Great North Road and Delta Avenue upgrade Great North Road and Delta Avenue upgrade
The upgrade of Great North Road (Clark Street West to Memorial Drive) and Delta Avenue has resulted in a more attractive and pedestrian-friendly town centre, while maintaining a key arterial road.
- Find out about the project's features
- Find out more about the changes on Great North Road
- Find out more about the changes on Delta Avenue
- Find out about the impact of this development
Features
The main project work included:
- New and wider concrete footpaths on Great North Road and Delta Triangle to encourage enhanced retail use, such as café-style seating, and safer and more attractive pedestrian areas;
- Creating vehicle access to Delta Avenue from Great North Road for city-bound traffic to improve accessibility to local businesses and the large McNaughton Way carparking area located behind Delta Ave;
- Installing new drainage systems in the form of rain gardens to help manage stormwater run-off;
- Extensive landscaping, including new trees, low-level planting, seating and efficient street lighting;
- Installing raised speed tables at the intersections of Delta Avenue/Hugh Brown Drive/Memorial Avenue and McCrae Way/Great North Road and at the new access point from Great North Road into Delta Avenue;
- Replacing existing inset parking on Great North Road with off-peak “tidal” parking and reconfiguring parallel and right-angle parking on Delta Avenue;
- Service relocations;
- Road reconstruction and resealing.
The upgrade was undertaken by contractor Downer New Zealand Limited and completed in early 2013.
Great North Road
Along this section of road, the aim is to provide a more pedestrian-friendly town centre or “high street” environment, while maintaining a key arterial road that serves the wider west Auckland area. Below is an artist's impression of the finished work and a cross-section indicating how the space will be used.
The plan allows for wider footpaths, new seating and additional plantings to create a more pleasant environment for walking, shopping and socialising.
The old brick footpaths, which posed safety risks, were replaced with modern concrete footpaths that match other redeveloped areas in the town centre. Additional tree planters were introduced and low impact drainage systems, in the form of “rain gardens”, help to manage storm water run-off.
Vehicles are no longer permitted to make a right-hand turn into Memorial Drive.
Footpath widths at this intersection were well below the desired minimum width of two metres, so this change has allowed the footpath to be widened sufficiently.
Delta Avenue
The new-look Delta Avenue will be a tree-lined boulevard and a pedestrian-friendly environment for retail and leisure. The footpath on the retail side will be widened from two to four metres to encourage enhanced retail use, such as café-style seating, while the footpath on the Delta Triangle side will be widened from 1.5 to two metres.
Extensive landscaping work - including new trees, seating, footpath surfaces, pavers and efficient LED lighting – will be undertaken.
The plans allow for vehicle access to be created from Great North Road for city-bound traffic, improving accessibility to local businesses and the large McNaughton Way carparking area located behind Delta Avenue.
The existing Delta Avenue/Hugh Brown Drive/Memorial Drive intersection will be replaced with a raised mini-roundabout to improve pedestrian safety and accessibility. The roundabout will feature zebra crossings to give pedestrians priority and increased visibility.
The Great North Road and Delta Ave upgrade follows the completion of other high-profile works in New Lynn, such as the New Lynn Transport Interchange, Clark Street extension and Totara Avenue shared space. It will also complement other regeneration projects currently underway in New Lynn, including the McCrae Way upgrade and the construction of new commercial and public carparking developments between Totara Avenue and McCrae Way. These projects are all part of a wider vision to transform New Lynn into a vibrant regional town centre.
Impacts
It is not possible to make the proposed improvements to Great North Road and Delta Avenue and preserve all the current parking arrangements.
The existing inset parking on Great North Road is to be replaced with off-peak “tidal” parking - available outside the peak travel times of 7-9am and 4-6pm, Monday to Friday. Delta Avenue will retain both parallel and perpendicular parking.
However, four existing spaces need to be removed from Great North Road and five from Delta Ave to allow for the planned streetscape improvements.
Changing the parking layout allows for wider footpaths, additional planting and seating and therefore safer, more functional and more attractive public spaces for people to enjoy. It also gives businesses the opportunity to make better use of their frontages.
Auckland Transport believes the improvements this urban renewal project will make to the local environment will offset the loss of parking in this area.
Additional parking is available nearby, including the large McNaughton Way carpark (which offers free, unrestricted parking) and the McCrae Way carpark off Great North Road. A new 299-space parking building was built on Totara Avenue in 2012.
Need more information?