Courtenay Place upgrade 1996

Given the soon to begin "Golden Mile" works along the route from Courtenay Place along to Lambton Quay in Wellington, this article from 1996 for the last major upgrade of Courtenay Place may be timely.  The works consisted of:

• Simplification of the intersection between Courtenay Place, Kent/Cambridge Tce and Majoribanks St
• Removal of the two "island" bus stops, replaced with side located stops (associated also with the redesign of many Wellington bus routes to be through routes between suburbs, rather than services from Western and Northern suburbs terminating at Courtenay Place)
• New footpaths and a large pedestrian area on the south-eastern end of Courtenay Place, with significant narrowing of the loadspace to enable wider footpaths.

The old island bus stops while providing free flow conditions for buses moving east along Courtenay Place, were also considered a hazard to pedestrians, due to the tendency of some unsociable and intoxicated people to reside in the shelters, frightening some bus passengers. The new design opened up Courtenay Place more generally, although the angled parking at the south-eastern end was removed some years later.

The total project cost around $2m in 1996.