Living Streets Wellington is a group that really walks its talk, with a group out on the Grafton to Maidavale Road steps last Sunday giving them a good clean up. These steps are one of the many walkways that are iconic Wellington thoroughfares, and the group was highlighting the need for more maintenance on these routes to keep them safe for walkers to enjoy the great views. Many houses only have access from these steps so its important they are easy to use.
Ellen Blake, coordinator of Living Streets Wellington, said “We will be working with the Council to get some maintenance of these steps, including replacing some of the handrails. It would be great to see a seat half way up too – not everyone can run up the steps in one go, even though we have seen a few do that today. These pathways are a living part of our communities and deserve more care.”
Good on the Wellington City Council for getting out the very next day to fix the one wobbly wooden step that was spotted. More maintenance is planned over the next few months.
Before
and after photos tell the tale of a few hours hard work 
‘Dr Phil’ was one of the 50 or so walkers that passed by during the two hour Springclean. He is a regular user of the steps on his 15 kilometre daily walk. Dr Phil says, “there are 363 steps on the Grafton to Maidavale Road steps” and there are 76 on the next leg of his journey, a good workout.
There are good bus connections if people want to walk this route, with the number 14 stopping near the top, and the weekday number 24 stopping at the bottom in Balaena Bay. It is a short walk up from the top of the steps to the Mt Victoria lookout.
These accessways are an important part of Wellington pedestrian connections and make places more 'permeable' - if you know of any that need the Springclean treatment please let us know at wellington@livingstreets.org.nz