As a Pt Chev local, I’m excited about the proposed bike lanes (NB feedback closes 23 April – have your say here). We’re a ‘bikie’ family: we bike to to school, the shops, the library, the dairy, music lessons, local parks, MOTAT, the zoo, to the doctor, the butcher, the baker. We use the NW cycleway for fresh air and to visit cuzzies, and two of us regularly ride to the city and back for work. We also walk, bus, and drive to all of those places, which makes for a pretty rounded perspective on what it’s like to move around the ‘hood in different ways, at different times of day. The first thing you notice is that Pt Chev …
Bike Auckland
Auckland Transport is seeking feedback on cycling improvements in New Lynn. Feedback is open until Sunday 21 May 2017 – use the big blue button on the project page, or this direct link. This is the first project out of the gate in response to last year’s area-wide consultation, which revealed a huge local demand for safer cycling links in New Lynn and Avondale. The proposed wider cycle network that will (eventually) emerge from that exercise is here: New-Lynn-proposed-network-map [PDF] And this is the section that’s currently funded and being consulted on for construction: The main part of the project is a new cycleway along the berm on Seabrook Ave between Willerton and Margan Ave, which …
Consultation is now open on proposed walking and biking improvements from Pt Chevalier to Westmere, specially from the Pt Chev shops to the Garnet Rd shops via Pt Chevalier Rd and Meola Rd. Auckland Transport plans to deliver this project by the end of 2018. Feedback is open till Sunday 23 April 2017 (direct link to feedback form here; but we recommend you check the detailed plans on the project page first, and read our thoughts below). Also, there will be two public info sessions: Saturday 8 April, 10am – 2.30pm at the Pt Chevalier Library Wednesday 12 April, 5 – 8pm at Nomad Restaurant @ the Pt Chev shops. This is an exciting extension of the inner …
St Lukes Rd is getting its promised bike lane buffers at the moment, and the response has been instant and positive. ‘Upgrade to substandard St Lukes bike lane starts‘ was the headline in local papers. The rubber bumpers and hit posts will run on both sides of the road, from just below the motorway interchange, to just after the garden centre. It stops just short of the railway bridge for now, as there is no money at the moment to widen the bridge (but future bridge widening will take bike safety into account). There’ll be some ‘fresh kermit’ greening of the lanes, too… now those yellow dashed lines are superfluous! As well as general enthusiasm, there …
Auckland Transport is proposing to add protection to the bike lanes on St Lukes Road between the motorway interchange and the intersection with New North Road. This is a great leap forward which Bike Auckland, the Local Board, and AT’s new Walking & Cycling team, have long worked for. The project is being funded from a new minor safety improvement fund for cycling (a total pool of $1 million p.a.) and hopefully, the buffers will go in before the Waterview Tunnel opens around April. Consultation is now open – see the project page with the link for feedback. Closes this Friday! The quick version? We absolutely support this project. For anyone who knows St Lukes Rd – or has seen …
Cycleway consultations are coming thick and fast at the moment, and no wonder, because the ‘must be built by mid 2018‘ deadline for the Urban Cycleway Programme is getting closer and closer! The initial key route for the Eastern inner suburbs runs through the eastern part of Parnell, starting at the intersection with Parnell Road, and then running along St Stephen’s Ave, down Gladstone Road past the Rose Gardens, reaching the Quay Street Cycleway via a short section of The Strand. Here’s the project page, and here’s the link for feedback (closes 23 December 2016). And here’s the route up for discussion… This cycleway is intended to serve a number of functions – …
Mt Albert Town Centre urgently needs your help, to rescue it from a people-unfriendly design that’s been sprung on everyone at the last minute. As our mates from Generation Zero put it in a recent mailout: just when we all thought we were ending the year on a high note, “Auckland Transport did something dumb and now we need you to stand up for bike lanes yet again.” Here’s the quick link because time is short: hop over here, click the blue button to ‘HAVE YOUR SAY ONLINE’ and support Option 3 now. Feedback closes Friday 16 December! For the full background, see our previous post, with FAQs about crucial aspects of the design. Here’s the …
What is this, Groundhog Day?? Auckland Transport is suddenly backpedalling on a plan for new bike lanes that were meant to form part of a long-awaited town centre upgrade and a key link in the planned cycle network. Worse: this U-turn uses a new ‘preferred option’ from AT that runs contrary to the original public response, the preferences of the Local Board and the local MP, and AT’s own plans for the cycling network. Not to mention the goal of a 30% increase in urban cycling numbers after 2018. Plus, it’s being rushed through quickly, in the weeks just before Christmas! The quick version: AT is proposing to remove the new cycle lanes from Mt Albert town centre in …
