Wellington reveals plans for a $7 million 'great harbour cycleway'

Tuesday, 2 August 2016

How Wellington's proposed new $7m harbourside cycleway will look along Cobham Drive.

Wellington's great harbour cycleway has moved a step closer to reality.

Plans have been revealed for a new $7 million shared cycling and pedestrian path around the capital's bays between Waitangi Park and the Miramar cutting.

The shared cycling and pedestrian path along Evans Bay Parade.

It will follow the waterfront along Oriental Parade, Evans Bay Parade and Cobham Drive.

The 3.9-metre-wide path will provide an almost seamless – and more scenic – cycle link between the central city and eastern suburbs that avoids the rountinely congested Basin Reserve roundabout and the compact streets of Newtown.

Cobham Drive is a popular route for Wellington's cyclists, but is considered dangerous by some in its current state.

Transport Minister Simon Bridges and Wellington city councillor Jo Coughlan discussing the capital's cycleways programme in April.

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Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown has previously said the city council's handling of the Island Bay cycleway was a mistake.

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It will also add another link to the Great Harbour Way, the cycleway the city council wants to create along the entire edge of Wellington Harbour from Pencarrow to Red Rocks.

Wellington city councillor Andy Foster says the city's new cycleways programme will require a firm commitment from councillors to deliver.

Talk of more action on the Great Harbour Way intensified earlier this year as city councillors debated how to get their $101m cycleways programme back on track after being roundly criticised for their handling of the public backlash over the Island Bay cycleway.

If all goes to plan, the harbour cycleway will be complete by early 2019. But it will need the full council's endorsement at a meeting on August 11, and the public's blessing, before it can proceed.

It will also require a thumbs-up from Transport Minister Simon Bridges. The Government has agreed to chip in about $20m towards the first three years of Wellington's cycleways programme, but only if those projects are delivered before July 2018.

Councillor Jo Coughlan, who met Bridges in April to discuss a time extension, said the decision to press ahead with a harbour cycleway was a great result, after she pushed for it to be elevated above other cycle projects.

'Lessons have been learnt from the Island Bay cycleway,' she said. 'Councillors are realising there is a finite amount of money available from Government, and we have one shot at getting cycleways right.'

David Chick, the council's chief city planner, said public consultation on cycleway options for the eastern suburbs earlier this year had shown the harbourside idea to be a popular choice.

'This is the right thing to do for Wellington,' he said. 'It's an excellent proposition that achieves multiple things for multiple users.'

Cycle Aware Wellington spokesman Patrick Morgan agreed the harbour cycleway would be popular, but said the heat was on city councillors to work together and 'get stuff done'.

'Wellington urgently needs to demonstrate it can maintain momentum with its cycleway programme.'

Councillor Andy Foster said staff kicked around the idea of a harbour cycleway in 2015 but did not proceed because they estimated it would cost about $12m.

But the new design – which will add about two metres of width to the existing path around the bays – was slimmer than the earlier proposal and would require fewer alterations to the seawall, he said.

When councillors meet on August 11, they will also vote on whether to support a 'refreshed' cycling plan, which includes going back to the public for its view on building a cycle lane from Wakefield Park in Berhampore to John St in Newtown, which will connect to the Island Bay cycleway.

Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said a key part of the council's new cycleways direction would be a significant emphasis on community engagement.

'Councillors are doing their very best to move forward from past animosity over specific cycling projects.'

Funding for the harbour cycleway will come from $13.5m previously earmarked for central city cycleway projects, which have been held up indefinitely while a solution to the Basin Reserve's traffic congestion woes is found.

Another $4.5m from that fund will also be diverted to investigating a safe crossing options for cyclists and pedestrians on Cobham Drive.