Council hits the brakes on major cycleway project

Tuesday, 7 May 2024

Ohiro Rd - one of the city’s narrowest - is being touted as a new safe cycling route.

Wellington City Council has pulled the pin on its Brooklyn to city project, citing funding issues.

Construction on the project, which was signed off by the regulatory committee last August, was due to get under way shortly.

It would have seen see a permanent uphill cycle lane replace a temporary one, plus a battery of raised zebra crossings, “courtesy” crossings and speed humps installed along Brooklyn Rd. The temporary cycle lane will remain.

There were also plans for a down hill cycle lane along with seven speed humps on a 1.3km stretch of Ohiro Rd between Brooklyn Rd and Aro St.

However, late Monday evening after The Post questioned the cost of the project, the council’s chief planning officer, Liam Hodgetts, said it had put the project on hold.

“Based on the draft GPS for Transport, we are unlikely to be able to fully fund this project and we are currently looking at alternative options.

“In the interim Brooklyn connections continues to function as a successful cycleway,” he said.

Thesection of Ohiro Rd where the judder bars were to be installed was described in the council’s own safety audit as being narrower, steeper and darker than Brooklyn hill.

However council spokesperson Richard MacLean said feedback had shown the main Brooklyn hill route did “little for people wanting to bike into the city. Our concerned bike riders still had to ride [downhill] in the traffic lane sharing with buses, trucks and other motorists.

“It was suggested and agreed that Ohiro Rd be used for those on bikes that wished to go a lot slower and more free of traffic,” MacLean said.

Brooklyn resident and civil engineer Alex Gray says the new courtesy crossing going in on Brooklyn Rd doesn't comply with land transport rules and could be dangerous.

The plans for Brooklyn Rd —average daily cycle trip count 164 —included an uphill raised bike-only lane from upper Nairn St to the top of the hill to replace the temporary one, a raised zebra crossing on Brooklyn Rd near the main entrance to Central Park, two raised courtesy crossings across the intersections of Bidwill St and Washington Ave, and another at the intersection of Brooklyn Rd and Nairn St, just over 50m from the signalled intersection with Webb St.

Alex Gray, a civil engineer and cyclist, believed the latter was unsafe and, like several of the other raised platforms, didn’t comply with land transport rules, given their location. He had written to land transport director Brent Alderton outlining his concerns and asking NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi to investigate.

Brooklyn Rd is one of the city’s busiest, with an average daily traffic count of between 12,000 and 16,000 vehicles a day and is the main route to three landfills on Happy Valley Rd, so carries large numbers of trucks.

“Courtesy crossings are recommended for low speed roads, less than 30kph —like Kilbirnie shopping centre,” Gray said.

“On Brooklyn Rd traffic is travelling at over 45kph. Plus it’s optional as to whether you stop or not for a courtesy, [so] this is an accident waiting to happen.”

Six speed bumps installed on Hawkins Hill Rd, on the way to the Brooklyn wind turbine.

The bike network plan had estimated the “rough” cost of the Brooklyn Rd section to be around $4.4m.

The council budgets around $150,000 for each raised crossing. While it would not give costs for individual speed humps, citing commercial sensitivity, it has been reported the platforms can cost up to $50,000 each, depending on associated work such as painting and signage.