Update on the closure of Hampden Street (West)

Season's greetings to the residents of Hampden, Locking, Kawai and Alfred Streets.

The holiday season is nearing, so it’s time for an update on the trial closure of Hampden Street (West).

The closure started on 6 October 2019, with the planter boxes preventing people from turning into or out of the street (except for a few cheeky people who tried to drive around them!).

The purpose of the closure is to see if a change in road layout improves safety for all users at this busy intersection.

For this project we have adopted the NZTA ‘innovative streets’ approach. This approach provides an opportunity to test road modifications or changes before opting for a more expensive, longer-term solution.

The trial was set to run for up to 12 months with ongoing monitoring of the traffic flows in the area. Council asked for a report to be presented after six months, to review what has been happening.

We also committed to keep you regularly updated, and we have some initial data which we would like to share with you first. We’ve also received a lot of feedback from a range of groups including residents directly affected by the temporary change in road layout, road users and other interested parties.

Traffic monitoring data

A traffic monitoring system was setup for the Hampden Street (West) trial closure. Pre-closure traffic counts were done in August 2019, and these have been compared with the traffic counts in November 2019.

It’s important that we also consider the impacts on pedestrians, and will be doing pedestrian counts in February.

The locations of the monitoring points are shown in the below image.

The data has shown the following trends to date:

• As expected, there is an increase in average traffic volumes on Franklyn, Kawai and Locking Streets.
• There is a decrease in average traffic volumes on Alfred, Tipahi (between Franklyn and Motueka Street) and Hampden Streets.
• There were no major changes in average traffic volumes on Hampden (East), Ngatiawa, and Tipahi Streets (between Alfred and Franklyn Street).

Summary of Feedback

Benefits of the closure

• Greater sense of community in the Hampden Street West area with residents feeling safer, and a general mood of calmness.
• Residents in Kawai and Alfred Streets have commented that the roads feel quieter and safer with less traffic.
• Increase in children and families walking or cycling to school.
• Absence of ‘boy racers’ using the street as a thoroughfare to Waimea Road.

Challenges arising from the closure:

• Crossing Franklyn Street at the Waimea Road intersection has become more challenging for children walking/scootering to and from school with higher numbers of vehicles using this street.
• Limited route choices for residents and visitors travelling to or from the Round Hay retirement complex.
• The new road layout required a change in the timing of recycling collection in the area. Unfortunately, some glass collection was missed during the transition to the new collection time.

Engagement with Hampden Street School community

As part of Council’s continuing work with all schools to encourage active travel to and from school, ‘Milo’ mornings at Hampden Street School have been held and feedback gathered. A survey was also held at the school on 4 November 2019 which showed that 250 of 457 students had used active transport, bus or carpool to get to school.

Hampden Street School is currently one of the highest active transport participants in Nelson City. We think this is great and would like to congratulate the School – keep up the great work!

Feedback welcome

We welcome all feedback on the trial closure of Hampden Street (West). Public consultation is important, it helps us ensure that Council decisions are leading our growing region in the right direction.

To share information or your view on the closure online, please use the tools provided on this website. You can also contact our Customer Service Centre on Ph. 03 546 0200 or email enquiry@ncc.govt.nz.

Remember - to report a near miss, phone 0800 CYCLECRASH.