Board recommends Cranford Street bus lane stays

At today’s meeting, the Waipapa Papanui-Innes-Central Community Board considered three options proposed for the peak-hour lanes between Berwick Street and Innes Road, following 15 deputations.   

With the board voting in favour of a peak-hour bus lane, the decision will now sit with the full Council, which will consider the board’s recommendation in December. Changes are expected to be implemented in early 2025.  

Board chairperson Emma Norrish said it’s been a long journey to today’s recommendation. 

“It’s good for the local St Albans community to be a step closer to having a permanent layout for this section of Cranford Street. The opening of the Christchurch Northern Corridor was always going to have big implications for this community, and it has been good to go through this process of hearing the feedback of all the submitters.”  

Implementation of the bus lane option, which includes upgrades, is estimated to cost $250,000. 

Of the 632 submitters, 42% supported the bus lane, while 48% supported a clearway, and a T2 lane option, for high-occupancy vehicles, was preferred by 10%.  

The work will be funded by the Council through the Downstream Effects Mitigation Plan (DEMP). 

The peak-hour lane operates on the southbound side in the morning peak (7am to 9am) and on the northbound side in the evening peak (4pm to 6pm), on weekdays. The lanes revert to on-street parking, with more space for cyclists, outside of these times. 

At its meeting, the board also made a decision on the 300m section of northbound lane between Berwick Street and Westminster Streets, originally proposed as a peak-hour clearway across all options.  

The board approved a staff recommendation to instead create two permanent northbound lanes. This means traffic won’t need to merge after the English Park pedestrian crossing outside of peak times, reducing driver distraction and improving safety and efficiency. 

Find more information about the project at Let’s Talk.