A petition to stop the road works associated with a cycleway along Thorndon Quay will be handed to Wellington City Council Thursday. Photo: RNZ / Reece Baker
A petition to stop the current road works along Thorndon Quay will be handed to Wellington City Council Thursday.
Businesses on Thorndon Quay are concerned a cycleway being built to the tune of more than $50 million will end up being ripped up due to an ageing pipe network underneath.
Thorndon Quay Collective chairperson Paul Robinson said officers who advised the council on the project did not tell them about ageing water mains running underneath the works.
"These pipes are 110 years old and failing regularly," he said.
"Our concern is that our businesses are going to be disrupted for a year or so and then these pipes and all that roading network are going to have to be dug up again," Robinson said.
He said the council had also completely failed to understand the financial impact the roadworks were having on businesses.
"They are suffering badly under long and severe disruption," Robinson said.
Businesses say they are suffering from the road works. Photo: RNZ / Reece Baker
Patrons were also suffering, with few car parks available and a maze of roadworks to navigate, he said.
Robinson said last week he witnessed a woman have a car accident due to a "spaghetti of road signs" obscuring her view.
The petition seeks to have the project paused while an independent review was done.
It was not the first time the Thorndon Quay Collective has tangled with the council over the cycleway.
Prior to works starting in late 2023, the group had fought the installation of the cycleway for two years, arguing against plans to reduce car parks and create a two-way cycle path on their doorsteps.
The Thorndon Quay Collective had fought the installation of the cycleway for two years. Photo: RNZ / Reece Baker
In June 2021, following public consultation, the council converted the street's angled parks to parallel parks, in the name of improving cyclist safety, which reduced the number of parks significantly.
But earlier in July this year the Court of Appeal found the council had erred in its decision-making process to change the carparks on Thorndon Quay.
Wellington City Councillors Diane Calvert, Ray Chung, Nicola Young and Tony Randle had also written to the council's chief executive and mayor asking to pause and reset the project along with the New Zealand Transport Agency.
Calvert said the chief executive and mayor had ignored their request, and they were still awaiting and response from the Transport Agency.
Calvert also felt an independent review of the project was needed.
Cycle Action Network chair Alex Dyer said in his experience it would be unusual for the pipes not to have be considered when looking at a cycleway project.
He hoped to see the project be completed.
In a statement, Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau said the concerns about the renewal of the pipes had been raised months ago.
"At the time my office discussed these concerns with staff and Wellington Water and assured that no water renewals were prioritised for Thorndon Quay in the next ten years.
"This matter has now been raised by the formal petition and council officers will provide a full analysis and report back on the questions it has asked.
"I look forward to receiving that report back to clear up these issues. In the meantime, my focus is on minimising the level of disruption to local businesses during construction and getting this project completed as fast as possible."