Work started on the St Vincent Street upgrade about 3 weeks ago. It began at the Gloucester / St Vincent Roundabout, and we plan to move back up St Vincent Street towards Parere Street. Unfortunately, we have faced a couple of challenges with this job, especially water from the incoming tide.

Over time there has been a fair bit of land reclaimed around Nelson, and the tide line has changed significantly. Back in the 1840's the high tide line was very different compared today's waterline (yellow line below).

As you can see, the historic high tide line runs right up to the Gloucester St / St Vincent Street roundabout. When the tide is high, water can flow up our stormwater drains. This is a fairly regular occurrence, best seen when water seeps out of the stormwater drains in the Wakatu Square carpark.

Yesterday (10 March) we had a 4.5 metre high tide, and this caused a few challenges as the contractor tried to finish the work near the roundabout.

This inundation has delayed this work by a couple of days, but we hope to get this completed before the end of the week. The traffic lights will be removed, and work will head back up St Vincent Street.

Thanks for everyone's patience as we deal with these challenges that are unique to beautiful seaside cities.