Sweating the small stuff

3 min read

Cycling visions for Auckland usually revolve around great new projects like extending the Northwestern Cycleway, building a waterfront promenade or getting new cycling overbridges built.

Cycling visions for Auckland usually revolve around great new projects like extending the Northwestern Cycleway, building a waterfront promenade or getting new cycling overbridges built.

But a great cycling city also needs to get the small things right. That is, for example, why Cycle Action Auckland has recently been meeting with Auckland Transport to coordinate our road design better, so we don’t get more pedestrian crossings built that “squeeze up” cyclists into narrow traffic lanes. But it also involves our members and friends – including YOU – mentioning small things to Council and Auckland Transport when they are “broken” (literally, or metaphorically) for cycling.

Some of you may wonder whether there’s any use in doing that, whether it’s really worth it. So we thought we could list a small trifecta of small changes that occurred recently, just as examples of what small requests can do:

– On Dominion Road, where the flyover bridge starts towards New North Road, an expansion joint had been broken and cracked for years, creating a “lip” several centimetres high. One of our members recently asked Auckland Transport to please fix this. And after a week or two, we now have a smooth new bitumen ramp. One big bump gone.

– In Newton, there’s a small pedestrian bridge over Ian McKinnon Drive, near Evelyn Street. Whoever rode the bridge felt very frustrated at the harsh chicance that had been placed at the western end. You had to dismount – and all but lift your bike over it by hand! At the time, our member didn’t feel that it was important enough to mention, and that he would report it later. Obviously someone has now beat him to it, because recently a space was cleared at the side of the chicane to now allow you to get around much easier, without any acrobatics.

– On Mayoral Drive, at the intersection with Cook Street, Cycle Action had (as part of the Rugby World Cup report we did in 2010) requested cycle lanes to lead into the Vincent Street cycle lanes going uphill. We thought that request “had gone away” – but just this week, I noticed the lanes had been marked! They aren’t greened yet, but instead of the usual cycle advance boxes [only], we now have a real cycle lane, allowing cyclists to bypass 40m of queued cars to get to the front. A neat little change, and many thanks to Auckland Transport for moving the three other traffic lanes for us.

In summary, we can only repeat that you should log all your repair and improvement requests with Auckland Transport by either calling 355 3553 or using the online feedback form.  Every request like that not only makes it that much more likely that your issue will be fixed – it also supports those politicians and transport managers who want to help cycling, by showing that there is a public demand out there.

DO ask for a great cycling city.

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Bike Auckland is the non-profit organisation working to improve things for people on bikes. We’re a people-powered movement for a better region. We speak up for you – and the more of us there are, the stronger our voice!

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