Streets Alive trials to start in the New Year

Trials of initiatives as part of the Streets Alive project will start being rolled out in early 2021.

Launched earlier this year with $900,000 funding from Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency, Streets Alive is a community driven project focusing on making Gore safer, more accessible and more people-friendly for everyone to move around, and to increase the town’s vibrancy.

Trial projects will be assembled from six key themes that emerged from community engagement on the project:

• Improvements to ease congestion and improve safety outcomes
• Signage and wayfinding
• Safer road crossings
• A pedestrianised hub
• Creative street spaces
• Connecting spaces and places around Gore for walking and cycling.

The Gore District Council is finalising the specific trial projects over the coming weeks and will be talking with any stakeholders who could be closely impacted before trials are announced.

Roading Asset Manager and project lead Peter Standring said the Council will be letting the wider community know what the trials will be and where they will take place beforehand.

“It’s important everyone knows what is going on and understands the potential community benefits that each trial will bring.”

“As part of the trials we will be monitoring and ensuring the measures undertaken will be effective and efficient before a long-term change and investment decision is made,” he said.

The Council applied for money from NZTA’s Innovative Streets funding to trial streetscape improvements in May this year, receiving $900,000 towards the project.

The Streets Alive project builds on the foundations laid by the Gore Streetscape Strategy - an overarching document for managing Council’s urban road reserves.

Streets Alive project funding will not be allocated to the river track, which is part of the Longford Shared Path project. There is a separate budget for the Longford Shared Path (bridge and river track) of $4 million. The estimated cost of the river track is no more than $200,000.

However, there are synergies between the two projects. A key theme of the Streets Alive project is to connect spaces and places around Gore for walking and cycling.

To gather the community’s views on the outcomes it wants for Gore, the Council ran a series of community conversations including sector workshops with parents with young children, youth, elderly and business as well as four other community workshops. Public drop-ins were held in mid-September. People could also give feedback online through the Council’s Let’s Talk Kōrero Mai website.

“We’ve been really encouraged by the feedback from the Gore community on this project. We look forward to putting some ideas into action to make our town safer, more accessible, vibrant and people-friendly,” Mr Standring said.