Work is due to begin tonight on the first of two new mid-block signalised pedestrian crossings on State Highway 1/Cumberland Street, to provide safer and easier access to the New Dunedin Hospital.

The first crossing will be located outside New World City Centre, in the block between State Highway 88/St Andrew Street and Hanover Street in central Dunedin. This will provide direct access across SH1/Cumberland Street to the Outpatient building of the New Dunedin Hospital, which is expected to open later this year.

A second pedestrian crossing, to be located outside Woolworth Dunedin Central in the block between SH88/St Andrew Street and Stuart Street, will be installed at a later date, and will connect to the new Inpatient building due to be operational in 2031.

With SH1/Cumberland Street being one of Dunedin’s busiest transport corridors, the new crossings will provide controlled points of access and discourage people from attempting to cross to and from the new hospital at unsafe locations. Both crossings will be integrated with Dunedin’s ‘green wave’ traffic signal system, which is designed to maintain efficient traffic flow along SH1 through the city centre.

To minimise disruption to road users and surrounding businesses, construction of the crossing outside New World City Centre will take place overnight from Monday to Friday, with the road reduced to one lane. Work will occur between 7pm and 6am when there is less traffic on the roads and a 30km/h speed restriction will be in place.

The work will be delivered in stages and undertaken intermittently, with completion currently expected by mid-October 2026. The only full planned road closure is for surfacing work associated with the installation of signal detection loops in the roadway, a task expected to be completed over a single night or two in October. Details of this will be provided closer to the time.

These two new pedestrian crossings are just the start of improvements to streets adjacent to the new hospital that are designed to make access safer and easier for hospital patients, visitors and staff. New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) undertook public engagement last year on a series of changes that included a new ‘Barnes Dance’ crossing (where all pedestrians cross the road at once) at the SH88 St Andrew Street/SH1 Cumberland Street intersection.

Most of these impending changes are still in the design phase and will require funding approval before construction can start on these.

Read more about these roading improvements:

Dunedin improvements engagement summary - October 2025 (external link)

More about the new hospital development:

New Dunedin Hospital | Project Whakatuputupu (external link) - healthnz.govt.nz (external link)