Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Works in progress

Sam F

Thu, 03 Dec 2015 09:45:13 +1300

Committing this act of thread necromancy to let you all know that an alternative to the Newton Road overpass hell-climb is at last going to happen – probably in the next one or two years, but hopefully faster than that.

One more barrier to wider bike use in Auckland due…

Bart Janssen

Wed, 21 Jan 2015 09:27:14 +1300

I guess we’ll hear more about High St when shopkeeper Murray Crane esq’s views are published in Metro soon. In the meantime here’s Transportblog’s take.

It's interesting to compare that historical article with the delight that is O'Connell St now. As near as I can tell O'Connell St is a…

Sacha

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 18:10:05 +1300

I guess we'll hear more about High St when shopkeeper Murray Crane esq's views are published in Metro soon. In the meantime here's Transportblog's take.

Sacha

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 18:02:54 +1300

I also researched O Connell in the same manner. Huge issue with it being a straight, smooth racetrack like the Wellesley end of Elliot St. Design does not follow international shared space practice where not only pedestrians are meant to induce uncertainty for drivers but trees and street furniture not…

Bart Janssen

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 17:17:44 +1300

After chatting with a retailer (n=1) regarding the O'Connell St upgrade (which is great) the problem they have is not the upgrade – they love it. It really does increase foot traffic and custom. But rather they hated the period during construction when customers were driven away by the construction…

Amanda Wreckonwith

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 16:29:13 +1300

Yeah but I also understand a few retailers were given some very, very attractive initial lease deals to move into the Britomart area. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when those initial deals come up for renewal.

Diseased Estranged-Coalpit will simply start whining on The Panel. It will likely…

Carol Green

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 14:22:10 +1300

Thought I’d post some photos from up the front – Nick Tapiki the kaikorero, Barb Cuthbert from CAA the first across the bridge, and Shane the penny farthing guy because he deserves to be seen. There’s a few more on my Flickr.

BenWilson

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 12:50:33 +1300

the Council plan shows a nice theoretically sweeping path that goes right up the steepest part of the reserve (I don’t know how far they have thought the project out yet). I like my MS Paint version better – less direct as the crow flies, but it seems a lot…

Glenn Pearce

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 12:32:30 +1300

High Street retail is dying and the hot new fashion precinct is the non-car part of Britomart Square.

Yeah but I also understand a few retailers were given some very, very attractive initial lease deals to move into the Britomart area. It'll be interesting to see what happens when those…

Russell Brown

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 11:43:14 +1300

ETA: Ah, they changed the timing at 5:30pm last night. I guess I’ll be exploring it at leisure by myself…

No, I think that change was last week. It was listed in yesterday's Hard News :-)

Sam F

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 10:45:14 +1300

That was today? I had tomorrow morning booked off work for it; it was on the CAA website and everything.

ETA: Ah, they changed the timing at 5:30pm last night. I guess I’ll be exploring it at leisure by myself...

Russell Brown

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 10:32:17 +1300

I went down this morning for the opening of the new Oakley Creek bridge on the SH16 cycleway, built as part of the causeway upgrade. Nice moment: one of the workers performing the whaikorero, driftwood tokotoko in hand. Those guys were really proud. Build a motorway, people drive on it.…

Sacha

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 10:31:39 +1300

These people are hurting themselves more than anyone else.

They're hurting their neighbours. If it was just themselves, we could wait for the market to fix their attitude.

Russell Brown

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 10:28:13 +1300

It’s also what’s preventing High St being turned into a shared space despite the existing ones reporting 400% increases in retail sales.

The hold-up is coming from one or two retailers who really don’t get it. Meanwhile, High Street retail is dying and the hot new fashion precinct is the…

Sacha

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:50:48 +1300

it wastes so much scarce money, as you say

Sacha

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:50:11 +1300

I think it’s the parking that really should go, off from main routes, but that will face very stiff resistance from local residents and retailers. And on the numbers using the facilities they do have a point.

That's the major resistance, yes, despite overseas evidence that retail sales increase when…

Bart Janssen

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:47:00 +1300

instead spend all the money on the flat side and make it genuinely viable

by purchasing and removing one house to eliminate the silly detour back to Dom Rd, for instance.

