Park Road-Cook Street intersection safety improvements to begin

On Wednesday 24 March, the Palmerston North City Council is starting work upgrading the Park Rd Cook St intersection, by the entrance to The Esplanade.  

The new intersection will line the Victoria Esplanade entrance up with Cook St, and sit between The Lido and the current entrance. The current entrance will be kept for pedestrians and cyclists to use and our iconic Cherry Trees will also remain. The new intersection will also have traffic lights to help improve the flow of traffic from all directions.  

The contractors, Downer, will be working 7am to 6pm on weekdays and will be looking to ensure disruption at peak times is minimised.  

A range of traffic management measures will be in place including stop/go controls, lane closures, and a temporary speed limit.   

There will be delays at the intersection as we need to dig up parts of the road to allow for installing the new traffic lights, as well as upgrading other services.  

We’re encouraging everyone to only use this intersection if you need to on weekdays.  If you’re visiting The Esplanade by car during these hours we’d encourage you to use the Manawaroa St or Fitzherbert Ave entrances instead. We’re also asking visitors to The Lido to access the pools from the Awatapu College end of Park Rd to minimise delays.   

Please plan your journeys with some time up your sleeve in case you encounter these disruptions.  

Construction will be completed in July.