The prospect of 7 days of sun is too good to pass-up without a blog, as this weather makes cycling extra joyous.
I really appreciated the calm, sunny crisp cycling conditions yesterday as I set off at dawn from our Waiheke house to whiz down to the downtown ferry, connect to the Devonport ferry and ride up to Takapuna for a meeting with AT staff, Andrew Trevalyn and BrettBurton at Echelon Cyclery. They’re good people and we achieved heaps in a short time.
I got back on my bike to race down Lake Rd to drop into our Devonport house, then catch the Devonport ferry to town to ride to Newmarket for a meeting at GWH for an initial briefing on the Tamaki to Glen Innes cycleway project. It was really good to be at the table with AT and NZTA reps plus Ngarimu Blair from Ngati Whatua and Ken Baguley from the Orakei Local Board. We couldn’t have better key stakeholder partners on this project as they bring local knowledge and a powerful ‘can do’ attitude to the project.
I can’t tell share details about this major project yet, but it’s looking very exciting, with the goal to turn the first sod on Stage 1, Merton Rd in Glen Innes to St Johns Rd in March next year. Bring it on!
My last meeting of the day was with Darek Koper (NZ Bus) and AT’s Andrea Baxter who are both smart and creative thinkers. (We’ve working on a pilot project to make it easier to mix cycling and bus use.) I left the meeting to find an email from the Nettie Bird and Sarah Price from the Te Atatu section of the NW SH16 project asking us to pass on news of a short and well- planned diversion starting Monday on Te Atatu Road using part of the T2 lane near the Causeway Alliance office.
My FB posting for Nettie and Sarah’s message brought quite a few ‘Likes’ and positive comments. I was ‘specially taken by this one from Noeline Shaw “I am always amazed at how these contractors have to work around keeping the public moving whilst still trying to progress with all the changes and additions. And it’s gratifying to see them on this site giving locals a heads up to changes needed.”
Thanks for this positive comment, Noeline, I couldn’t agree more! We’re often prompted to complain, and that’s fair enough. However, we need to balance it by applauding efforts made on our behalf as this invariably brings stronger and stronger collaboration from our AT, NZTA and other partners.
The NW and Waterview project teams provide many exemplars on how to progress the country’s biggest roading project while keeping cycle users well informed and the cycleway route safe and convenient use at all times. I hope other road construction teams are looking and learning, because these people are the stars!
Enjoy the sunny weekend!
