driving the same way they always did and were then surprised when it was no longer allowed. I think it would be much better to roll out these kind of projects as quickly as possible.
I really hope most of this trial is allowed to stay. Cars don’t shop, people do. Henderson town centre in general could do with some love, but that’s down to landlords, business owners and the community to support.

Really cheap, nasty and tacky looking. Can't believe so much money (My tax money) has been wasted on this rubbish, traffic is a nightmare and to be completely blunt about it public transport in Auckland (well, NZ in general really) is a complete joke so before you try and force us out of our cars you should really look at a place like Germany or Holland so that you can learn what town planning is all about because what you're doing here has nothing in common with town planning.
Limiting traffic flow on the main arterial GT north road is probably the dumbest thing I've seen any Council do.

I am certainly opposed to the changes that have been made. Firstly I will quote from your own 'rules'
"It's illegal to 'damage or deface" any building or other structure (a bridge for example) by writing, drawing, painting, spraying or etching on it, or by marking it in some other way. This offence also covers tagging roads, trees or other property like trains, cars and yachts."
So then how is this right to do this in our town???
The 'in your face' colour, art work and planters on the roads are so distracting.
I do not see that many cyclists in the town to warrant a 'lane' for their use. I would like to ask as to how many cyclists go through Henderson and has there been a survey taken to warrant this useful lane for them at the cost of taking away car parks closer to the curb.
Was there a consultative process with the residents - like letter box drop offs as I do not recall receiving one.
Overall, my reaction was one of horror and disbelief that our town was being converted into a place where you will want to hang out - do that in the Mall or cafes but for the streets to be prettied up is another matter.
There are many streets in our town that need repair work - spend the money on that instead of pretty things.
Put my name on the side of the ledger that says Opposition.

Good start, made cycling and walking much safer. This is the most important thing.
However, parts of the implementation aren't great. The blue paint, the planters and barriers, these are good.
The design, that's the bad bit. Planter boxes preventing bikes and people entering the lanes, this is bad but could be fixed easily.
Too many cars and beg buttons at the main intersection. The pedestrian crossings need to be on timers and go on automatically.

this is utterly embarrassing and a good way to kill any remaining heart Henderson had.

This is a great idea Getting vehicles away from pedestrians is the way the world is going. (not like Westgate though. I have photos of Westgate where cars are parked all over the pedestrian footpaths, and most cars that do drive through do not adhere to the recommended speed limit. I do remember in Waitakere Council days that they did try a pedestrian part of main street, but it kept the people away from the local shops because they just drove straight to the shopping mall's
and business sagged.