Plan modification 58, Central Area Section of the District Plan – doesn’t that sound exciting?
Well, no.
Not even (maybe especially not) for CAA’s hardworking planning staff. But it turned out that keeping an eye on the city’s planning regime paid off. A quick check found that this plan change intended (still intends) to change some of the motorway land that NZTA currently owns on the eastern side of Grafton Gully – to a zoning that would allow future sell-off and then new development, for example for office buildings. So far – so irrelevant to CAA and cycling.
However, a close study of the area to be rezoned alerted us to the fact that this could risk precluding a future cycle and walking bridge from Wellesley Street East to Grafton Road. Something that has been sought after by Council, and advocates, literally since the State Highway 16 extension had been built down towards the ports. The proposed zoning change would mean that the future private development land would sit so close to Grafton Road, that one would struggle to ever build a clip-on bridge, or a new separate bridge, in the narrow remaining zone.
If you are not aware of it, the current overbridge has no footpath / shared path – and because the area is legally part of the motorway, cyclists are not even allowed allowed on the road crossing over the motorway itself! A bad design oversight (or, at that time, possibly even a concious “tradeoff”) of the type common as late as 5-10 years ago.
So CAA lodged a submission, asking for the future route to be protected, especially in light of the planned extension of the Northwestern Cycleway through Grafton Gully, which would make a “spur” over the motorway towards Grafton and the Domain even more useful in the future.
To their credit, NZTA quickly agreed with the planning oversight we pointed out, and has now corrected the proposed zoning designation to provide a 10m wide corridor in which a future bridge can “land” on the eastern side of the gully. Another small win for cycling, with the potential for a big win down the line.
If you have been out riding (or driving) to the northwest recently, you will have seen a lot of new roadworks have gone on at the end of the Northwestern Motorway. Among them, a large new roundabout has been built to the north of Westgate, at the new end of the SH16 motorway, where the new SH16, old SH16, the road to Kumeu and Brigham Creek Road all meet.
With CAA having been involved in the construction of the reasonably cycling-friendly new roundabout about a kilometre further west at Old North Road, we were shocked last year to see that the large multi-lane roundabout at Brigham Creek Road had absolutely no pedestrian or cyclist facilities. If you were not a highly confident road cyclist, willing to thrust yourself into a multi-lane roundabout with fast traffic, you literally had nowhere to go.
This led to a series of sometimes somewhat… difficult… discussions between Cycle Action and the NZTA project team – but in the end, NZTA agreed that something had to be done to ensure that the roundabout provides safely for the needs of all users. Subsequently, plans were drawn up for pedestrian/cyclist crossings on all three non-motorway arms of the roundabouts, including shared off-road paths, and streetlighting. This will allow all three cycle routes to be used safely.
As of March, works on installing these features are now ongoing, and, weather permitting, are to be completed at the end of the month. This will be a significant improvement for the safety and amenity of tourist, and general recreational cyclists going to and from Auckland’s north.
This NZTA 
research investigated what type of cycling infrastructure would encourage new cyclists to use cycling as their mode of transport for daily activities.
Unsurprisingly, the research showed that safety was the most significant issue for potential cyclists, particularly in relation to vehicle driver behaviour and traffic volume. Other significant issues included having facilities at the destination for showering and changing, enjoyment, and the perception that car drivers are not courteous.
The solutions that were most likely to effect a significant change in cycle numbers related to the nature and consistency of infrastructure, and education for motor vehicle drivers and cyclists on how to best and safely use it. The researchers recommended that along with a number of other cycling-supportive steps, planners could develop a comprehensive, consistent network of cycle-only paths with separation from motor vehicles, and with dedicated intersection facilities such as hook turns and cycle signals.
To download the full research report, click here (NZTA)
CAA understands that the police are about to clamp down on people carrying bikes on the back of their vehicles, thus concealing their number plates. Of course we have all known that number plates must be clearly visible but up to now the police have turned a blind eye on those obscuring their number plates with bikes.
Below is the site that gives a solution to the problem. Supplementary plates are now available from the NZ Transport Agency and cost $17.08. Plus you can purchase at the same time a clear plastic ‘envelope’ for $11 that holds the plate and which straps to the bike/bike rack. I suppose you can always make your own if you are so inclined but I am too lazy for that and always go for the easy option. A CAA member recently rang them, ordered plates and plate holders for both family vehicles in about two minutes, and was told they would be delivered in about a week.
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicle/registration-licensing/number-plates/supplementary.html
It was far from unexpected, but the recent funding decisions from national government were highly disappointing. As set out in more detail and even blunter words at the Auckland Transport Blog (“GPS 2012: Just Plain Dumb”), the funding leans heavily towards state highways (read: motorways, motorways, motorways…) and does so by keeping down, or actively cutting, funding for public transport, local roads, and even maintenance!
We will concentrate on what it means for cycling. There, one could be thankful in a way, because cycling funding was one of the few things that didn’t get cut. Nonetheless, it is hard to feel charitable when the funding remains at less than 1% of the total transport budget (which also covers walking AND cycling). All of New Zealand together will get between 12 and 30 million per year to build cycleways, bike lanes and cycle bridges – a drop in a parched desert. That is a real issue with local Councils wanting to build such facilities to heed the desires of their residents – but who won’t be getting co-funding to do more than the odd project. Further, the “funding range” means that in practice, we are unlikely to get anything like the 30 million hinted at for the upper end of the range – in the past years, walking and cycling funding was generally at about 15 million per year, while motorway construction budgets exceeded even the high end of their funding range – to the tune of 150 million EXTRA a year.
So – disappointing, but status quo for cycling? Not really. With the significant cuts to public transport and local roads funding, Council will find it harder and harder to accommodate cycling in other road or PT upgrade projects, and may even have to defer some of these projects for years until funds can be found. When one realises how many features for cycling some of these projects are proposing – such as the dedicated off-road cycleways in the AMETI projects – that is worrying for cycling as well as for a more balanced transport system in Auckland.
While local Councils, including Auckland, are increasingly realising that people want more more walking and cycling and public transport investment, we wonder why national government is so unwilling to heed this call. It is clearly not a lack of money.
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