There will be additional traffic in the St Albans, Edgeware and Mairehau areas when the Christchurch Northern Corridor opens. We're planning how we manage this traffic and reduce the number of vehicles travelling along the route.

Cars driving on road

The Christchurch Northern Corridor (CNC) is due to open in mid-2020 and will help people to travel to and from the north of Christchurch by extending the Northern Motorway from QEII Drive and Cranford Street, through to Innes Road. 

Further information about this project is available on the NZ Transport Agency website(external link).

Traffic mitigation

We are currently working with our partner organisations to develop a plan for mitigating the expected increase in traffic on Cranford Street and other streets in a way that:

  • keeps everyone safe
  • encourages walking, cycling and use of public transport
  • keeps people moving through the area

Councillors have prioritised the first part of this plan which needs to happen before the Christchurch Northern Corridor opens. They also instructed staff to investigate several other projects that are important to the community. 

Read more about the decision on Newsline.

Work to start early 2020

The initial projects to mitigate the traffic from the Christchurch Northern Corridor has been approved by Council and construction is expected to start early 2020.

Consultation on the projects took place in July and August 2019 and more than 50 changes have been made in response to feedback.

The proposed projects include:

  • Main road and intersection upgrades – work along Cranford and Sherborne streets and at the intersections of Warrington and Forfar streets and Warrington and Barbadoes streets.
  • Traffic calming and turning restrictions – a range of approaches to discourage people from taking short-cuts through side streets.
  • Cycle routes – east-west connections across Cranford Street to the Papanui Parallel cycleway and two local north-south cycle routes to the east of Cranford Street.
  • Slow speed zone – a 40km/h speed zone between Rutland Street in the west and Hills Road in the east and an extension of the 30km/h speed zone in Edgeware.
  • Traffic and environmental monitoring – we will continue to monitor traffic volumes in the area and to work with specialists to develop an environmental monitoring programme.

Previous consultations

The projects follow two rounds of consultation in mid-2018 and earlier this year. The key themes of the previous rounds of consultation were:

  • People, not cars
  • Retaining a sense of community
  • Safety, particularly for people walking, biking and accessing local schools

What else is happening?

We are working with our partners NZ Transport Agency, Waimakariri District Council and Environment Canterbury (ECan), on a package of projects that sit alongside the Christchurch Northern Corridor. The projects include park-and-ride facilities, additional bus services and a high occupancy vehicle lane.

High occupancy vehicle lane

The NZ Transport Agency will install a lane for vehicles with more than one person in them on State Highway One and the new Christchurch Northern Corridor motorway to encourage carpooling. This lane ends just before the Cranford Street roundabout. We are investigating whether this could extend along Cranford Street.

Park-and-ride facilities

The Waimakariri District Council and NZ Transport Agency have agreed to co-fund park-and-ride facilities in the district and are currently investigating suitable locations. We are also investigating a park-and-ride facility near QEII Drive.

Bus services

ECan has agreed to consider express bus services from Christchurch north that would travel along the Christchurch Northern Corridor and Cranford Street. They will consult with the Waimakariri community on any proposed changes. We are assessing the impact of bus lanes along Cranford Street and Sherborne Street that would complement an express bus services.

Pricing strategies to manage future traffic demand

Pricing strategies work best when applied across a road network and not just to a single road corridor. We are exploring different methods that could be used to implement congestion charges across the city.