Cycling lobby critical of transport agency's 'rush job' on Manawatū-Hawke's Bay highway

Wednesday, 27 March 2019

Building a cycling and walking path at the same time as a new highway will save time, money and avoid the potential for legal challenges, a lobby group says.

The lack of a cycleway for the proposed Manawatū-Hawke's Bay highway reared its head once again at a commissioners' hearing in Palmerston North on Wednesday.

The hearing is part of the process the New Zealand Transport Agency has to go through if it wants to build the road as a replacement for State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge.

State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge needs replacing due to large landslips and the threat of more.

The gorge has been shut since April 2017 due to landslips, pushing traffic on to steep and windy alternative roads.

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Build the Path spokeswoman Rachel Keedwell says the transport agency has done a rush job on planning the new highway.

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The absence of a cycling and walking path has been the biggest issue in the proposed design for the new highway, attracting hundreds of submissions and prompting the formation of lobby group Build the Path.

Group spokeswoman Rachel Keedwell, a Horizons regional councillor, said the agency's process was flawed, premeditated and inconsistent with the Resource Management Act, government policy statement for transport and the agency's own transport plan.

The agency had said including a path was too hard because there had been no planning or discussions with land owners, iwi and other parties, she said. 'This is what [this process] is for. The work hasn't been done.'

The agency was negligent in its planning by trying to get the road built quickly. 'They can't use an absence of action to ignore the call for a walking and cycling path.'

Group spokesman Brent Barrett, a Palmerston North city councillor, said the proposed road was highly rated for passenger safety, but ranked at the bottom for cyclist safety.

'Why did the agency make it so safe for one mode of transport, but for another it's very risky or even deadly?'

There was also an issue of fairness compared with other regions, he said.

The Kāpiti Expressway and Taupō bypass both had cycling and walking paths, but Manawatū's new road didn't.

'We pay taxes. We want to see some investment.'

The agency has said it would put a walkway on a new bridge across the Manawatū River, which needs to be built as part of the new highway.

But Barrett said future-proofing for a cycling and walking path was not the way to go.

Building the path at the same time as the new road made sense, as all the equipment and expertise would already be there, he said.

That would save time and money, especially when it came to earthworks.

The cycleway would not hold up the project, but a refusal to add one could result in legal challenges, which would cause delays, Barrett said.