Four major construction projects are underway in Boulcott St, which has been labelled several hundred metres of motoring hell, with cars regularly bumper to bumper.

The projects are a revamp of the old Dominion Post building, seismic strengthening of the Majestic Centre and St Mary of the Angels, and the construction of an eight-storey apartment building.

St Mary of the Angels' Fr Barry Scannell, SM, said work on the church was not contributing to the congestion.

But Fr Scannell said the traffic troubles were adding to the price tag for the donation-funded project.

The church paid $800 a week to the Wellington City Council to hire five parking spaces off the road where trucks and work vehicles could park, and unload materials.

It was a "very expensive exercise" for the church as it upgraded a category 1 historic place through fundraising, Fr Scannell said.

Wellington City Council said there is little it can do about the timing of the work.

Council spokeswoman Victoria Barton-Chapple said congestion was "understandably frustrating" due to large and heavy vehicles on the road.

She said this should be only between the times in the traffic management plans for all of the sites, and which staff inspected every day.

"Unfortunately we have no control over the timeframe over the completion of these sites."

Sources

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Stuff.co.nz

In the hours before the closure, motorbikes and cars circled the Colosseum beeping their horns and taking photos to mark the last time they would take a route immortalised by Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck's scooter ride in the 1953 film Roman Holiday.

The almost 2,000-year old arena, where gladiators fought bloody battles for the entertainment of vast crowds, has been blackened with exhaust from heavy traffic that for years passed close to its walls.

By closing most of the Fori Imperiali road that runs 0.7 miles from the Colosseum to the giant marble Victor Emaneule monument, centre-left Mayor Ignazio Marino hopes to eventually turn the whole area into an archaeological park.

Source

The Guardian