Skip to main content
Wellington City Council Wellington City Council
News | 3 September 2019
Share on social

Central city set for weekend of road closures, detours

Three big projects are set to cause route changes and disruptions for buses, pedestrians and motorists in central Wellington over the coming weekend of 6-8 September.

Map of road closures in CBD
Road closures map

[UPDATE] The roadworks and crane work scheduled for this weekend have been postponed until next weekend due to the bad weather. The closures will now be from 8pm Friday 13 September to 5am Monday 16 September.

A tower crane on the Stewart Dawson’s construction site at the corner of Lambton Quay and Willis Street is being dismantled, extended and reinstalled, which will require the closure of both streets to through traffic at the intersection.

Wellington City Council has taken the opportunity of this major closure to also carry out essential road resealing works in Lambton Quay and Willis Street over the same weekend.

Infrastructure Manager Siobhan Procter says this co-ordinated approach aims to minimise ongoing disruptions in the busy CBD. “If we have to close streets for one big project then it’s logical for us to time it with other projects and get all of the work out of the way in one go.”

Roadwork locations and detours:

  • Road surface repairs on Lambton Quay – outside 219 Lambton Quay (ANZ Bank) in the bus lane
  • Road surface repairs on Willis Street – between Mercer Street and Manners Street in the bus lane (southbound)
  • Crane dismantling and extension on the Stewart Dawson’s Corner construction site.

Bus detours:

  • Northbound buses will be detoured into Taranaki Street and along the waterfront quays to Brandon Street and then back on to Lambton Quay.
  • Buses to the southern and eastern suburbs will detour off Lambton Quay at Panama Street and follow Featherston, Hunter and Victoria Streets before resuming their usual routes at Manners Street.

For more information on where you can catch a bus and the detours please visit the MetLink website.

Ms Procter says motorists should expect delays and, if possible, avoid the CBD. Detour signs will be in place.

Pedestrians and cyclists should take extra care due to the changes in traffic routes. At some times during the weekend the south end of Lambton Quay will be closed to pedestrians so access from Willis Street to Lambton Quay will be via the Old Bank Arcade or via Hunter Street and Customhouse Quay.

All three jobs are weather-dependent so if it rains the work will be postponed until the following weekend.