Cycle lane friction ramps up on Molesworth St

Tuesday, 15 October 2024

Is the turn from Molesworth St across the cycleway into the New World supermarket an accident waiting to happen?

The owners of a Wellington chippie are on tenterhooks, waiting for the proverbial to hit the fan as construction of the city’s latest bike lane gets under way adjacent to the Beehive.

Starfish Fish and Chips To Go sits alongside the new Molesworth St cycleway, at the entrance to Thorndon New World. Lunchtimes are busy; this is public servant territory. Supermarket shoppers in cars have to turn across the bike lane to access the car park.

Starfish owner Shu Lu is terrified. “There’s cars, there’s bikes, there’s pedestrians crossing, people trying to get in and out. Basically we’re just waiting for the accidents to happen. It’s not going to be fun.”

Wellington is on track to have 30km of new bike lanes by the end of the year, but the fast changes are leaving behind a trail of disgruntled shopkeepers.

She says 80% “perhaps 90%” of her customers aren’t happy with the situation. “But what can we do, [the council’s] not going to stop it.”

Molesworth St is one of the main thoroughfares from the CBD to the northern motorway and to the suburbs of Wadestown and Crofton Downs, running past Parliament and Wellington Cathedral. The bike lane has reduced its previous two lanes to one in some areas, as has construction work on a new building, which when completed in 2025 will be home to MFAT and the MetService.

Car parks on the eastern side, where the separated bike lane is located, have been removed, or moved out into what was previously roadway.

Starfish owner Shu Lu says she is just waiting for the accidents to happen.

It’s similar in Murphy and Mulgrave streets on the other side of the supermarket. Wellington Girls’ College, the Thorndon Summer Pool, and the heritage-listed Old St Paul’s, a popular wedding and funeral venue, are all situated there.

Lower Molesworth St has gone from two lanes to one.

That route is also one way, and has lost its car parks. A cycleway is under construction there too, again running straight past the exit/entrance to New World.

The work is all part of the council’s $200m-plus city-wide cycle network project. Consultation on the so-called Thorndon Connections was fraught, to the point the council had taken security guards along to public meetings to keep staff safe. Foodstuffs tried to have to have it stopped, arguing in the High Court the decision-making for the cycleway was “flawed” and the entire process should be scrapped and undertaken again.

Cycle advocates, on the other hand, argued the route was the only way cyclists could access the central city from the Northern suburbs, and the new cycle lanes would ensure people on bikes were safe. 'Streets need to be safe for people who use them and right now Thorndon Quay is not safe for people on bikes.

“We've spilt far too much blood there and that needs to be fixed,“ a Cycle Wellington spokesperson said at the time.

But, as the work finally gets under way the fractiousness looks set to kick off again, with claims it is already causing congestion and, alongside the loss of car parks in nearby Thorndon Quay and the Botanic Garden, will negatively affect not only the local community but the city as a whole.

Tempers are frayed left, right, and centre. Facebook pages are heating up: “I would suggest avoiding 8am-9am if possible due to school traffic.”

Alternatively: “Much safer ride in using the fabulous cycle lanes now. Used to be a bunch of cyclists taken out along that stretch, and the return up Molesworth. Now it’s far safer, and so I’d encourage you to get a bike and take another car off the road.”

Meanwhile, the council said the separated one-way bike lanes would help avoid conflicts with high volumes of traffic entering and exiting the motorway, as well as bus stops and construction loading zones.

To minimise disruption it has scheduled work to happen outside main commuter hours and at night. It had hoped to have the bike lanes finished over the October school holidays, but wet weather had caused some delays.

“Overall, the changes we’ve been making along these streets make it safer and easier for people getting around this area and provide more options for how people can get to and from work, school, or tertiary study, drop kids at day care, visit local shops, churches, and businesses, or live in the area without needing to own a car,” a spokesperson said.