Lately, it’s all about the bridges, big and small – and every single one is a valuable connection. Since mid-February, the crew from Bike East Auckland have been keeping tabs on a bridge upgrade project in a local park, recently completed as part of an ongoing upgrade of the wider Cascades Shared Path network. The bridge over a stream, linking Burswood to Golflands, was widened to 2.2m with new up-to-code balustrades and smoother access at both ends. It reopened over Queens Birthday Weekend after ten weeks of work, to general jubilation. With the alternative being a long and tricky detour onto a busy highway (Ti Rakau Drive), the closure for nearly …
Bike Auckland
Auckland Transport has recently opened the door to discussing ‘tactical’ upgrades – quick and affordable fixes to instantly improve road safety. Which is good, because we have some ideas! For example, you’ll have noticed that as double-decker buses move around the city, shop verandahs and trees have been protected using simple hit-sticks and bumpers. Call us crazy, but we happen to think people on bikes are just as deserving of quick-fix safety measures as trees and verandahs. Of course, raised and/or fully separated bikeways remain the Holy Grail: protected and connected bike lanes save lives – not just for people on bikes – and are a key part of any respectable …
Work has begun at last on the Western Springs shared path improvements across the motorway on and off-ramps, and past the petrol station and the famous Pohutukawa Six opposite MOTAT. This project was consulted on over a year ago, has strong support from the Waitemata Local Board, and was originally set to be delivered ‘in the third quarter of 2018’. So it’s a relief to see it finally under way, as it will bring much-needed safety to a route well-travelled by school children. One bump in the road Auckland Transport’s design included raised crossings to improve safety for people walking and biking across the motorway slip lanes, as well as …
Our apartment building had a problem: abandoned bikes. Deep in the basement carpark there were loads of them, all flat tyres and thickly layered dust. The miserable things, long since forgotten by their owners, clogged up the bike racks and spilled into the access way. They had to go. But where? When we humans have nothing left to offer we retire or become an ACT Party MP. Bikes, well, it’s less obvious. The solution for a number of our unwanted bikes, the ones that needed only some air in their tyres, was adoption. They got new owners. Four more required more attention. For them, the future was Loop Groop. Loop …
May was a month that brought one big story, a whole lot of handy little local links, and some twiddling of thumbs as we wait for solid updates on key projects to make biking better around the city. Read on to find out which projects have moved ahead, which are about to leap back to life, and which we’re still giving a very hard stare… MAKING PROGRESS… Skypath 2.0 The big story of May was the NZ Transport Agency’s announcement of its preferred design for the Auckland Harbour Bridge shared path. This fulfils a promise by the government to take on and fund the project, giving certainty at last. …
All across Auckland, alleyways and parks provide handy connections that nimble folk on foot and on bike use to get where we’re going. And then there are the in-between places: connections that are visible, but for one reason or another, remain inaccessible. Some of these might be ‘paper roads‘, and well worth pursuing. Below, a reader tells the story of finding just such a hidden link in his neighbourhood. Let’s start with a Beatles ear worm: ‘I need a break, And I want to be a paper road rider. Paper road rider!’ Or perhaps a Prince one: ‘Paper road, paper road…’ This is the story of a road that started out in …
Today the NZ Transport Agency unveiled its preferred design for a walking and biking pathway across the Auckland Harbour Bridge, breaking the silence around the project since the government confirmed last August it would fund the crossing. Initial images show a pathway along the city side of the bridge: it’s cantilevered off the piers, and roughly level with the roadway. According to the official media release, the path echoes the shape and design of the existing bridge, with a five metre wide travel width, and three wider and spacious terraced galleries about 100m long, stepped down from the walkway and cycleway, creating a natural seating area where people can gather or pause …
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