Highway 53 terminates at the Martinborough Square and is managed by NZTA. The 100 metres of public road between Ohio Street and the Memorial Square is a hub of cafes, restaurants, retail stores and wine services. Martinborough is a tourist destination with an increased number of visitors.
When major events are held in Martinborough such as the Rotary Fairs and Cruise Martinborough it is expensive, as well as a real hassle to obtain permission from NZTA to close this section of the road.
In 2019, Ted Preston put forward a proposal to designate the Ohio/ Kitchener Street section of Highway 53 as a local road This would enable the SWDC to manage the road and to close it for events without the hassle and expense. This idea received a lot of support from businesses and from members of the community.
It is time to look at this proposal again!!
For the development of the Kitchener Street to become a public space that is shared between pedestrian and vehicular traffic our community, especially the business community, must want this to happen. The SWDC needs to be persuaded that this is a good idea. It would be essential for all parties to be consulted before and final decision was made.
It is an idea worth pursuing. Ted says that making upper Trafalgar Street in Nelson a shared space has been a huge success. The picture below shows the street which faces the memorial below the cathedral. Not unlike the way Kitchener Street could look!
