Christchurch’s cycleways will not be finished until at least 2033

Tuesday, 25 June 2024

Are We There Yet? is a new series from The Press examining the transport challenges facing Christchurch - New Zealand’s second largest city. Today, TINA LAW considers the city’s cycleways. See Part One on the city’s worsening traffic congestion and join the discussion in the comment section below.

Christchurch’s cycleway network will not be finished until at least 2033 - 20 years after they were first proposed - and will cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than originally expected.

Back in 2013 the 101km network of 13 cycleways was expected to be completed within five years and cost $68.3m. In 2024, about $203m has been spent and just six are fully open and another three have been partially finished.

The Christchurch City Council is planning on investing another $227m on cycleways over the next decade, which also involves adding another major cycleway to the list, this time in the neglected north east.

While $430m is a lot of money, it pales in comparison to the $1.3 billion spent on roads in the last 10 years and the $1.8b planned across the next 10.

More than half of the $203m spent on cycleways so far was paid for by the Crown in a mix of subsidies and post-Covid shovel-ready funding.

Previous cycleways have benefited from a Government subsidy to the tune of between 35% and 60%. However, new Government policies mean any subsidy to finish the remaining cycleways is now unlikely, so the delays will lead to ratepayers having to fork out even more money to get them finished.

The cycleway network is regarded by the council as a major tool to reduce the city’s transport emissions, which account for 38% of Christchurch’s total emissions and also reduce congestion.

Despite this, mayor Phil Mauger is calling for more delays to the cycleway programme to manage the sky rocketing costs due to a lack of a subsidy and increased construction costs.

The Wheels to Wings cycleway down Harewood Rd is now expected to cost up to $35m, up from $19m when it was first proposed in 2021.

“There comes a time when we say ‘we are not doing any more of this until we get more money from the Government’,” Mauger said.

But, the council’s climate change spokesperson, Sara Templeton, said the council should not be relying on Government funding to progress projects that were good for the city.

“We don’t in many other areas such as water delivery, parks or libraries.”

The council will decide this week, as part of approving its 2024-34 budget, the long-term plan, how much money it will spend on cycleways over 10 years and whether to delay some routes even further.

The cycleways are proving popular in some quarters and their use is increasing. The council counted an average of 11,300 cyclists a day in May, and 350,000 across the entire month. The first quarter of this year saw an increase of 5% on last year, and that was on top of an 11% increase from the first quarter of 2022.

“It’s been clear that the cycleways are bringing benefits to residents, not just costs and the latest Benefit Cost Analysis shows a return of over $13 for every dollar spent – a really worthwhile investment,” Templeton said.

People who submitted to the LTP on cycleways were divided on the proposed spending. Of the 906 responses, 22% supported the spending of $220m, 33% opposed it and 39% provided other suggestions with most wanting the council to invest more and accelerate the work.

However, there is a push from some councillors to delay the 4.5km Wheels to Wings cycleway.

The cycleway was first proposed in 2019 and has been through at least two rounds of consultation. It faced strong backlash from businesses along the route and they formed a group with residents to come up with their own design, which was deemed as unsafe by council staff.

Councillor Aaron Keown said locals did not want the cycleway.

In fact, he wanted the entire cycleway programme reigned in, saying they were “over-engineered and over-designed”.

The cycleways had just made things harder for motorists, because they were based on “anti-car designs”, he said. Cycling was like a “religious cult with no soul”, Keown said.

The council has already spent $5.4m on Wheels to Wings, which Mauger said disappointed him, especially since there was “not a peg in the ground” yet.

However, Templeton pointed out all large infrastructure projects had upfront costs for design and engagement. The council spent $40m on the stadium Te Kaha before the design/build contract was even signed, she said.

Templeton said she was frustrated by the cycleway delays which meant the council had lost the opportunity to take advantage of additional Government funding.

“We need to acknowledge that and move ahead with delivering the network.”

Delaying the cycleways even further would mean another generation of school kids miss out on biking to school, Templeton said.

“We know that the biggest barrier to kids cycling is the parents’ perception of how unsafe our roads are. We’ve also seen that the biggest growth in cycling has been in the 65+ age group who are staying fitter, healthier and connected with others for longer.”

During the last three years there has been 27% inflation for roading construction projects and to delay now would add to the cost and lead to further dismay over ‘cost blowouts’, Templeton said.

“While the Government’s priorities may have changed, ours have not, and providing safe and sustainable choices for residents needs to continue.”

But Mauger said the council should look at delaying work on some cycleways and focus on getting others completed or putting the money into an entirely different project like the Pages Rd bridge replacement.

“We’ve got to get our priorities [right]. What is more important? People getting out of New Brighton safely or doing a cycleway on Harewood Rd that no one really wants.”

However, cycling advocates would argue against his last point.

Transport planner Glen Koorey said the Wheels to Wings was in a neglected part of the city when it came to cycling infrastructure and he wanted to see it built sooner rather than later.

“It feels like every time cycleways keep getting stretched out a little bit further. We should be able to do a lot of them quicker than that.”

One aspect Koorey and Mauger did seem to agree on was changing the design of the cycleways. Mauger has always believed the cycleways built to date were “over-engineered” and he wanted to see them built far more cheaply.

Koorey said the council could get around the spiralling costs by considering slighter cheaper options for some routes.

He suggested the council could build more transitional or temporary cycleways in the meantime, similar to what had been done on Rolleston Ave/Park Tce or Ferry Rd.

“That may be one way of doing it. Maybe still do the same network for less cost.”

THIRTEEN CYCLEWAYS (plus a new one)

Uni–Cycle from Canterbury University to the central city (open)

Little River Link from Prebbleton to the central city (open)

Papanui Parallel connects Northlands Mall and the Northern Line cycleway to the central city (open)

Quarryman’s Trail from Halswell to the central city (open)

Rapanui – Shag Rock from Sumner to central city (open)

Heathcote Expressway from Heathcote Valley to central city (open)

Nor’West Arc from Cashmere to Papanui (open Cashmere to University and from University to Aorangi Rd is expected to be fully open by the end of this week) $26.6m is budgeted to be completed by mid-2030.

Northern Line from Belfast to central city (open Kilmarnock St to Main North Rd) $23.2m is budgeted to complete by mid-2028

South Express from Templeton to central city (open city to Upper Riccarton) $12.4m budgeted to complete by mid-2028.

Wheels to Wings down Harewood Rd, connects airport to Nor’West Arc and Northern Line (undergoing detailed design) $17.6m is budgeted to complete by June 2027, but could cost up to $30m once final costings are in.

Southern Lights connect southern suburbs around Beckenham to central city (planned) $3.8m is budgeted to complete by mid-2030.

Avon−Ōtākaro Route connects New Brighton to central city via Avon River corridor (planned) $31m is budgeted to complete by mid-2033.

Ōpāwaho River Route follows Heathcote River from Princess Margaret Hospital to the Avon-Heathcote Estuary (planned) $54m budgeted to complete by mid-2032.

New proposed cycleway: North-east cycle route $25m budgeted to complete by mid-2034.

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