Dominion Rd Gets The Tick

in Bus Cycling Motorways by Jon C — June 2, 2010 at 3:33 pm | 1 comment

This morning’s Auckland City Council’s transport committee meeting gave the tick to the latest scheme for the upgrade of Dominion Rd, first revealed here some days ago.

The council agreed to consult on the design options for the Balmoral and Eden Valley village centres component of the upgrade, with relevant community boards, residents and businesses.

The new proposal sees buses in the vicinity of Balmoral and Eden Valley shops remain on Dominion Rd instead of an earlier plan to have them deviate along yet-to-be-created roads through adjacent shopping centres.

Transport Committee chairperson, Councillor Ken Baguley said that it was felt “that the impact from creating new roads through these shopping villages would be too great. These areas will be better served by enhancing service lanes, off-street parking and opportunities for integrated commercial development.”

He said that the Dominion Road upgrade, along its full 4.5km stretch is a regional priority.

The improvements would enhance accessibility for all types of transport along its length, and help revitalise the Eden Valley and Balmoral shops.

Baloral village centre

As outlined in detail in the earlier post, it’s proposed that Dominion Rd will be widened to provide for separate bus and cycle lanes, with council well underway with a land purchase programme to facilitate the widening.

Construction of the Dominion Rd upgrade between View Road and Denbigh Ave is scheduled to begin in January 2012.

Village centre improvements are scheduled to begin in 2014 (Valley Rd) and 2015 (Balmoral), following consultation with community boards, businesses and the wider community.

Today’s committee meting endorsed uplifting designations on land in the Balmoral village centre and on the building at 292 Dominion Road (previously earmarked for transport purposes), and amended the project scope to include Dominion Rd from Denbigh Ave to State Highway 20.