Part of me hopes that this is just an interim solution and that as cycle use increases they will…

Bart Janssen

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:44:13 +1300

And in fact – stop press – this is already being considered by Auckland Council, as you can see on page 38 of this report (PDF document).

Nice find.

Interesting to note only the K road path comments on the point that cyclists like flat routes – because K road…

Sacha

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:44:11 +1300

instead spend all the money on the flat side and make it genuinely viable

by purchasing and removing one house to eliminate the silly detour back to Dom Rd, for instance.

Sam F

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:36:33 +1300

Wow that is such an obvious solution. How come it was not the default option in the first place?The only issue I can see is the need to cross Ian McKinnon Drive which is intended to be a fast bybass for the top of Symonds street mess.

The Council's plan…

Bart Janssen

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:30:24 +1300

Wow that is such an obvious solution.
How come it was not the default option in the first place?
The only issue I can see is the need to cross Ian McKinnon Drive which is intended to be a fast bybass for the top of Symonds street mess.

Sam F

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:19:41 +1300

I’m game. It’s a public park so I sort of own it ;-)

I checked it out this morning on the way to town. A couple of things make it less than ideal at least at the moment:

1) It’s a short, sharp climb from the cycleway up to Suffolk…

BenWilson

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 04:27:56 +1300

I seem to remember you singing the praises of the one you hacked up :-)

Yup, I did get a lot of use out of one of them, but as I got stronger I found the good quality pedal-only one I had to be easier to use, since my riding…

Russell Brown

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 22:15:48 +1300

My take on electrics, having owned several over several years, was that they were a really good way to get a reluctant rider started.

I seem to remember you singing the praises of the one you hacked up :-)

They did strike me as a useful solution on the island,…

BenWilson

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 17:33:12 +1300

I popped in on the people hiring out electric bikes on Waiheke yesterday

LOL, I was there then too. It seemed quite popular.

My take on electrics, having owned several over several years, was that they were a really good way to get a reluctant rider started. After you get…

Russell Brown

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 12:07:04 +1300

This does sound like a proper mess.

Put stop signs on the cross streets so the cycle route has right of way instead of demanding the cyclist stop every 500m and lose all momentum.

Which seems a far more practical idea than all that traffic-calming which, I gather, just makes…

Bart Janssen

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 11:57:32 +1300

Auckland’s hills are the essentially the gap between reality and the nice things people say about cycling infrastructure in Amsterdam, New York or London.

It would be nice if the folks planning the alternate cycle routes East and West of Dominion road had ever actually ridden a bike. We have…

Bart Janssen

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 11:44:00 +1300

overwhelmingly roads for cars and trucks

This is an interesting point. Most people, and apparently planners as well, view roads as existing for cars and trucks. Yet this is incorrect.

Roads do NOT exist to transport cars and trucks.

Roads exist to transport people and goods.

When you views roads…

Russell Brown

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 11:41:53 +1300

I noticed yesterday that somebody has, in fact, beaten a path through the trees between Ian McKinnon and Suffolk Street – there was a guy riding a bike over it… of course I would never endorse local PAS’ers getting out with pruning shears to make it more usable as a…

Russell Brown

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 11:40:47 +1300

But imagine if a subsidised “government” electric bike was available at the Warehouse for, say, $250. For a lot of people, those show stoppers would vanish. For hilly and windy NZ, mass adoption of electric bikes could be a Kiwi solution for Kiwi terrain.

I popped in on the people…

Bart Janssen

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 11:29:34 +1300

why does it have to be so hard for something we are entitled to

I guess since we want to ride underneath the Newton Rd bridge we have to deal with the troll. Sigh.

Tom Semmens

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:45:53 +1300

Physical separation by a barrier is better but cycling lanes that are just marked are still a good start. Where they occur I’d usually rather have them than not have anything.

I agree, separation can be as simple as a line of those orange knock down lane marker thingies with…

Tom Semmens

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:43:30 +1300

Yes. Auckland’s hills are the essentially the gap between reality and the nice things people say about cycling infrastructure in Amsterdam, New York or London.

