Western end of St Asaph and Tuam streets to be upgraded

Work to upgrade the few remaining blocks of St Asaph St, Tuam St and Hagley Ave gets underway today.

The western end of St Asaph St is being upgraded.

This work, part of An Accessible City, will complete the creation of separated west and eastbound cycle lanes along St Asaph and Tuam streets. The road and footpaths will also be resurfaced to align with the improvements made to the east of Durham St in 2016. Additional street lighting and plantings will also be included.

This stage of An Accessible City is being delivered by Downer for Ōtākaro Limited in partnership with Christchurch City Council, Environment Canterbury, Ngāi Tahu and the NZ Transport Agency. The partners have also worked with the Christchurch Transport Operations Centre on the plan.

“This work will enable Tuam St to accommodate significant traffic flows from the west and serve as a primary public transport route,” says Ōtākaro Chief Executive Albert Brantley.

Roadworks will begin on St Asaph St (between Antigua St and Hagley Ave) and on the west side of Hagley Ave. On St Asaph St traffic will be reduced to one lane during construction and on-street parking permanently removed to accommodate the changes. Work is expected to take about five months to complete, subject to weather and construction conditions.

Following this, work on Tuam St (between Durham St and Antigua St) will begin on the south side before moving to the north side. When work begins on-street parking will be permanently removed from the north side of Tuam St. Two lane traffic and pedestrian access will be maintained at peak traffic times with some work carried out at night and weekends.

“It is great to see this work getting underway. As more of the An Accessible City network is rolled out we will start to see the benefits of the street priority system come through,'' says Christchurch City Council Transport Operations Manager Aaron Haymes.

An Accessible City stems from the Share an Idea campaign through which people asked for greener streets with slower traffic and quality walking and cycling paths.

Ōtākaro is also managing upgrades on two other central city streets that border Anchor Projects. Manchester St has returned to two lanes between Lichfield and Hereford streets and the paved footpaths on both sides between Cashel and Hereford streets will be completed soon.

Durham St will return to two lanes between Kilmore and Hereford streets next month. Durham St from Hereford will return to two lanes around April.

Commuters should check the Transport for Christchurch website for real-time updates on the areas of work and information on how to most effectively use the transport network while it is being carried out.