The plan aims to ban cars from the Courtenay Place entertainment zone. Photo: RNZ / Jemima Huston
The Wellington City Council will vote on Thursday on a motion to put the Golden Mile pedestrianisation project on hold.
The plan aims to ban private cars between the Lambton Quay thoroughfare and the Courtenay Place entertainment zone, and to provide improvements for buses, walking and cycling.
The plan was part of the now axed 'Let's Get Wellington Moving' transport project, which was jointly run by two councils and the Transport Agency.
When that was canned, the Golden Mile project was brought under control of the city council.
Listen to councillors Tony Randle and Teri O'Neill
Wellington councillor Tony Randle is driving the vote to pause the $140 million Golden Mile project, as he wants the council to wait until it has an integrated transport plan for the central city.
"We've also got to work out where the extra buses are going to go, where the cycleways are going to go, and with the demise of Let's Get Wellington Moving we're still doing that planning - and I just want those two bits of planning beside each other to be joined together," Randle said.
He said he was worried that the Golden Mile design would be finalised and contracts would be signed before it was determined where nearby roads would join on to the Golden Mile.
"You know we're removing the bus stops but we don't know if we need those bus stops."
But councillor Teri O'Neill said improving the Golden Mile was a priority for the capital and a way to get more people into Wellington.
"This is a pretty essential piece of infrastructure, Golden Mile needs a facelift, we're also hearing that from citizens and it's just about time we get on and do something."
The Wellington City Transport Plan was underway and being prepared for city councillors, she said.
"I kind of fail to see the notice of motion having any tangible effect on the planning of transport, other than to just simply propose another delay to a Let's Get Wellington Moving associated project."
The Golden Mile project had been mandated for more than five years and delaying it would create a massive cost to ratepayers, she said.
"It puts 50 percent of Waka Kotahi funding at risk, it creates a legal risk because we would have to further consult on our Long Term Plan and it would potentially cost millions in asking for the addition of new bus stops in fiddling with a plan we've set in place a long time ago."
But Randle said the council could not sign up to contracts and then have to rework them and that was what caused part of the cost blow-out for the Wellington Town Hall.
"Transport projects and transport plans need to be joined together, so even though this plan has been there a long time, it was done under a different government and a different arrangement for funding ... so things change, we need to relook at things."