Car-free Queen St trial

November 28, 2018

Auckland councillors voted unanimously to trial car free roads in central Auckland, including Queen St.

This idea would radically transform the city centre.

Principal urban designer George Weeks said the “open streets” plan would make Queen St inaccessible to all vehicles except for buses, delivery vehicles and essential service vehicles like rubbish trucks.

Over the next decade public transport capacity will increase with rail, light rail, buses and ferries bringing hundreds of thousands of people into the city.

Federal St and High St are also being put forward as pedestrian-only roads, and Quay St near the waterfront as a pedestrian-friendly road.

Mayor Phil Goff said with the swelling number of people in the central city every day, there needed to be change soon.

The urban design team will come back to the Planning Committee next year with some concrete proposals.