Options revealed to connect Wellington's Island Bay cycleway to Basin Reserve
Tuesday, 13 November 2018
Long-awaited plans to extend Wellington's Island Bay cycleway north to the Basin Reserve have been revealed.
Wellington City Council has released three design options for the cycleway which will run through Newtown and Berhampore, and possibly Mt Cook.
The proposed routes would all result in a loss of car parking, with the most direct route potentially wiping out up to 605 spaces.
The options are now open for public consultation, with a preferred route to be developed early next year.
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Wellington City councillor Sarah Free, who holds the council's walking, cycling and public transport portfolio, said the options were developed following consultation with residents earlier this year.
'Eighty-five per cent said it was important or very important to make it easier and safer for more people to ride bikes in and around the wider Newtown area.
'It's now time to work together to develop the best possible plan for how we are going to do that.'
The options proposed would see anywhere between 111 and 605 car parks removed, but Free said the council hoped to be able to counter that with more efficient use of side streets and creating off-street parking where possible.
'We expect we're going to have to work really hard with communities to carefully consider the pros and cons.'
Cycling Action Network project manager Patrick Morgan welcomed the announcement, saying cyclists were getting 'hurt, scared, and harassed' on a daily basis in the Newtown and Berhampore area.
Those suburbs had the highest concentration of commuter cyclists in Wellington, Morgan said.
'The council has delivered, for the first time, safe cycling options, as well as improvements to the street-scape. It makes cycling a viable option for the thousands of people in south Wellington who want to ride bikes.'
Two of the proposed options would run off-road through part of the Berhampore Golf Course and alongside Martin Luckie Park.
The council has budgeted up to $8 million for the project between now and June 2021, and is hoping to secure up to another $24m from central Government to spend in that period.
Network improvements manager Paul Barker said additional funding would be needed if the construction timeframe stretched beyond that date.
That would depend on the final design, which was likely to be a combination of all three options, he said.
The announcement of the Let's Get Wellington Moving proposal - a joint project between the city council, Greater Wellington Regional Council, and the New Zealand Transport Agency - could also affect funding. That programme will include cycleway improvements through central Wellington, and is to be funded separately.
The first option, which would take out between 505 and 605 parking spaces, would provide the most direct connections to the central city and Kilbirnie, and within Berhampore and Newtown.
The second option would see between 111 and 161 parks removed, but with a minimal connection to the central city and Kilbirnie, and within Berhampore and Newtown.
The third and final proposal would take out between 181 and 281 car parks, but would provide the most connected network of routes, and would also include Mt Cook.
The cycleways would be a mixture of on-road bike lanes, separated bike paths, off-road shared paths, and 'quiet routes'.
'I PREFER TO LIVE'
Newtown resident Hariata Hema can't wait for the 'desperately needed' cycleway between Newtown and central Wellington, which she says at the moment is far too dangerous.
'I ride on the footpath, which is illegal. The reason I ride on the footpath is because I prefer to live.'
Hema cycles from her home in Colville St to central Wellington and back several days a week, and said a separated route was long overdue.
'There needs to be a comprehensive, integrated cycleway so people can actually get from A to B.
'There are several things which make it unsafe. We are actually cycling in amongst the traffic, drivers can't alway see us, and we're competing for space.
'We're also moving at different speeds to the rest of the traffic. If we had a dedicated cycleway then we would feel safe, because we'd be able to go at our own speed and not have to accelerate out of the way of traffic.
But fellow cyclist and Newtown resident Graeme Tuckett said cycleway infrastructure was not an issue because he used back roads to avoid traffic.
Rather than use Kent/Cambridge Terrace, he used Home St and Hania St to get to the Basin Reserve, and rather than Adelaide Rd, he often used the adjacent Hanson St.
Those routes could be sign-posted by the council as suggested cycle routes, Tuckett said.
'I definitely approve of cycleways, but they can be done simply and inexpensively. They don't need to be over-engineered, over-complicated, and over-expensive.'
BUSINESS COMMUNITY SPLIT
Berhampore and Newton retailers potentially affected by the changes were divided in their opinions, when approached on Tuesday.
Wellington Halal Meats owner Shameem Khan said he hadn't been made aware of the council's proposed plans before this week with the potential car park losses coming as a surprise, particularly with the butchery relying relied heavily on having parking available outside.
'As it is at the moment, there's a carpark down the road that's always full … most of our customers are always looking for a park.'
Nearby business owner Sheree Leavai, from Swell Creative, was diplomatic in her approach to the possible changes, with any detrimental factors ultimately outweighed by a safer transport system.
'It will affect our business but I think I think it's a step in the right direction.'
She often cycled along Riddiford St with her young daughter and had seen firsthand just how treacherous the road could be.
'It's not a fun ride … it's a busy road, it's narrow and there's a lot happening.'
The Berhampore business community had been proactive in its approach to cycleways in the area with several retailers, including Clayton McErlane from Baron Hasselhoff's, meeting with council staff to discuss their wants and needs.
'We spitballed ideas and put in a combined submission outlining what our core beliefs were and what we really wanted from the neighbourhood,' McErlane said.
He was keen to have a thorough look over the newly released plans and continue conversations with council staff ahead of a final decision being made in 2019.