Karori connections

He tāone e hāngai ana ki te anamata
A city fit for the future

Karori is already Wellington’s largest suburb, and its population is growing.

To help support this growth, and to provide safer, easier, and climate-friendly ways for people to get around, we’re making changes on some streets for people using footpaths, bikes, scooters and buses. 

Karori connections is the Karori section of Wellington's bike network. As well as improvements for people on bikes, we’re also making changes to make journeys for pedestrians and bus passengers safer and easier too.

Karori has four schools, a recreation centre, a public library, supermarkets and a sports ground all on the main road. Karori is also serviced by the city’s busiest bus route. Thousands of children, students, and city workers travel to school and the city, and many more travel within Karori during the day and weekends.

We need to free up Karori streets so more people in the community can get around safely, easily, and in climate-friendly ways

Te ara - The route

The main bike, bus, and pedestrian improvements start near Karori West Normal School, and follow Karori Road, Chaytor Street and Glenmore Street to the Botanic Garden ki Paekākā. This is the route most buses take, and a direct route to key destinations for most people.

To make it safer and easier to bike in Karori, this project provides:

• uphill separated bike lanes where bikes hold up traffic
• shared lanes for cars and bikes travelling downhill
• calmer traffic speeds through shopping areas
• installing a new shared path through Appleton Park.

Improvements to make bus travel safer and easier include:

• lengthening bus stops
• providing two in-lane bus stops
• improving bus stop spacing where they are too close together, for more efficient bus journeys.

Improvements for people walking, using mobility aides and pushchairs, are making it safer and easier to get around by:

• raising existing pedestrian crossings
• installing new pedestrian crossings
• installing better kerb ramps
• encouraging calmer traffic speeds in retail areas
• installing a new shared path through Appleton Park.

As well as the main route, we are making smaller changes to create quiet complementary routes along South Karori Road, Friend Street, and Birdwood Street. These changes were consulted on and approved. Work in these areas is under way and will continue for several months. 

Changes based on community feedback

Over 50 changes were made to the proposed designs based on community consultation. These changes include:

• providing better kerb access for vehicle passengers, and eight extra carparks including dedicated visitors parking, by moving the carparking from the Botanic Garden side of Glenmore Street to the residential side of the road.
• changing three proposed in-lane bus stops to kerbside bus stops in locations where it is safe to do so
• creating extra parking provisions along the route for residents and businesses
• retaining the right hand turn into Homewood Ave to minimise queues
• improving patient access to Singleton Dental by adding one mobility park and one P5 drop-off/pick-up park
• providing better bus stop spacing by moving the bus stops outside Karori Park to the east by 100m
• giving parents/caregivers more time to pick up and drop off children by changing P10 parks outside Marsden School to P15 parks.