Due by 19 February
This is a very short consultation period and Council is seeking only feedback on relocating the bus stop. That is too bad, as the cycle infrastructure proposed is sub standard.
No doubt it is too late to make the changes required. The Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board will be restricted to the bus stop relocation alone. The needs of cyclists are not yet part of the institutional mind set at Council. A cruel irony as we learned with Ferry Road and St Asaph Street it is never too late to hear from and respond to the business community. Cyclists deserve equal treatment. It is our lives which are placed at peril.
Submissions can be completed online using their form. But do keep a copy and don’t be constrained by its limitations.
Be polite and make your concerns and requirements clear.
Link https://www.ccc.govt.nz/the-council/consultations-and-submissions/haveyoursay/show/116
Spokes Submission on Main Road Plan
CCC’s Cycle Design Guidelines, CDG, provide a number of options for plans to comply with best practice design. Cycle lanes of various types are indicated. In section 2.2.2 it advised “Copenhagen cycle paths ideally need to be wide enough for cyclists to pass one another (a desirable width of 2.4m on both sides of the road).” Reducing safety, attractiveness and usability the CDG’s offers reduced options. Quoting from section 2.2.3 “The separated cycle path ideally needs to be wide enough for cyclist to pass one another (approximately 2.4m on both sides of the road).” Or from 2.2.4 “The cycle path ideally needs to be wide enough for cyclists to pass one another (approximately 1.8m to 2m on both sides of the road).”
It is clear that the proposed project does not comply with either the word or spirit of CCC’s own Cycle Design Guidelines. The proposed 1.6m wide painted lanes will result in congestion and unsafe passing.
Spokes well understands CCC providing a 2.6m footpath on the school site side of Main Road. During school start and close this will be a busy pedestrian route. It will also be a busy cycling route.
The 3.3m wide carriageway lanes can be reduced to 3.1 to signal drivers to slow down. The proposed 1.7m footpath on the ‘rock fall’ side of Main Road can be reduced to 1.3m. The resulting .8m can be split between the two cycle lanes bringing them to 2m width. Spokes acknowledges that there is limited room here. Spokes would appreciate a project which acknowledges that people will need to cycle here, many of them children.
Given that the ‘rock fall’ side of the road no longer serves residences Spokes suggests that the footpath be removed entirely. This would allow the space to be allocated to a 3+m wide footpath, 2.4 m kerb separated cycle lanes and 3.3m wide motorized vehicle lanes with room to spare. Crossings at Beachville/Main Road and Puriwherwhriro/Main Road can be provided as required.
Spokes formally requests that the Community Board request staff to implement the intent of the Cycle Design Guidelines, the intent of the Major Cycleways Routes and the unprecedented uptake of cycling by the public in response. The pent up demand for cycling is now well proven. Plans and projects which support both Council policy and the many ratepayers now, and soon to be, cycling are required.
To this end Spokes formally requests that the Community Board recommend to Council that they create a ‘Cycle Champion’ position with the authority to insure that all future plans and projects implement policy and are well coordinated with the Major Cycle Routes and cycle network development efforts of Council staff.
