Post #1661200

2026-04-25 10:03 UTC

Tried to pop downtown after dinner to check out what it was like tonight with the stadium in action. Some firsthand findings: * 1) If this first weekend&#39;s traffic management plans are indicative of the future traffic management for this venue, then: a) Madras St (running right in front of it) is *CLOSED* to traffic 1-2 blocks either side of the thing (i.e. starting St Asaph, and up till the one in front of the Cardboard Cathedral I think (but cannot confirm)) b) All the streets from Manchester St eastwards, along those same lines are also closed. You&#39;ll likely have only walking options from the Bus Exchange all the way down there, past all the bars + restaurants in that region whose time to shine + reap have finally come. c) Those parking buildings in that area? Yeah, I highly doubt that anyone&#39;s getting in or out of those! d) Taxis / Ubers? Look like they are diverted to Tuam (outside Alice&#39;s), before the &quot;SOHO&quot; (?) area... UNLESS they are all going on Barbados instead? * 2) You know those aerial shots from outside? Yeah, I reckon those are probably from a small fixed-wing plane (ZKTIE - a Cessna 152), and not a helicopter / drone 😜 EDIT: Edited to include a small selection of images from around there

Replies (2)

@aligorith@mastodon.nz 2026-04-25 10:15

Also, dunno if it was just that tonight is Anzac day, but: * "Lots" of Chinese Restaurants were closed tonight (e.g. in particular Joyful, Little Spicy, Shanghai Bistro). * Joyful in particular was weird: All the lights were on, the kitchen exhaust fans were running full bore, the manager was there doing stuff, and there were 2 tables of people inside! BUT... the sign on the door said they were closed! There was no notice that they were closed today / tonight though... Am almost wondering if someone played a cruel trick on them, and flipped their sign. (OR, some of the employees were disgruntled at having to work... OR, just that someone forgot to check on the sign!) In any case, it was suspiciously quiet there tonight! * The other 2 I mentioned were all darkened * Various other places were open though. Kind of busy too...

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@rickerbh@mastodon.nz 2026-04-25 12:18

@aligorith@mastodon.nz That’s quite a big traffic exclusion zone around the stadium. I don’t see how that can be an enduring position that the council will take with this. Too many major streets run near it, surely. (*as a guy who has said “surely” about the council and the stadium many times before I won’t be surprised if my “surely” is proven false).

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