Like it or not, the recent announcements by the Government mean the Basin Reserve flyover will be happening and what we now need to do is shift our thinking towards what it looks like. Personally, I love seeing iconic structures that not only provide a useful function, but are also a photogenic feature of the environment that people flock to.
People might bemoan development, but we shouldn’t restrict ourselves to thinking that whatever is built has to look like the Thorndon motorway or Auckland’s Victoria Park flyover. The heart of our city is the place for an icon, and I would love to see someone shift the debate from whether or not the road is built, to what the City can do to ensure we create something iconic.
We have so many stunning sculptures scattered throughout the city, so why not create a landmark piece of structural art through this project? Why not treat it as an opportunity to create the ultimate Wellington icon?
You only have to look across the Tasman – Melbourne’s motorways feature murals and sculptures and of course the icon of Sydney is the stunning structural arch of a motorway bridge. In London, the Thames is criss-crossed by wonderful structures, both modern and historic, with the Millennium Bridge becoming a regular feature of tourist photos as it connects St Paul’s Cathedral to the Tate Modern. Further down the river is the immediately recognisable Tower Bridge.
New York has its Brooklyn Bridge with work nearing completion on the new landmark World Trade Centre, while in France there is the breathtaking Millau Viaduct and of course the Eiffel Tower, recognisable globally as the icon of that country. Even St Louis in the US has the massive Gateway Arch. Most of the celebrated icons of our society are the result of innovative architecture and engineering, yet here we seem to have blinkered our view as to what is possible. Who says we must build something that resembles the best efforts of the Soviet era?
In Seville, Spain the Puente del Alamillo (pictured) was built for the 1992 World Expo, and for my mind, is exactly the type of landmark we should be looking to create. Something that is bold and makes a statement.
Wellington is the sculpture capital, so let’s provide a Wellington solution to the problem. If we are going to spend all this money building it, then surely we should make the most of the opportunity and build something that stands out.
WCC Watch 
I’ve been living in Melbourne for a couple of years (possibly not much longer), and it’s true that there are more works of art along the motorways, which can be good. They’re much more prevalent on the Citylink toll roads, though, and in honesty my first impression of paying A$15 to be allowed to drive direct to the airport and back (airport public transport in Melbourne is awkward unless you meet very specific circumstances) was that Citylink is raking in far more cash than what the roads must ever cost them.
In Melbourne, though, I think much of the motivation for art-works along motorways is that when you’re driving on the motorways here, there’s not much else to look at. Giant walls isolate the never-ending road noise from all the surrounding population (good in that respect for everyone else), just as the train lines are often in deep ditches and there’s not a lot to look at except the graffiti next to the tracks.
Initially it was a real let-down here after Wellington, where you catch a train or drive along SH1 or SH2 and see out to the hills or the coast or just see things actually happening. I appreciate commuters often dislike the J’ville line, but for anyone not trying to commute I think it’s an awesome railcar-style train ride that weaves in and out of and through the hills and the suburbs. I’m a little surprised it’s not seriously pushed as a tourist attraction.
I think art-work along the roads in Wellington could be awesome, and already is in some parts. I just hope it doesn’t become a tribute to a culture of promotion of prioritising driving everywhere all the time, as I think it has in Melbourne.
Look for the opportunity, do not belabour the negatives. This is what this comment on the Basin Flyover is about and I wish more people looked for opportunities in what we need to do in this city to keep it moving forward. A series of flyovers in Italy have also become tourist attractions for their interesting architecture and history, In Rome the Porta Maggiore and Arcus Neroiani or Nero’s Aqueduct are two such examples and no doubt created some bad feeling when they were originally constructed but Nero saw the opportunity as well as the need for the infrastructure. He probably did not need to carry out public consultation.
Cr Marsh; I admire your positivity, but to compare the Basin Reserve Bridge to Nero’s Aqueduct defies all logic. I certainly hope you are not inferring that NZTA plan to burn Wellington to the ground; Nero doesn’t sound like a chap we want to idolise too much. Also, where would the money to beautify the bridge come from? I thought the plans were all drawn up?
I’m not talking about beautifying the current designs, I am talking about making the structure itself an icon in the same way the Sydney Harbour Bridge is the symbol of that city. It is about rethinking what has been drawn up and not being bound by the limited imagination of the works department. In terms of cost, obviously that would ultimately fall on taxpayers through NZTA, but that is the case regardless of what it looks like and I think we miss a massive opportunity if we go for the cheapest bog-standard option.
Hope you pitch your idea to NZTA; the worst they can say is ‘no’. But whilst we beautify the city, let’s spend at eat as much energy on ensuring everyone is adequately housed:)
I completely agree – if you are going to do something do it well – there is an opportunity to do something fantastic and make it look great – all the worlds great bridges and gates could have been mundane but someone saw a greater possibility.
That last should read ‘at least’; darn autocorrect.