Buckingham Street Pedestrian Test

Ever wondered what Arrowtown’s Buckingham Street would be like if it was a shared space that prioritises pedestrians, cyclists, and wheeled mobility device users?

At the start of May, crews worked to construct a raised speed table made of schist and exposed aggregate at the entrance of Buckingham Street in Arrowtown, and install new bike parking too.

Buckingham Street was closed to vehicles from Monday 6 May through to the end of Monday 13 May 2024 so the new speed table could harden properly.

Thanks to the advocacy work of the Arrowtown Promotion & Business Association (APBA) and Arrowtown Village Association (AVA), we worked with these organisations to see how a shared space that prioritises pedestrians and cyclists felt on Buckingham Street – but more importantly – to hear what locals and visitors to Arrowtown thought of it!

Why we tested this out

We’ve heard from both the APBA and AVA that there’s a growing desire within Arrowtown for Buckingham Street to become a shared zone, similar to Rees Street in Queenstown. A shared zone prioritises pedestrians but also allows for vehicles traveling at slow speed.

And because we needed to close Buckingham Street to vehicles so the new speed table can cure properly, this was a great opportunity to test out how the area felt without vehicles.

We’d like to acknowledge that while locals and visitors to Arrowtown couldn't experience the shared space many support (because the road was closed to vehicles while the speed table cured), we hope as many people as possible still got more of a feel for how Buckingham Street could be with people moving by foot, bike, wheelchair and other mobility devices given priority.

The feedback we received

>> Click here for all individual online feedback we received on Buckingham Street

>> Click here for a summary of the online feedback we received on Buckingham Street

>> Click here for all email feedback we received on Buckingham Street