We’ve posted on the Northcote Safe Cycle route a number of times, but Cycle Action needs your help now to let Auckland Transport know there’s strong support for safe cycling routes in our communities, and AT’s proposal for this route in particular.
“Why do you need help?”, you may ask. Well, some of the Northcote Point locals are up in arms. They’ve called meetings addressed by local politicians George Wood and Jonathan Coleman, and the prospect of losing some of their on-street parking has got them all upset. We use the term “their” advisedly, because of course on-street parking doesn’t belong to adjacent property owners, it belongs to all of us, the ratepayers and residents of Auckland. We delegate management of the road corridor to AT so people can be moved safely and efficiently, and that’s exactly what AT’s proposal does.
Some Northcote Point residents think their right to adjacent on-street parking outweighs the community’s right to safe cycle paths. We disagree. And we think the majority of Aucklanders, both cyclists and people too fearful to get on a bike due to the perceived danger, will also disagree. We think safe cycling is fundamental to good urban and transport design – the key ingredients of a liveable city.
As we’ve already noted in previous posts there are some residents who will suffer hardship as their heritage houses were built without on-street parking. But there’s precious few of them, and AT can design a remedy for them with the large amount of on-street parking that will be retained. If you look at a Google Maps view of Northcote Point you’ll see most houses have generous garages and off-street parking on their properties.
We need your help now, as submissions close on Fri 29 Aug. We want you to tell AT you support safe cycling routes in our communities, particularly the buffered/Copenhagen-style lanes that offer greater separation between cyclists and motor vehicles. Just visit AT’s website and click on the Give your Feedback button
Thanks for your help.
As our previous posts on this topic have generated considerable discussion already, we’ll close comments on this particular post.
