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By BarbC, October 2, 2012

Cycling in Auckland is really on a roll when Oscar-winner talent brings us new cycleway proposals.

All those lucky people at our AGM on Thursday night were buzzing after seeing the preso from Kim Sinclair (of Avatar fame) on his Tamaki Tourist Trail project, under the Greenways umbrella.

Here’s how he describes it (and here is a full presentation which also includes maps):

“It’s a 16 km long walking and cycling trail ……..We know few people walk or cycle to work, and very few kids cycle to school in South Auckland. The Tamaki Tourist Trail connects Otara to Otahuhu, Otahuhu to Mt Wellington, Mt Wellington to Panmure, and Panmure to Point England.  Featuring a completely flat scenic route, it’s a combination of existing quiet neighbourhood streets, using some existing off road paths, and new off road walking and cycling trails along the foreshore.

The trail follows the left bank of the Tamaki Estuary, all the way from from the Ngati Otara Park, to the Point England Reserve.  A bridge is required beside the Southern Motorway over the Otahuhu Creek, and a couple of smaller bridges and some board walks are needed to get past the Bowden Road industrial area.

The Tamaki Tourist Trail has opportunities to connect with a future route from the Auckland Airport, and Manukau Harbour to the south.  It will link into the existing Pakuranga Rotary Pathway to the east, and the future AMETI improvements to the west.  At the the northern end it connects to the existing shell path to the Tahuna Torea Nature Reserve at Glendowie, as well as the existing concrete pathways to Glen Innes and the train station.

A planned link from Glen Innes up the hill to St Johns Road ridge would connect to the proposed Purewa Valley walkway, and hence to the downtown area across Hobson Bay.  What an amazing, safe and scenic way to come from the airport to the central city! Obviously it will connect with the proposed Auckland Cycle Network wherever possible to enhance the network.

The new work should meet all relevant standards (such as Sustrans: The Connect2 Greenways Guide) for a shared use pathway – be at least 3 m wide, suitably paved, lit and signposted.  Interested parties include NZTA for the route beside the motorway, Auckland Council for access through the parks and reserves, the Local Boards – Otara, Otahuhu and Tamaki.  Very little private land is affected, the main exception being that access is required past the Otara Power Station along the foreshore of Otara Lake.”

If this excites you, comment here and/or offer help to Kim to make this concept a reality as soon as possible. We all want it!!

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By Max, August 29, 2012

Buried in the details of this announcement of the next AMETI Open Day on 15 September 2012, we have a long-awaited confirmation that CAA was only able to hint at so far:

AMETI now proposes a walk- and cycleway along Lagoon Drive*, directly connecting the Panmure Town Centre with the planned walking/cycling Panmure bridge, and from there, the future off-road path to Pakuranga Town Centre!

* In addition to the more recreational walking path that already exists on the lagoon side of the road.

As you can see in the sketch at the right (click through twice for larger view), the now-proposed link (green) will be more direct than the previously proposed deviation (dark blue) along routes via Church Crescent / Queens Road. Both of which would have been on-road – with no certainty of getting even painted cycle lanes – and which would have involved travelling through a rather hairy roundabout at Queens Road / Kings Road. By providing an off-road route (on the northern side of Lagoon Drive, next to the new busway), we make the route attractive to a whole new type of locals who want to ride bikes.

CAA had been able to comment to AT on their proposals for this path a while back, but knowing the costs involved in providing it, we didn’t want to celebrate too soon. But obviously, AT higher-ups have agreed with their own team that it makes sense to provide a high-quality link all the way, if you are going to the trouble of upgrading Panmure Bridge and the section east of it so significantly for cyclists. Great to hear, and we hope everyone who lives or cycles in the area registers their support (at the Open Day, or at future opportunities for comment).

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By admin, June 3, 2012

Here’s a quick round-up of some  Auckland Transport channel videos on YouTube. The videos that could be interesting for cyclists included this one about our coming electric trains:

You can see the dedicated cycle area in each centre carriage, and also the areas with the flip-up seats, where more cycles can be stored as long as the train isn’t already at peak loads. What you can’t see yet (because it hasn’t been finalised yet) is how the bikes will be held into place – the “bike rack”, if you will. CAA and other parties are still discussing the best way to incorporate this with AT, and the public will also have a chance to comment once the life-sized first train mock-up arrives in Auckland in a while.

Continue reading 'Videos from AT – Trains carrying bikes & AMETI cycleways'»

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By Max, April 17, 2012

Having no success convincing family and friends to “Give it a go!” with cycling?

Then you are probably talking to the “interested but concerned” part of the population – those 50-60% who kinda like the idea of cycling, but aren’t happy riding on busy roads – and won’t change their minds just because of some green paint on the road. Or because you tell them how the risks of cycling are overstated in public perception. They need something more convincing.

Enter projects like AMETI. Cycle Action recently met with the design team for the second phase of that project, the future busway corridor from Pakuranga to Botany. The discussions about cycling facilities in this new corridor were very heartening, as the project team from Auckland Transport and their design consultants clearly “get cycling” – not only the current situation we have now in Auckland, but also the way Auckland could be for cyclists.

Following their recent work, Auckland Transport has now released concept drawings for the busway, which includes examples showing how the cycle facilities would be integrated. The team is targeting those people as future users who currently don’t cycle (except maybe for some limited recreational riding) and who want high-quality facilities before choosing to cycle for transport – in short, they are aiming at the wide majority of Aucklanders.

Below, we show some of the designs the project team is considering for the project:

Continue reading 'AMETI busway’s cycling designs revealed'»

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By Max, March 20, 2012

Shopping centres are not generally what comes to mind when one thinks of great places to cycle to. But their success shows that we do like to go there (usually by car) to shop, hang out, or watch a movie. So why not make it easier to bike there?

This thought is in the background of some separate but ultimately related efforts to make Sylvia Park a true “town centre” as it aspires to be in the long run. At the moment Sylvia Park is mainly shops, a giant cinema and even more extensive seas of car parks (photo at the right – crowned by an elevated highway and further “blessed” by a large, and very cycling-hostile north-south arterial, Mount Wellington Highway). About as uninviting for someone on a bike as can be.

But Sylvia Park also has significant residential areas to the north and west of it, employment to the south, and some of those large car parks are to disappear from sight in coming years as the centre developer creates new office blocks in their stead. So to simply write it off for cycling would be way too easy.

So it is great to see that several initiatives are underway which could make the area much more accessible and inviting for cyclists:

Continue reading 'Cycling (from Panmure) to Sylvia Park'»