Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: The Sky Trench

FletcherB

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 23:33:27 +1200

Heres a contrasting viewpoint...

http://caa.org.nz/the-nelson-st-transformation-ramps-up-steel-yourself-for-something-special/

Short version- wait and see once it's finished, it may not be as bad as you were expecting...

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 07 Sep 2015 09:24:42 +1200

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/accidents/news/article.cfm?c_id=13&objectid=11508860

Steve Barnes

Thu, 27 Aug 2015 11:17:56 +1200

Meanwhile, in between photo-ops his influence, like a rolling maul, rolls on...

Dita De Boni ‏@KeepingMum Aug 9
Hi all. In answer to questions, it is true the Herald has discontinued my column as of three weeks from now. Reason given = budget

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 26 Aug 2015 21:56:19 +1200

...we have already ordered the parts from Germany” FFS.
Can come from Germany...
they have many good parts!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a1NhRbNJ_Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlMFm9touZ8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3VdIDxMg74

Steve Barnes

Wed, 26 Aug 2015 18:44:27 +1200

NZTA people are obviously not cyclists.
They also got it very wrong on Wellington's silly flyover too, but fortunately the people eventually won.

According to Peter Dunne, today in Parliament, NZTA is out of control and they have yet to decide whether to appeal the flyover and appear to be…

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 26 Aug 2015 17:52:03 +1200

This much cheaper version was vetoed for some reason...

Grant McDougall

Wed, 26 Aug 2015 14:58:01 +1200

The justification for the rush is a ribbon cutting deadline set by the PM’s office.

The naming of the All Blacks' World Cup squad at Parliament this Sunday also smacks of a craven photo-opportunity, too.

BenWilson

Wed, 26 Aug 2015 13:07:28 +1200

Without approving of this twist, I can think of one advantage to it – it will serve as a windbreak.

Helen Searancke

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 22:07:47 +1200

And in the NZTA survey, wasn't there a question about this cycleway being attractive to tourists? What tourist wants to cycle or walk on a disused motorway with views obscured by whacking great fences. NYC Highline it aint.

Helen Searancke

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 22:03:33 +1200

I haven't ever heard of anything being thrown or anyone hurling themselves off Hopetoun Bridge, above this new cycleway.

I was looking forward to that view very much. Recently I've seen the Harbour Bridge all lit up along its outline, from up on Union Street and it made me keen…

Russell Brown

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 19:04:51 +1200

I don’t recall a question on ‘whopping great unnecessary and massively ugly cage’.

Quite. It's OIA-worthy, I think.

JessicaRose

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 15:34:03 +1200

Hear hear Patrick, I couldn't believe what I was reading. What happened to the public consultation survey we all filled out asking if we wanted the path in technicolor or city street grey? I don't recall a question on 'whopping great unnecessary and massively ugly cage'. Commenting from Portland, the…

Ian Dalziel

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 10:45:35 +1200

Now don’t be slow
Come on!
….”
Wrong bridge though.

Graft on...
with proud scum, crowds come...
;- )

mpledger

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 10:44:50 +1200

My office in Auckland use to look back towards the Grafton Bridge and I saw someone jump off once. They jumped at the hospital end so the drop wasn't large enough to kill themselves, they just broke their legs. I think this was the gap in time between when the…

Jeremy Andrew

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 10:08:55 +1200

Words / Lyrics / Story telling. Dennis Glover perhaps, covering suicide and the collapse of farming, hence the fence.

"Come on, John
The time has come
Its time to go
Now don't be slow
Come on!
...."

Wrong bridge though.

MichaelM

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 04:10:37 +1200

With random object dispersal on byways being such an issue, why not go the whole hog with home grown kiwi solutions – Kelly Tarlton acrylic tunnels with some magnification built in.

James Littlewood*

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 23:50:07 +1200

On one hand, I'm all for such projects getting a fast track, for whatever reason. On the other ...

A simple little UBD wouldn't had to have slowed things down at all. If it was a really massive, bells and whistles number (which it wouldn't be) then it might have…

chris

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 21:35:04 +1200

Probably not what you’d want to hear but as an acrophobic those walls would mean the difference for me between riding and getting off and walking the bike.

Yamis

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 20:12:54 +1200

The Princes St overbridge has a curved wall doesn't it? Built after that schoolboy threw a concrete block through a car windscreen killing the driver instantly in about 2005?

william blake

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 19:36:24 +1200

Distinctly New Zealand would have had the cars.

