Looking at Alternative Basin Solutions

So far, it appears that the proposed new solution – the “final solution” – to the traffic woes of inner-city Wellington have not been that well received. Is this the only solution? What other ways have people / government departments tried to solve the dilemma of “Round the Basin” intractable traffic problems over the years? You could simply look here:

Above was the proposal from NZTA all those years ago, of Option A, as it was presented to the public and eventually, as it was also presented to the Basin Bridge Board of Enquiry. The SH1 west-bound sailed in the air for over 320m of glorious concrete on sculpted concrete legs, while below it young ladies sunbathed in acoustic quiet in teh middle of a traffic island (sorry, for those of you new to this subject – its an old joke, but one of which I never grow tired).

Below just down there was their other proposal, the one that no one ever too seriously. Option B, which was so bad and so hideous that no-one really ever took it seriously for more than 10 seconds. Yes, it pulled the highway out away from the Basin, but instead left the Grandstand Apartments looking forelorne and weirdly like a third stump on the Basin wickets (insert more suitable cricket analogy here if you wish).

And digging around in the Eye of the Fish website, I unearthed these pictures of the famed Option X. This was of course the proposal from the Architectural Centre, which was very active in the first couple of decades of this century, and it shows the simple and obvious alternative to the NZTA scheme, of having the SH1 at ground level and a very small bridge on Sussex Street leaping over the SH1. The roading seems to work relatively simply – there is a lane from Kent Terrace that breaks off to go West on the SH1, but there is no corresponding lane peeling off SH1 to go north on Cambridge Terrace. I think the feeling was that motorists could simply go right at Taranaki St junction in order to get to Courtenay Place.

The other major feature that Arch Centre brought in was the ability to cross the whole area within a greened park. This involved a couple of swoopy green landscape elements from the top left into the Basin precinct, and then what I thought was the masterstroke of the design – the axing of one whole side of the Basin to another Park, so Dufferin Street was no more for cars, just for the feet of children after school.

Above is the close-up, below is the full monty. Just in case you had forgotten.

Above here we can see the full Option X plan and explanation, while below is the same thing, but oriented around to be the same way as what NZTA is offering now.

Just as a reminder, here is what NZTA (formerly Waka Kotahi) is offering us now. They’ve lost the scoria-coloured SH1 clarity, but here you can compare and contrast between Option X and the new NZTA. It needs a name – I’m going to call it Option Z seeign as it has a sort of swashbuckling Z for Zorro on the right, near the words New Green Link.

And below here is an altered graphic of what NZTA are offering us now, but altered enough to bring us some of the crucial elements that Option X proposed. You can see the purple link of the Cycle Way – seems legit – although it crosses the SH! and local roads several times on the North side (ie the Right Hand side of this picture). I’ve swapped the SH1 to go UNDER Sussex Street, teh same as what Arch Centre had, and also removed the road from near the Schools in the South-East corner, to bring back that Park proposal. But I’ve missed out the Green Swoop aspects to the North West, as somehow that just does not seem able to work.

Here we are zooming in a bit more, focussing in on that troublesome part of the Kent / Cambridge / Basin Junction. This area really just does not seem to work – there are about 9 sets of traffic lights visible in just this corner alone. There HAS to be a better way.

In this opposite corner (below) you can see the troublesome spot at the entrance to Government House and also, coincidentally, the entry to two or three or maybe even FOUR of Wellington’s Schools. I mean, who ever thought up this dumb idea – to have all the schools at that one corner – and then run the old GG through the middle. AS dumb as a basket full of badgers. One good thing that NZTA have proposed is to stop entry INTO this tiny Kent Terrace stub directly off the SH1, although bizarrely it seems that traffic can exit from there across some traffic lights, to enter SH1 traffic going either way.

Let’s move on and have a look at Sussex Street a bit closer – it seems that they have left the Grandstands alone, but destroyed the housing to the West of the Basin. Seriously, this is not a problem to me, as it is incredibly ugly and some of the worst designed housing in the capital, which is a big claim, but there – I’ve said it. You’re ugly and your mother dresses you funny. Bad architecture should never be tolerated.

But also, why does the on ramp and the entry road behind the Grandstand have to be so bloody long? (see below). That’s a total of about 6 lanes there – NZTA has clearly never got the memo about trying to make Wellington a more pedestrian-friendly city. Also gone is the Marksman Motel and other buildings. That’s quite a swathe it is cutting out…

And lastly, for today at least, the troublesome route for SH1 that has to drive UP the hill in NZTA’s scheme, only to leap OVER Sussex Street and then go back DOWN again into the Arras tunnel. Does that make sense to you? Why do that? Is it just because of the Saint Auberge cottage?

NZTA Versus FISH