Central city businesses are optimistic about road layout changes to make it easier for people to drive into central Christchurch.

A section of Durham St between Lichfield and Tuam streets will have a northbound lane open from Wednesday, which will make it easier for people to access the two car parking buildings on Lichfield St. It will not affect the two southbound lanes.

Regenerate Christchurch has no set date for the completion of its strategy to revamp Cathedral Square, six months after it hoped to have a plan ready.

While admiring the reverence of Cranmer's Square Field of Remembrance on Sunday, I got chatting to a typically effervescent Irish tourist.

She first admired the beautiful installation while visiting Christchurch four years ago and the 30-something Dubliner remarked how impressive "some parts of the central city are looking."

Empty spaces mean the Christchurch City Council's flash new $31.3 million car parking building appears to be haemorrhaging money. The Lichfield St car park's loss was $18,000 in March alone – it made $69,000 in revenue but cost $87,000 to run.

The 805-space central city building opened in November. Last Monday, Central City Business Association chairman Brendan Chase said the building regularly had more than 500 free spaces.

Christchurch Hospital's park-and-ride site may be operating illegally because of its neglected condition.

The Deans Ave site is providing car parking with a shuttle service to the hospital until the parking building lost to the earthquakes can be replaced.

Using Christchurch's under-occupied Lichfield St car park building for hospital visitors would solve several problems at once, a city business leader says.

Hospital patients and visitors have reported struggling with the poor conditions at the Deans Ave park-and-ride site, which is in use until a new building is built in 2020.

The temporary site, linked by a shuttle bus to the hospital 2km away, is unsealed, flood-prone and potholed. It lacks good-quality shelter in bad weather especially affecting those who are elderly, disabled or unwell.

The poor state of outdoor car parking in Christchurch has been a perennial subject since the city started to open up again after the earthquakes. For operators it seemed to be as simple as fencing off some gravel and knowing they would come. But Christchurch Hospital's park and ride car park on Deans Ave has set a new low.

The Press revealed the shocking condition of the car park, which is on the opposite side of Hagley Park from the hospital. In the absence of any parking while the hospital is being rebuilt, patients and visitors must park on a muddy, remote stretch of land, pay $5 and wait for a shuttle to move them to their destination.

More than 40,000 cars have used Christchurch's new central city parking building since it opened in November, averaging 653 vehicles a day.

When it opened, the 805-park Lichfield St car park building was heralded by the Christchurch City Council as a "massive milestone" for a city struggling with gravel pits for parks and relying on on-street spaces. The building cost the council $31.3 million.

An hour's free parking will be available over summer at a newly-opened 805-car park building in central Christchurch.

The $31.3 million facility on Lichfield St, owned by the Christchurch City Council, opened to the public at midday on Friday. Built by Clearwater Construction, it came in $1m under budget.

The central city's controversial transport plan will make sense once the city is fully built, city planners say.

OPINION: There's been so much change forced upon us over the last six years that it's no wonder our collective patience is wearing thin.

But when events beyond our control give us an opportunity to reassess whether what we had is still what we want, it seems foolish to waste it.

Government agencies moving into Christchurch's swanky new justice and emergency services precinct are tight lipped about rents in the new $300 million building.

A proposal to offer one hour of free parking at all Christchurch City Council-owned off-street car parks will be put before councillors next month.

The Christchurch City Development Forum has recommended the council adopt the one-hour free policy for four months, starting in October, to coincide with the opening of the council-owned 800-space Lichfield St car park.

Tourism leaders want the Christchurch CBD to focus on what it can add to the region's status as the gateway to the South Island, in order to bring more tourists to the central city.

Last week, ChristchurchNZ business development manager Caroline Blanchfield said few visitors were coming into the Christchurch CBD, which needed to offer a "better" visitor experience than it did now.

Christchurch is entering its "Goldilocks" years with the rebuild and economy in just the right place to give the city a boost.

That is the opinion of city leaders who say construction has progressed enough to create opportunities for social and economic activity.