Words / Lyrics / Story telling. Dennis Glover perhaps, covering suicide and the collapse of farming, hence the fence.

What was the option that came with the over engineering from Germany called?

Russell Brown

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 19:27:37 +1200

possibly the legal requirements vary if one is considering an existing structure or a new build

but only one leg of the new cycleway route is overengineered for barrier height.

And the Upper Queen Street overbridge (with a much bigger drop) and the St Lukes Road bridge (an entirely new…

Lilith __

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 18:25:50 +1200

I’m all for such projects getting a fast track, for whatever reason. On the other, it’s like “Sorry, no time to listen to the people we’re ostensibly designing this project for!

Chch people are now familiar with this procedure. Special powers are not used for good. Public and/or expert opinion…

Sacha

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 17:58:19 +1200

possibly the legal requirements vary if one is considering an existing structure or a new build

but only one leg of the new cycleway route is overengineered for barrier height.

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 17:09:15 +1200

I see a gap in the market for helmet mounted periscope binoculars...

Won't the insides of these 'chutes' just end up tagged to hell, anyway?

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 17:00:51 +1200

I'm not an expert, but possibly the legal requirements vary if one is considering an existing structure or a new build, as it would be unreasonable to retrofit all existing bridges.

Only one incident in recent years is out of kilter with the 2009 figure of 27 in three months…

Patrick Reynolds

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 16:43:23 +1200

See Matt's post, all other local overbridges are at 1.2-1.4m [except K Rd] there has been, as far as we know only one incident from these bridges in recent years.

If pursuit of zero harm is NZTA's policy then why is there any speed limit over about 10kph? 300 people…

Sacha

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 16:23:58 +1200

Only curved barrier I have seen is Grafton Bridge. This one looks ridiculously over-engineered for the location and the risk.

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 16:14:02 +1200

I imagine there'd be a risk assessment – is road design covered by H&S legislation nowadays? Maybe the number of incidents in an area has a bearing. But one could envisage a barrier that was less obvious – you could have it under the bridge, or a net over the road?…

James Littlewood*

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:40:47 +1200

Saw a few in Tokyo once.

Russell Brown

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:39:24 +1200

Sez here there were 27 incidents in one three month period:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/52460/fences-to-stop-objects-being-thrown-on-motorways
and hence fences are now a standard.

In 2009, apparently. And not just high:

But bridges are now being built with high fences that curve inwards, he says.

Not so as I've been able to see, they're not.…

Russell Brown

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:36:53 +1200

The justification for the rush is a ribbon cutting deadline set by the PM’s office.

Good grief.

On one hand, I'm all for such projects getting a fast track, for whatever reason. On the other, it's like "Sorry, no time to listen to the people we're ostensibly designing this project…

kris_b

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:29:51 +1200

Love to know why some fairly simple looking steel or aluminium box sections need to come all the way from fucking Germany.

James Littlewood*

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:29:47 +1200

The justification for the rush is a ribbon cutting deadline set by the PM’s office.

Good grief.

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:26:56 +1200

people throwing objects off the bridge onto the motorway below (which they clearly will not)

Sez here there were 27 incidents in one three month period:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/52460/fences-to-stop-objects-being-thrown-on-motorways
and hence fences are now a standard.

James Littlewood*

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:26:37 +1200

This is very disappointing. Not just because its a lousy solution, and not just that it shows that NZTA clearly don't know much about this new fangled cycling hocus pocus, but because it shows that the user-based design approach which is so obviously required is being equally obviously eschewed.

Patrick Reynolds

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:15:46 +1200

'no-one could have anticipated'

Well not quite. I was afraid of this very outcome because of the ghastly thing done by Auckland Transport on the K Rd overbridge earlier, so I set out to engage with both NZTA and Auckland Council before any designs were begun as I was one…

Phil Palmer

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:10:38 +1200

Nice high walls. Could be a good place to grow one's pot plants.

Hilary Stace

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:08:23 +1200

NZTA people are obviously not cyclists.
They also got it very wrong on Wellington's silly flyover too, but fortunately the people eventually won.

lotech

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:02:08 +1200

As someone who looks over the bridge I'm excited about it's new life – and particularly that there was talk of planting tree's along it too. With a selection of greenery my view would go from concrete motorway to almost nothing but green. Now I'm now so sure....

Public Address

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:02:08 +1200

Discussion from blog post.