John Wilson Drive

Two men, two wheelchairs - and two very different views of the future of John Wilson Ocean Dr, at St Kilda, in Dunedin.

The New Zealand Automobile Association's Otago district council is again calling for a compromise on John Wilson Ocean Dr, before a crucial meeting today that could decide the road's future use.

There were impassioned pleas and an angry walk-out as debate over the closure of Dunedin's scenic John Wilson Ocean Dr to motorists showed no signs of dying down yesterday.

Debate over the future of John Wilson Ocean Dr in Dunedin was "skewed" by last-minute lobbying by those opposed to seeing vehicles return to the road, a city councillor says.

A last-ditch bid to reopen Dunedin's John Wilson Ocean Dr to vehicles has fallen one vote short, but not before triggering more debate over the road's controversial closure.

John Wilson Ocean Dr could be slowly developed into a world-class seaside "promenade", says Philip Temple.

Were democratic norms and conventions subverted in making the decision to keep John Wilson Ocean Drive closed? Jack Crawford suspects they were.

Dunedin's scenic John Wilson Ocean Dr should be reopened to traffic immediately, with plans for a nearly half-million-dollar spruce-up axed, Grey Power Otago president Jo Millar says.

Protesters met on John Wilson Ocean Dr at the weekend to make clear their message to the Dunedin City Council: reopen the road to vehicles.

The long-running saga over the future of Dunedin's John Wilson Ocean Dr has taken another twist, with the cost of reopening the road likely to double to nearly $500,000.

The gates to Dunedin's scenic John Wilson Ocean Dr could be thrown open to motorists by the end of the month, but the Dunedin City Council still faces a $220,000 bill to redevelop the coastal road.

The transformation of Dunedin's John Wilson Ocean Dr into a shared space for walkers, cyclists and motorists is likely to cost less than $1 million, but the results could be "quite magnificent", Dunedin City Council staff say.

The permanent closure of Dunedin's scenic John Wilson Ocean Dr to vehicles looks likely to come a step closer today.

Plans to separate motorists from cyclists and pedestrians on Dunedin's scenic John Wilson Ocean Dr should be trialled before money is spent on a permanent solution, a Dunedin city councillor says.

The cost of developing Dunedin's scenic John Wilson Ocean Dr into a shared space for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists is about to become clearer.

Dunedin city councillors have backed plans to reopen John Wilson Ocean Dr to vehicles, despite a warning they might have to revisit the controversial debate again.

Dunedin's scenic John Wilson Ocean Dr will reopen to vehicles for restricted hours each day, but not until a new shared pathway for cyclists and pedestrians is added next year.

It seems extraordinary that by the time the future of Dunedin's John Wilson Ocean Dr is secure, years will have passed from the moment in 2006 when the road was closed "temporarily" to allow unimpeded construction of the city's extended sewage outfall.