They’re a showstopper for new and casual cyclists, and they help make the advocates’ idea that everyone should just ride around in their normal street…

Sam F

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:36:31 +1300

for the cost of 100m of path through an existing park (which would also be available to pedestrians), that could be avoided.

I noticed yesterday that somebody has, in fact, beaten a path through the trees between Ian McKinnon and Suffolk Street – there was a guy riding a bike…

BenWilson

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:31:55 +1300

It's easy to lecture the cycling gear when one lives very close to the city. Lots of hipster students on fixies wearing jeans and leather shoes give me disdainful looks around the K Rd ridge area. But I never even see anyone in that kind of gear on the cycleway,…

BenWilson

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:25:08 +1300

Physical separation by a barrier is better but cycling lanes that are just marked are still a good start. Where they occur I'd usually rather have them than not have anything.

For people who don't have the luxury of living near a cycleway, decent marked lanes along roads like Dominion…

Russell Brown

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:12:55 +1300

” UPHILL?, why does it have to be so hard for something we are entitled to”

The idea of making cycleways more usable by making them less hilly is also what they do with roads. It’s not a crazy idea, unless you basically have no idea about what riding a…

Ian Dalziel

Sun, 18 Jan 2015 15:48:34 +1300

No matter what barriers are in place between cars and bikes , any traffic – there will always be accidents – like this one on the Auck motorway today – carrying fertilser and luckily not enough diesel to turn the whole impact into a bomb of Timothy McVeigh and Oklahoman proportions!

Tom Semmens

Sun, 18 Jan 2015 09:16:35 +1300

Cycling in Auckland seems to be condemned to special, sometimes “off the main track” routes,

and

I want to cycle along Dominion Road, Sandringham Road, St Luke’s Road,

I couldn’t disagree more. If you are a chicken like me then there is no safe way for cyclists to share the…

Ian Dalziel

Sun, 18 Jan 2015 08:12:53 +1300

Life's a trip, ya gotta move...
Will donkey and horse traffic still be able to traverse these thoroughfares and thru-ways?
Are there way stations for oxen and dromedaries?
Will the itinerant cheesemongers of Puhoi and others from points North still caravanserai down to the Big Smoke along the ancient Condiment…

Marc C

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 23:56:31 +1300

Cycling in Auckland seems to be condemned to special, sometimes "off the main track" routes, and even within fences, or along fences, separating cyclists from roads and streets. I used to cycle here, but I gave up years ago, given the ruthless drivers of cars, trucks and buses, that though…

BenWilson

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 16:56:44 +1300

The one at the end of Suffolk St.

Sofie Bribiesca

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 15:19:56 +1300

when for the cost of 100m of path through an existing park (which would also be available to pedestrians),

What is the name of the park?I cant figure where you mean

BenWilson

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 14:26:09 +1300

Quite the opposite, anyone riding to the CBD faces quite a lot of uphill. Much more, in fact, than cars do. That's Russell's point, the cycleway takes people up the Newton Rd bridge from the level of the motorway below, and then down the other side, when for the cost…

Kevin Welsh

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 12:21:11 +1300

Exactly. Road building in New Zealand seems to be more about providing an ongoing maintenance contract to a small number of companies rather than building quality long-lasting roads that require little maintenance. A properly maintained asphalt surface will last 15-20 years where as slapping down some tar and throwing some…

Sacha

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 11:23:51 +1300

Councils co-fund local transport, overwhelmingly roads for cars and trucks. Unless a cyclist is neither a taxpayer nor ratepayer/renter (nor also a driver), they already pay many times over for the tiny amount dedicated to cycling infrastructure.

Sofie Bribiesca

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 11:00:17 +1300

It seems to me that that the normalization you are referring to is well under way.

I saw no lycra on Wednesday in West or East Aux . I do think tho' that from the good evidence that RB has provided (by way of great pix,) there really needs to…

Sofie Bribiesca

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 10:50:07 +1300

That still leaves a climb up to Queen Street, but at least you only have to do it once.

