The street is midway through a redevelopment project intended to help revitalise the retail heart of the city with a pedestrian-friendly focus and one-way traffic for three blocks.
One of the blocks is practically finished, but the remainder of the George St redevelopment could be tweaked to preserve "flexibility" if Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich gets his way.
He has put up a notice of motion to be considered at next week's Dunedin City Council meeting, requesting a mid-project review.
His notice calls for "an update report" to come before an infrastructure services committee meeting in February.
The report would look into "how flexibility can be incorporated into the remainder of the project to minimise future expense if modification is deemed necessary".
It would also establish "how the project is tracking relative to its budget and timeframes".
Asked if incorporating flexibility meant preserving a realistic chance to revert to two-way traffic, as well as not having such things as garden beds so close to the centre of the road, Mr Radich said "yes and yes, plus whatever else is necessary or desirable".
Mr Radich has praised the aesthetic design of the George St redevelopment, but he has been sceptical about the value of a more pedestrian-friendly space.
He has also historically argued two-way traffic should be preserved, instead of switching to one-way traffic.
Consultant Kobus Mentz advised the city in 2020 to pursue a design that was flexible, but this was found by council staff to be not straightforward to implement and councillors last term ended up backing a one-way design where flexibility had been largely discarded.
Mr Mentz had suggested either a two-way traffic design that allowed flexibility to change to one-way in future, or vice versa.
A one-way George St was voted through by councillors in September last year, 9-5. Mr Radich was among the five.
Construction work in George St started in April this year, starting with the Farmers block, between Moray Pl and St Andrew St.
Mr Radich, bothered by the apparent permanence of some elements of the redeveloped Farmers block, which has been opened to slow-speed one-way traffic, was worried some changes pending in other blocks of the street could be expensive to reverse.
During the election campaign, he said it was possible to keep the Farmers block one-way and keep the rest of George St two-way, "with minimal design changes and expense".
Disabled Persons Assembly representative Chris Ford cannot attend Tuesday’s council meeting, but said a vote by councillors to proceed with a review would be disappointing.
He highlighted what he described as accessibility improvements in the redeveloped block, allowing the space to be used more easily by people in wheelchairs, as well as seating to allow people to rest and better amenity.
Mr Ford and CCS Disability Action access co-ordinator Mary O’Brien told the council last month the redeveloped part of George St had been received enthusiastically by the sector.
They welcomed what they described as a more welcoming, inclusive and accessible space.
Ms O’Brien invited councillors to compare "inclusive features" in the redeveloped part of the street with the streetscape in the stretch yet to be redeveloped.
The budget for redeveloping George St and surrounding streets in the retail area, including replacing pipes, is about $60 million.
The overall project is due to be completed in 2024.
