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By admin, January 18, 2013

Were you part of the crowds that headed to the city’s Eastern beaches over the holiday break? Thousands – locals, visitors and tourists – enjoyed cycling, running or walking along the waterfront or just hung out at the beaches and cafes. It’s great to see family groups out on their bikes – even though at busy times, the shared path is clearly inadequate to safely accommodate the growing numbers of walkers and their dogs, cyclists, runners, families, and roller bladers.  

The creation of a two-way separated cycle path is a solution proposed in a new masterplan for Tamaki Drive (scroll down to bottom of their page) just released by the Orakei Local Board.  

“Tamaki Drive – A Place for People: A Masterplan for the Future” is the board’s big picture vision for the future of Tamaki Drive. The Masterplan proposes a potential two-way cycle lane on the seaward side of Tamaki Drive, adjacent to but separated from a widened pedestrian promenade. The concept looks like a huge improvement on the substandard shared path we’ve got used to.  And the potential for a continuous well -planned off-road cycle facility to eventually run from the city centre waterfront to St Heliers is really inspirational. Wouldn’t that be cool?

It’s also neat how the international examples (shown with great photographs in the report) all provide dedicated cycleways – if this is the kind of Tamaki Drive we want to aspire too, then we are on the definitely on the right track.

It’s just a concept at this stage – the hopes and plans of the local board, rather than an agreed & funded project – and the Masterplan doesn’t give any detailed plans. The cycle path would (at least initially) only be provided “where we have space to do it”, and the concept art shows a cycle path which is still pretty close to the doors of parked cars – which is one of the hazards of the existing layout. And it is likely many cyclists would continue to prefer riding on the road, unless the dedicated cycleway is built to a very high standard. But clearly these details will go through much more detailed design work and consultation before anything is built. So even with these caveats – it is very exciting that a dedicated cycleway is a core element of their future Tamaki Drive vision as well as ours.

The Masterplan came out of a series of “Visioning Workshops” last year which brought together many different community group including local Cycle Action members. Although it’s very high level, the Masterplan is a great step forward towards some holistic planning for the future of Tamaki Drive as an asset for Auckland – not just a busy road corridor and parking strip.

As an example, the plan even encourages parking removal from Tamaki Drive, which is a big step forward (though to be exact, the plan suggests to relocate these car parks to locations further back from the waterfront, not remove them altogether).

Congratulations to the Orakei Local Board for leading this new approach to long-term planning for Tamaki Drive. So what do you think of it?

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By admin, September 18, 2012

Would you like to cycle in Orakei (Local Board)’s parks? Specifically Crossfield Reserve, Glover Park and Madills Farm? Then you should respond to this Council “have your say” survey.

Obviously, cycling will not be appropriate in all parks, and not in all areas. However, the (very pretty looking) masterplans for these park upgrades show various routes – mainly along the edges of the parks – which would be highly suitable for local residents, families and children on their bikes.

We therefore ask everyone to write in and ask for these parks to be made “cycleable” where possible. Cycleable paths should be wide enough (3m) to be shared with pedestrians at relaxed speeds, and should avoid stairs and steps (or where those exist, they should provide push channels for bikes to be easily moved up or down).

Faster cyclists (which will be the key concern for many non-cyclists) can be discouraged from such park routes by making them curve and meander a little here and there (especially where they go downhill), or by occasional switchback gates (which, if built right, work well to slow down cyclists without preventing bike access).

All these parks get / have car parking & road access. Why not also cycling access?

Some of these parks could offer lovely local rides and shortcuts for Aucklanders – so please share this around to your friends as well. Responses need to be in this Friday!

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By Max, August 2, 2012

After the post a few days ago about cycling things happening in West Auckland, this last weekend I had a look at what is being constructed in the east of former Auckland City (click through twice for larger photos):

On Tamaki Drive, the works around Kelly Tarlton have been slow, what with winter being particularly hideous and rainy recently. The new bus stops however – which will allow most bus activity to be recessed away from the carriageway – are almost finished.

The new pedestrian crossings are also taking shape, as you can also see in the photos (CAA and some cycling groups riding there have been keen to ensure that the new crossings don’t end up new pinch points).

I suspect that the bitumen “hump” on the crossings are just temporary measures – and there’s a lot to be done yet until all is sorted, and the new cycle lanes can be marked.

Continue reading 'In brief: some [more] things getting built…'»

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By Max, April 9, 2012

Over the next days, CAA will do a series of 4-5 blog posts with details about the safety works Auckland Transport is planning on Tamaki Drive this winter. After Easter, Cycle Action will provide input to Auckland Transport about these designs (some of which CAA has already been involved in developing). Please feel free to contact us (preferably in the blog post comments) to give us your opinion on these works, and what we should be raising about them with AT.

We will discuss works from east to west, and this 5th and last post is about work planned at Watene Crescent, and about works at The Strand.

Continue reading 'Tamaki Drive works V – Watene Crescent & The Strand'»

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By Max, April 8, 2012

Over the next days, CAA will do a series of 4-5 blog posts with details about the safety works Auckland Transport is planning on Tamaki Drive this winter. After Easter, Cycle Action will provide input to Auckland Transport about these designs (some of which CAA has already been involved in developing). Please feel free to contact us (preferably in the blog post comments) to give us your opinion on these works, and what we should be raising about them with AT.

We will discuss works from east to west, and this 4th post is about the works planned near Kelly Tarlton’s / Takaparawha Point, probably the most significant works Auckland Transport is planning for this winter.

Continue reading 'Tamaki Drive works IV – Kelly Tarlton’s (Takaparawha Point)'»