Rail trails WITH trains – Final whistle for New Lynn-Avondale!

Rail trails WITH trains – Final whistle for New Lynn-Avondale!

Bike Auckland

A guest blog by Sam Finnemore, one of our good friends and occasional contributors.

The New New Lynn - Merchant Quarter Apartments.
The New New Lynn – Merchant Quarter Apartments.

A few weeks ago Bike Auckland shared Auckland Transport’s plans for the proposed New Lynn to Avondale bike path, which will hug the Western Rail Line corridor from Rankin Street through to Blockhouse Bay Road.

Auckland Transport are hoping to have the first sod to be turned in late 2016 – and if you haven’t submitted yet on the plans, you’ll have to be speedy too, with a deadline of this coming Sunday (15 May) to get in your feedback on the project!

Here’s the quick link for feedback.

The more submissions the better – whether you live in the area, travel through, or whether (as Mitchell and Webb put it) you aren’t affected by it but can imagine what it would feel like if you were. As someone who spends most of his time on bike in the centre city and inner west, I’m a mix of the second and third options – so, having read the plans and feedback on them on this website (lots of great reader comments!) and elsewhere (including robust discussion at Transportblog), I’ve got a few reckons to share:

  • The illuminated... protuberances... of New Lynn!
    The illuminated… protuberances… of New Lynn!

    First and most obviously – the project gives anyone headed further west than Mount Albert a much better option for safe, relaxed riding than anything else we’re likely to see anytime in the near future. Riders like myself who are less than keen to chance it on some dicey local roads will have a good alternative, and there’ll be more opportunities for newbies to give bikes a go, building numbers and demand for other mooted improvements in the area.

  • Feedback I’ve read about the path seems divided between it being a “motorway” through route with limited connectivity, and being overly stop-start with multiple road crossings. Although there’s scope to improve the crossings – see the original Bike Auckland post above for some technical points to raise in submissions, if you’re keen – I think we’re better off with more connectivity to start with, rather than less. This won’t be a path that tempts you to open up and let rip – a la Grafton Gully or SH16 Causeway – but not everything needs to be. For shorter local trips or relaxed commuting, the balance looks right.
  • The Avondale Spider.
    The Avondale Spider.

    Given the rail corridor alignment, this will just plain be an interesting place to ride, particularly if you appreciate how travelling by bike can give a completely different view to what you get via car or elsewhere. And never underestimate the power of a cycleway to lift and enhance the areas it connects to and passes through. [Editor’s note: And the pleasure it can bring to NOT be riding along roads or motorways – some of my best memories from growing up in Europe were riding to high school along the rail line]. But maybe you’ve got ideas to give the proposed path more local colour and interest – something reflecting New Lynn’s history of clay and pottery (what could local arts groups like All Goods create along the “Brickpath”)? Reorienting the famed Avondale Spider to watch over this strand of the Auckland bike web? No reason not to roll your own bright ideas into a submission.

  • Avondale Markets - Copyright: CC BY 2.0 Author: Sids1 from Flickr,
    Avondale Markets – Copyright: CC BY 2.0 Author: Sids1 from Flickr,

    And, slightly contra the point above – apart from the novelty of the “rail trail” there’s already plenty to enjoy that’s either on the proposed route or not far off it. At the New Lynn end, fill your basket or bags at the op-shops on Delta Avenue or at Lynn Mall catch a bite or a movie at the Brickworks and Reading Cinemas, decide for yourself if those hanging sculptures are really that dodgy. The Avondale end offers more bargain shopping, some neat local cafes, and a jaunt down to the Markets on Sundays for fresh veges (Quax would be proud). If you have more to add – and locals no doubt will – let AT know where you’re looking forward to going once this path opens!

Ultimately, this proposal looks like another good push in the direction we want to see for people on bikes in Auckland. Submitting your ideas for improvement is always welcome – and even a modest non-technical submission supporting the plan will help give AT the message that we’re here, we’re engaged and we’re keen to see more and better cycleways, faster, all over Auckland.

Here’s that feedback link one last time – remember to submit before the end of Sunday, and look out for more news on the “Brickpath” (or, your naming idea here!) in coming months.

 

 

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