NZTA Innovative Tactical Urbanism Fund Rounds 2 Out

On Friday NZTA released their round 2 of their Innovative Tactical Urbanism Fund totally some $10.3m in Auckland. This time around Southern Auckland was included with five projects on the list.

From Auckland Council:

Funding confirmed for projects to bring Auckland streets to life

Published: 28 August 2020ShareParking Day on Tyler Street

Safer and more people-friendly streets are coming to Auckland with 13 Auckland Council group projects being confirmed for funding by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s Innovating Streets Programme today.

The successful projects range from making it safer for kids in Māngere to get to school, creating new pedestrian space and cycleways in the city centre, creating low-traffic neighbourhoods in Onehunga and Papatoetoe, and creating more space for fun on Ponsonby Road.

The Innovating Streets programme supports councils with pilot funding to test new ways to create safer, healthier and more people friendly towns and cities. 

Mayor Phil Goff welcomed the announcement.

“This investment will help make our streets safer and more pleasant, reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads and create new opportunities for Aucklanders to get involved in shaping their local communities,” he says.

“The community-focused approach means that ideas can be tested and improved in response to feedback from the people who live, work and travel in these areas, including pedestrians and people on bikes, drivers, businesses and shoppers.”

The projects will use a tactical urbanism approach to make quick, low-cost, scalable improvements to create more vibrant, people-friendly spaces in our neighbourhoods. This may include the use of pop-ups like street dining and play streets or interim treatments like road art, planters, and street furniture to inform future permanent upgrades.

Chair of the Planning Committee, Chris Darby says this generous funding from the government empowers Auckland Council to take an agile approach to enlivening our streets.

“Creative ideas to provide more room for Aucklanders to move safely and enjoyably will be put to the test, and the projects that win support from our communities can be scaled up and made permanent.”

The projects will be led by Local Boards, Auckland Transport, Auckland Council or Panuku Development Auckland, and communities, schools, and local businesses will be invited to collaborate and develop ideas to create the places they would like to enjoy.

This approach to co-designing and trialling interventions with the community allows for local insight and feedback in real time so that adjustments can be made along the way.

Councillor Josephine Bartley says that the programme gives communities a chance to be involved in co-creating street design changes that deliver benefits for them.

“The programme has given our local community and local boards an opportunity to put forward for funding important projects that will help to mobilise our community. Projects like walking and cycling lanes or reallocating more street space for people, allows our community to keep connected and improve overall wellbeing”, she says. 

Ideas will be developed over the coming months and the temporary changes are expected to be in place before mid-2021, with the view to becoming permanent in the long term if successful.

This is the second round of funding confirmed by Waka Kotahi. With six Auckland projects in the first round and 13 in this round, Auckland now has funding for 19 projects in total.

Auckland Innovating Streets round 2 projects (Funding confirmed 28 August 2020)

Project WAVE – A protected bike route at the bottom of Nelson Street and into the city centre. With the aim of increasing the number of people on bikes using the bottom end of Nelson Street.

Safe School Streets Mangere – This is part of the Safe and Healthy Streets South Auckland project that aims to achieve a fun, safe, healthy and well-connected Māngere and Manukau. Five Mangere schools will be involved.

Ponsonby Road – Te Rimu Tahi – returning Ponsonby Road to the people –Creating a more people friendly environment on Ponsonby Road, with a focus on three areas:  1. Three Lamps, 2. Between Vermont Street and Williamson Ave, 3. Outside Western Park.

Maungakiekie Tāmaki Low Traffic Neighbourhoods – Creating two Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, one in Onehunga and one in Eastview. This project aims to re-define the street network in these areas, keeping local streets for local people and creating streets where people can bike and walk without fear, loud traffic and traffic fumes.

Papatoetoe West Low Traffic Neighbourhood- Creating a low traffic neighbourhood in Papatoetoe West. With the aim of preventing rat-running through residential roads and allocating more road space to walking and cycling.

Manukau – Wiri– Safe and Healthy Streets South Auckland – The proposal builds on the multi-agency collective impact approach developed through the Safe and Healthy Streets South Auckland Programme and involves a series of co-designed temporary tactical interventions to test, trial and pilot people centred changes to streets in Manukau. 

Creating Safer Streets – Britomart Tyler Street – Creating a more people friendly environment on Tyler Street.

Creating Safer Streets – Emily Place – Transforming Emily Place into a peaceful, tranquil oasis for people to enjoy by making significant changes to the way vehicles move around the site.

Make it Safe, Make it Playful and Celebrate Tāmaki – Encourage a shift to walking, cycling and public transport. Creating streets as places including play along the way and a celebration of Tāmaki’s natural landscape and unique identity.

Pukekohe – Eat Streets and Laneway Enhancements – With a view to creating more people-centred streets and inform the future streetscape upgrades of King St, Roulston St and the laneways, Panuku proposes a series of tactical interventions and temporary activities to enhance the vibrancy of Pukekohe’s town centre. At the heart of this activity will be a relocation of the Pukekohe Markets to the town square and Rouston Street.

Maximising Mangere – Time to Thrive- New pop-up bike lanes that fix gaps in the existing network, including co-design to help choose locations for pop-up cycle lanes and some activations to promote the new temporary bike lanes. Widening and painting of footpaths in strategic locations.  

Glen Eden Town Centre Pop-up Cycleway: Captain Scott Road – Creating safer streets, with slower traffic on Captain Scott Road, The aim is to provide a separated bike connection to Glen Eden Intermediate and Glen Eden Primary Schools, and for residents to the town centre and train station.

Community Play Streets Pilot for Tāmaki Makaurau – Testing out play streets at several residential areas in West and South Auckland. Play streets enable neighbours to temporarily restrict traffic access to their street so the space can be opened up for play, recreation and to create a sense of community.

Source: Our Auckland

So five projects in Southern Auckland with Manukau picking up one which is timely given I just submitted a paper of Tactical Urbanism in Manukau, and recently received feedback from Auckland Transport on cycling in Manukau:

Ronwood Avenue also sits within the study area for the Manukau Cycling Business Case which will identify a network of cycling improvements for Manukau with a particular focus on the metro centre. This business case will commence in the coming months with initial public engagement indicatively planned for late 2020.

Auckland Transport in reply to my Ronwood Avenue Boulevard Request. August 2020

The Manukau and Mangere projects are part of the Safe and Healthy Streets program which is a wider strategic program of low speed streets and encouragement of active modes through South Auckland.

Can’t wait to see the diagrams come out!