Have your say on the Nelson St cycleway design – but be quick!

Jun 05, 2015
Have your say on the Nelson St cycleway design – but be quick!

Jolisa

Last chance – submissions close 22 June!

Calling all artistically inclined bike people, with a flair for colour and an eye for opportunity… Remember when this fabulous art installation put bikes on the disused Nelson St offramp, in 2013?

Resene and Matter put bikes on the Nelson St offramp for Urbis Design Day, 2013
Resene and Matter put bikes on the Nelson St offramp for Urbis Design Day, 2013

Well, the project to reclaim that space for bikes and pedestrians is seriously under way. The pilings are already being built for the overbridge from Canada St – which will be constructed offsite, and then lowered into place in one fell swoop.

Pilings going in, photo courtesy of CLL Civil Works.
Pilings going in, photo courtesy of CLL Civil Works.

And all going well, this landmark project will be ready to ride by the end of the year! Cycle Action’s Barb Cuthbert sums up the excitement:

“It will be a ‘must ride’ route and loved by Auckland visitors, families, roadies, cruisers and people riding to work and shopping in town. I can see it featuring in tweets already, raising the profile yet again for cycling in Auckland.”

Before: Nelson St cycleway and walkway. After: you decide!
Before: Nelson St cycleway and walkway. After: you decide!

As a pathway for active travel, it’s necessarily going to be more minimalist in design than NYC’s exquisitely planted High Line. And let’s face it, plenty of us would take to it no matter what it looks like. We’ll brighten it up just by being there – picture a colourful fleet of frocks on bikes, neon-clad joggers, and all manner of pedestrians.

But here’s your chance to really jazz up that grey old Spaghetti Junction: Auckland Council is inviting your thoughts on paint colours and designs, via a quick and easy survey. Your feedback will be combined with iwi consultation and technical advice to produce a final design.

The survey only takes a few seconds, and offers lots of options to choose from and combine – all the way from subtle to bright, abstract to deeply local, with the possibility of words and images, too. A river of blue? A vivid, twining kowhaiwhai? Your favourite Don McGlashan lyric?

Think about the way the silos have been brought to life down at Wynyard Quarter with paint and poetry. Nelson St could be a similar shot of colour to an industrial cityscape.

silobikepark

As Councillor Chris Darby says, “It will be one of the new beacons for biking in Auckland. Attractive surface finishes will make it even more distinctive and grab both local and international attention.”

Over to you! Here are a few samples of “attractive surface finishes” from round the world to whet your imagination before you click here to complete the quick survey by June 22nd.

A rainbow crossing in Sydney (pic via ABCnews
A rainbow crossing in Sydney, like those proposed for Karangahape Rd (pic via ABCnews)
The amazing Lego Bridge, in Wuppertal, Germany (pic via Wikipedia)
The amazing Lego Bridge, in Wuppertal, Germany (pic via Wikipedia)
"Intersection repair" using paint in Portland, Oregon (pic via City Repair Project)
Community-led “intersection repair” using paint in Portland, Oregon (pic via City Repair Project)
A painted village in Taiwan (pic via Socialphy
A painted village in Taiwan (pic via Socialphy)
A flower carpet in Brussels! Made with actual flowers. (Pic via Livable Cities)
A flower carpet in Brussels! Not paint, but actual flowers. (pic via Livable Cities)
Ready, steady, go! Street art in Graz, Austria. Pic via Dezeen
Ready, steady, go! Street art in Graz, Austria (pic via Dezeen)
Swiss street paint, pic via DesignTaxi
Swiss street paint (pic via DesignTaxi)
Chicago street paint, pic by John Greenfield via Flickr
Chicago street paint (pic by John Greenfield, via Flickr)

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