Don't people ride uphill anymore? I had to ride up Orakei Rd every school day for years. A trip to Patiki Rd t'other day had me checking out the cylists from…

BenWilson

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 10:43:23 +1300

If your alternative is only a car then electric represents savings. But if one of the alternatives is a normal pushbike then electric involves a lot more expense than that.

I'm curious, what do you wear for that commute? It's just long enough that on a normal pushbike you would…

Tom Semmens

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 10:18:29 +1300

I guess I am talking about the intellectual leap from cycling being seen as a recreational and sporting activity to it being seen as a valid form of transport for people who are not interested in lycra or MAMIL ego and all that other cycling palaver. For example, if I…

BenWilson

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 11:52:51 +1300

The electric assist bikes seem to cost $1500-$3000 ???

Yup, unless you want a very low quality one. Those folding ones are often cheaper, but a folding bike is not something you want to ride any great distance, and probably not at all if you're a big person. But Tom's…

FletcherB

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 11:42:19 +1300

I guess that the obvious solution is to buy an electric bike.

They certainly seem to go very well… they zip past me all the time and a co-worker loved his…

But they are still not cheap… You can get a new bike for $100 at the warehouse or k-mart…

BenWilson

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 11:36:22 +1300

more smiling Mary Poppins’ on an electric bike going home with a baguette and some groceries in the basket.

That would be nice. You use an electric?

Tom Semmens

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 10:45:14 +1300

I guess that the obvious solution is to buy an electric bike. They are amazing, like the iPad they take a whole lot of incremental improvements in technology (batteries, motors, gearing, construction, electronics) and create a new sort of revolutionary transport. I was talking to a bike shop owner about…

BenWilson

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 09:50:53 +1300

” UPHILL?, why does it have to be so hard for something we are entitled to”

The idea of making cycleways more usable by making them less hilly is also what they do with roads. It’s not a crazy idea, unless you basically have no idea about what riding a…

Steve Curtis

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 09:33:13 +1300

The idea that it’s the poor motorists who pay for everything is a face-slappable myth.

Just a quick look at the funding will tell you that NZTA gives $250 mill to councils for maintenance of locals roads ( separate to State highways which they fund entirely), then there is $325…

Sam F

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 09:25:10 +1300

Thanks for that, Roger – I was too astonished that this old saw had come up in a cycling thread at PAS of all places to reply to it, and I'd written enough above already...

Says Ben:

This was what I meant by the appalling engineering. Next time, I’ll just…

Roger Lacey

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 08:41:43 +1300

Mmmm, is there no pleasing bike riders ??( Unlike motorists they are paying zilch for their new cycleways)
The idea that it's the poor motorists who pay for everything is a face-slappable myth. Rates pay for urban roads, footpaths and cycleways. Fuel taxes don't cover the full cost of national…

BenWilson

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 06:13:59 +1300

Is the climb back up to Symonds St near Elam brutal?

No, but it's unnecessary, avoidable. So people will avoid it, unless safety is their primary concern. It's the cycle helmet of cycleways.

Sacha

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 22:22:57 +1300

Is the climb back up to Symonds St near Elam brutal?

BenWilson

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 19:30:38 +1300

I wasn’t prepared for just how short it was, and the bizarre diagonal crossover at one intersection where it changes sides of the road. Then it disappears

This was what I meant by the appalling engineering. Next time, I'll just leave it at the crossing and carry on along the…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 15:19:26 +1300

by any other name…
I thought you were being sardonic when you called them ‘The Well Connected Alliance’ – but I now see that is their given name – a bit like SCIRT in Chchch – Old Boys At The Trough – OBATT doesn’t have the same ring to it,…

Sam F

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 12:25:58 +1300

I'm pleased by the improvements to the cycleway but I'm becoming steadily more horrified by the scale of the new interchange as it comes together. It seems that between Grafton Gully and SH16, we only get cycleway projects on any scale through areas that are being completely stuffed (or were…

Hugh Wilson

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 11:00:57 +1300

Looking pretty dry in those pictures! Must be the epic summer youse are having. That aside, great to see more bike infrastructure going in.