When new bike lanes come to town – like the current Inner West Safe Routes proposal – we like to dig deep into the infrastructure implications. And we nudge you to support the proposals in principle, as a path to a better, more bikeable city. But to truly understand how transformative a proposal is, there’s nothing like hearing firsthand from the people whose lives it will change. Bike Auckland member (and co-inventor of Friding) Greg Wood lives in Westmere with his young family. His Facebook post this morning sums it up better than we could, so we’re sharing it here unedited… in the hope it will inspire you to add your support before midnight tonight! …
Of the four new routes currently being consulted on in Grey Lynn, the Surrey Cres-Old Mill Rd-Garnet Rd one is the longest and one of the most interesting. It runs directly past two primary schools, lots of houses, and small groups of corner shops – the latter often marking ‘ghost stops’ along the old tram line: friendly neighbourhood places to buy tobacco and a newspaper in the morning, or pick up your shopping on the way home from work. It’s nice to think of those shops as pins on the map for the idea of a city organized around public transport and local community… biding time and holding space until it comes back into fashion. At first …
As you know, Auckland Transport is consulting on four new safe bike routes from the city to and through Grey Lynn. Even if that’s not where you live, it’s exciting and worth supporting. Why? Because a more bikeable city starts with creating bikeable neighbourhoods and joining them together. The bike lanes you support today will, sooner or later, come to where you are – and we all want them to be the best they can be. Feedback closes Friday 21 October. Naturally, we’ll be making detailed submissions and blogging about the essentials of each route (see Great North Rd and Richmond Rd for starters). But what if you’ve only got a wee minute, and just want to support these neighbourhood …
We’ve covered the proposed Great North Road bikeway; now let’s move on to another route in Auckland Transport’s current inner west consultation, for which feedback closes Friday 21 October: Richmond Road. To skip straight to the feedback suggestions, click here – or read on for the surprising history of this route. This one is a bit of a ‘time warp’ for Bike Auckland. A few years ago, we were approached by an AT manager we’d worked with on a few smaller bike projects, who said that maintenance works were planned for Richmond Rd, and they were thinking about adding bike lanes while they were at it. Of course we responded enthusiastically! We’ve long encouraged Auckland Transport to see road renewals as not just about gleaming new …
Great North Road: so called because, once upon a time before the Harbour Bridge, it was the main route northward out of Auckland (a counterpart to the Great South Road). Generally, however, GNR meanders mostly westward. From its beginnings at Karangahape Road, you can feel its origins as a straight old tramline street along the ridge. This broad multimodal boulevard served and boosted the growth of the new European Auckland – and because of its gentle gradient, it was always a favourite of cyclists too. And then of course we went and ripped out the trams, reappointed it as four lanes of traffic and a wide median, and turned it over to cars driving to far-away suburbs and shopping malls. …
Feedback is now invited on the cycling improvements through Grey Lynn, Arch Hill, and Westmere, with consultation now extended until midnight Friday 21st October. HERE’S THE LIGHTNING-QUICK WAY TO MAKE YOUR VOICE COUNT! As you can see from the map below (click to enlarge), this is a vital extension beyond the CBD, designed after the extensive feedback exercise earlier in the year. It features new dedicated bike lanes along the ridge route of Great North Road and reaching well into Westmere and Grey Lynn, where they’ll complement enhanced greenways. All projects are scheduled to be completed by 2018. With substantial benefits for pedestrians and public transport, and slower traffic speeds, these are really exciting steps towards a bikeable Auckland! AT …
Everyone thinks cycling in Dutch and Danish cities is so good because it’s flat. But perhaps it’s because you don’t have to stop and start so often? After 10 years in New Zealand there’s one thing I still can’t get used to: having to stop and start to cross side streets while I’m out for a run. Where I used to live, England, this scenario is barely cause for a second thought: a casual glance over your shoulder maybe, but your reasonable expectation is that you can keep going at the same pace. Which is incredibly helpful for running after dark, when main roads are often your best bet for …
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