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By BarbC, May 5, 2012

A quiet revolution is underway on Tamaki Drive – fuelled by goodwill and understanding. Sorry to sound like a ‘born again’ rave, but this is about changing hearts and minds. It was started by Mark Taylor, owner of Mt Eden Cycles. He’s an unlikely saviour, but we may see him as one when we look back in a few years. In June last year he was leading large groups of 100 or more cyclists on early morning bunch rides along Tamaki Drive. He knew random cyclists joined to draft along in the wake of his bunches, so could never be sure how big the bunches were – or how safe. Mark contacted Cycle Action to ask if we could help him make bunch riding practices safer and more engaged with other road users – starting with his own groups.

Flash forward to April 2012. – After 9 months of collaboration between Auckland Transport, Auckland Police, CAN & BikeNZ, Central Auckland bike shop owners and Cycle Action a new initiative for Tamaki Drive is launched called ‘The Good Bunch’ – a voluntary riding protocol. The key features are listed on a small card, shown here, and available from Cycle Action Auckland and participating bike shops, including Mt. Eden Cycles

More work is underway. The Orakei Local Board has appointed a representative to work with our Tamaki Drive working group, as the road is mostly in the Board’s area. We are now collaborating with Auckland Transport and Bike NZ on a new Rde Leader Training programme to spread the word on safer, consistent riding practices.

The Good Bunch’s bottom line is that we are all safer (road, commuter, everyday and recreation cyclists) when our riding is predictable and considerate to other road users. And before I am hit by a howl of indignation -“What about motorists?” – Rest assured, work is also being done with AA to engage with motorists. We’ll update you on that as we progress. Meanwhile, email me if you want to know more, or can help spread the word across the cycling community- cuthash@worldnet.co.nz

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By Max, April 25, 2012

Auckland Transport has just released a public summary of the safety changes to come for Tamaki Drive this winter. This includes artist impressions of the works developed in cooperation with Cycle Action Auckland and safety experts.

Of particular interest to people may be the designs proposed for The Strand / Tamaki Drive, where Cycle Action previously was not able to provide plans to our friends and members, as the design was still in draft. As shown on the right, they have now publicly released more information about this.

A note of caution: do not treat these drawings as absolutely accurate as to what is proposed – they are artist impressions after all, not engineering drawings! We have seen those engineering drawings – and are generally happy, with some details we queried still being reviewed by AT.

Oh, and some of their links to the artist impressions don’t work – you can still see all by opening one of those that work, and then incrementing the file numbers by hand in your browser.

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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)'»

Comments (4)

By Max, April 7, 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 3rd post is all about the many different things planned to be done at Mission Bay.

Continue reading 'Tamaki Drive works III – Mission Bay'»