Mikaere Curtis

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 10:21:55 +1300

The closest I have seen is a bicycle assembly station at Nelson airport. AFAIK it's only a stand, but it seems to be quite a good idea considering the good riding to be had in the Tasman district.

Steve Curtis

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 10:21:25 +1300

All the rest involve a stiff uphill climb at the end of your trip
Mmmm, is there no pleasing bike riders ??( Unlike motorists they are paying zilch for their new cycleways)

Maybe we can introduce rickshaws for those unable to meet the physical challenge, or there are those other…

Marcus Turner

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 09:57:13 +1300

Here's an interesting bicycley thing: http://imgur.com/DL3mLhR. Are there any of these in NZ?

BenWilson

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 09:57:11 +1300

But really, you’d probably go along the Ponsonby Rd ridge on the dedicated cycle lanes to be added there (if they survive the planning/motorists appealing process).

I would at the moment, but any route that saves unnecessary ascents on a bike is something a lot of people would choose.

BenWilson

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 09:55:16 +1300

Oh yeah, I always forget that K-Rd has an actual bridge. Presumably you'd have to be on the north side of the motorway yourself, so crossing from the NW cycleway one way or another. That would be good, not just for Freeman's Bay but for all of Downtown/Wynyard.

it would…

Sacha

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 08:48:47 +1300

I'm not sure how you think it could go under K Rd to Freemans bay. A tunnel?

Connecting from behind K road to the Nelson offramp puts someone a short ride from Freepersons bay across the Wellington St overbridge (which might need (gasp) some separated cycling infrastructure added.

But really,…

Russell Brown

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 08:42:37 +1300

All this money and effort is admirable but we really really need a solution at Newton road. The cycle path should really continue into town beside the motorways, thru grafton gully and also under K rd down to freemans bay.

As sweet as it would be, I don't think a…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 08:16:59 +1300

The pillars march off towards town. This thing is huge.
Literally pillars of the community going large?

Russell Brown

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 07:56:21 +1300

I’m not sure how you think it could go under K Rd to Freemans bay. A tunnel?

Under the overbridge! There has been some talk about that.

Tom Semmens

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 07:48:48 +1300

All the rest involve a stiff uphill climb at the end of your trip. Admittedly it’s hard to see how they could have done anything else...

BenWilson

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 21:14:22 +1300

Fingers crossed!

thru grafton gully and also under K rd down to freemans bay.

Well it does go down Grafton Gully now, although I’m slightly annoyed to find that despite it going the full length of the University there is not one convenient access point, unless you were going to…

Sacha

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 21:07:21 +1300

There are some plans. And the Grafton Gully section is open.

Myles Thomas

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 18:45:36 +1300

Myles Thomas

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 18:43:48 +1300

There is A wee road being graded from the little bridge by chamberlain, westwards beside the motorway. Hopefully that's going to be what you're asking for.

Nat Websta

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 15:51:51 +1300

I'm told that the Waterview Coffee Project, which operates out of this container near the Waterview Connection site, is really good

I can confirm: it is good. Good coffee, good brioche (important!), good folks.

We live in Waterview, and I am surprised and pleased to say that the level of…

BenWilson

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 14:30:51 +1300

Is the existing northwestern cycleway going to be at all rerouted in all of this? It's always been a big hole in an otherwise very good cycleway (especially since the lower streets of Kingsland were cut out) that the cycleway is forced to depart from the motorway and rise up…

Russell Brown

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 13:40:15 +1300

The sudden stop at Lincoln Road is a bit of a shock, hopefully some cycle friendly ways through this intersection will be coming soon.

Ironically, there's a path rightwards across the overbridge to the other side of the motorway. Where it promptly ends. Hopefully good for someone working at the…

Roger Lacey

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 13:36:22 +1300

It's brilliant that the cycleway is actually being built and that NZTA has kept the existing paths open as much as possible.
The sudden stop at Lincoln Road is a bit of a shock, hopefully some cycle friendly ways through this intersection will be coming soon. As it is now,…

Public Address

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 13:36:22 +1300

Discussion from blog post.