CJ Wellington Metropolitan Region

[GALLERY=][GALLERY=][/GALLERY][/GALLERY]The Government of New England and Transport for Wellington (TfW) have updated and publicly launched the new metropolitan rail map for the Wellington region. TfW has updated the map in anticipation of the new light rail route to Bonbeach East being operational by late 2019.

The proposed light rail route will be 7.8 kilometres in length with 24 stops from Docklands to Bonbeach East. It was originally planned that, out of 24 stops, 4 will be classed as major interchange stations. After community consultation with residents and businesses along the light rail route, it was agreed that Charing Cross will be the fifth major stop integrated with a bus interchange. On the updated map, the remaining 19 stops will not have their names shown, however, with small stop signs present - as a way to make the map seem clearer and straightforward.

The construction of the Northeastern Light Rail (formerly Newtown Light Rail) has officially commenced with $2.8 billion being included in the Federal Budget. The entire route, from Docklands to Bonbeach East, will be completed within 11 months and construction stages are being fast-tracked. The construction will be active 24 hours for 6 days (no work on Sundays due to Federal regulations).

These roads will be closed for 11 months:

• Mary Street (between Market St and Docklands)
• Market Street (between Mary St and Parliament Gardens)
• Edgware Road (between Market St and Victoria Barracks)
• High Street (between Edgware Road and Charing Cross)
• Newtown Road (between Charing Cross and Hawthorn Road)
• Beach Street (between Hawthorn Road and Bonbeach East)

The M1 Motorway, from CBD to Newmarket only, will be toll-free from January 1st 2019 to February 1st 2020 to compensate motorists who are affected by construction works. The entire metropolitan public transport system will be free of charge for 13 months from 1st January 2019.

From 2020 onwards, the entire route will look very different for many reasons including:

• A tram every 3 minutes during peak hours, and every 10 minutes off-peak all day and night (every 40 minutes between 12am and 5am).
• All roads will be much narrower. For example, Edgware Road (from CBD to Victoria Barracks) currently has eight lanes for cars - this will be reduced to just four (two lanes each ways). Market Street in the CBD will be completely transformed into a pedesterianised street reserved for trams and pedestrians only. The width of Newtown Road from Charing Cross to Hawthorn Road (near Bonbeach East) will also be reduced from 6 lanes to just 4. The 1-kilometre section of Newtown Road in Newtown will just have one lane each way with all remaining traffic diverted to the other main road nearby.
• All roads along the route will have a new tree planted every 7.5 metres.
• Up to 38 properties along the route have been resumed by the Government and will be replaced with new high rise mixed-use developments.

The Government admits this is a very complicated development because Edgware Road is the busiest road in the Wellington metropolitan region with over 190,000 cars every day. It is the major thoroughfare road from CBD to Croydon and the northwestern suburbs. The Government will now consider all proposals including diverting Edgware Road at Flemington to Park Road in order to keep cars moving to the CBD as smoothly as possible. The other proposal includes a new 3-kilometre six-lane tunnel under Edgware Road between Flemington and CBD.

Stay tuned, pictures of the new light rail route are coming! For now, enjoy the updated map below.