Was a community working group involved in developing options for bike routes?
How was the community working group set up?
How did you decide on these roads and routes?
How did you come up with the options for these roads?
What did the community working group consider?
Why are you focusing on the east?
How many people are going to use these proposed new facilities?
Will on-street parking spaces need to be removed?
Why are so many streets involved?
Will there be separated bike lanes on every street?
Will the proposed bike lanes be at road level, footpath level or somewhere in between?
What is a protected bike lane?
Some of the options include bike lanes protected by raised buffers. How wide will the buffers be?
If approved, will changes be developed in stages?
Have safety audits been carried out on these options?
Why is there only one bike path option for Miramar Avenue through the cutting to Tauhinu Road?
Why was Miramar Avenue in the town centre treated differently?
Why is Miramar Avenue being done in two phases and not all at once?
Why are you suggesting traffic lights for the Miramar Avenue/Tauhinu Road intersection?
Are you proposing to install other sets of traffic lights?
Yes, a community working group was established for Miramar.
Working group members almost all either lived in the areas they were looking at, or were involved with a local business, residents association or group. In addition, there was a representative from Cycle Aware Wellington and pedestrian advocacy group Living Streets Aotearoa.
The group included people who own cars and drive, walk, catch public transport and cycle. It also included people who regularly ride bikes and others who seldom or never ride.
Participants had a mix of views, hopes and concerns but also a willingness to consider all perspectives and work together to find solutions.
A separate working group has explored options for Miramar Avenue led by Enterprise Miramar Peninsula, a group of local business people forming the Miramar business improvement district. The Miramar Avenue group followed the same process as the community working groups to identify the issues and come up with a range of options to discuss with the wider community.
In March 2017, two open days were held at the ASB Sports Centre to gather initial thoughts from the community about these eastern connector roads. Locals identified safety concerns, talked about things they valued, made suggestions, and some registered interest in being part of a community working group.
Key organisations, for instance business groups and residents associations, were invited to participate, along with a mix of people who had said they were interested.
The Miramar working group was set up to look at streets in the Miramar area, including a connection to Seatoun via Broadway.
In 2016 – following community open days, discussions with local residents and online feedback – Councillors confirmed the routes and roads that would be used to develop better biking connections in the eastern suburbs.
The routes in the east, including the coastal route to the city via Evans Bay Parade, are a key part of a planned citywide network and the city’s cycleways programme.
The programme was independently reviewed by consultants Morrison Low at the request of the NZ Transport Agency, then reconfirmed by Councillors in August 2016. In December 2016, following the local body elections, the newly elected Council considered and again confirmed the cycleways programme. This included the roads and routes where changes are proposed.
The community working group met at least five times between April and July 2017. During these two- to three-hour evening workshops they worked together to look at the Council's and Government’s investment objectives for the funding on offer, developed their own community objectives, and came up with a long list of possible options.
More than 100 possibilities and variations were considered in Miramar.
With the help of the transport planners/engineers and urban design consultants employed on the project, the working group, and Council and NZ Transport Agency staff, a list of criteria was developed based on all the objectives.
The long list of options was then assessed against these to come up with a short list of options, which were then further scrutinised.
Working group members spent many hours poring over plans, asking questions, looking at things from a range of different perspectives, debating the pros and cons, grappling with challenges and trade-offs, and whittling down the alternatives to come up with the most practical options to go out to the wider public.
Enterprise Miramar Peninsula worked through a similar process for Miramar Avenue, but began in 2016 and met on even more occasions.
Among other things, the group talked about parking, the needs of residents and businesses, trees, heritage features, lane widths, safer speeds, painted median strips, driveways, pedestrian crossings, intersections, bus stops, and options for solving existing safety issues.
The community working group developed their own set of community objectives, and also took the Council and Government’s investments objectives into account.
To qualify for the Government funding on offer, new facilities for people on bikes must be of a standard which will encourage more people to ride. That means planning for inexperienced riders and people who don’t have the confidence to ride on our roads the way they are at the moment.
Over time, improvements must also help create a connected cycle network.
Our aim is to develop a citywide connected cycle network. We're investing most of the initial funding in the eastern suburbs first because it is an area where we will get the most uptake of more people cycling. Much of the area, and the coastal connection to the city, is flat and there is more space.
At this stage, money is also tagged to other projects in different areas around the city – Hutt Road; the central city; and Berhampore, Mt Cook and Newtown.
The more we can develop a connected network, and safer facilities for less confident riders, the more people are likely to make some trips by bike.
It’s no good just doing the route around Evans Bay. People need to be able to get there safely from their homes to make it a viable route for more commuters.
Yes, some parking will need to come out. This may be required on one side or both sides of the street to create enough space for bikes. Parking may also need to be removed to make it safer around driveways, intersections, bus stops and pedestrian crossings.
Like other cities, we need to adapt and find more equitable ways to share the space on some of our streets so everyone has safer ways to get places by bike.
It’s important to create a connected cycle network around the city – this is just one of the ways to encourage more people to ride bikes, so they know which routes are the safest and easiest. We’re not proposing that every street should have separated bike lanes as part of the network; on quiet streets it may be enough to make changes to slow traffic down.
No – we’re not proposing that every street should have separated bike lanes as part of the network; on quiet streets it may be enough to make changes to slow traffic down.
The final detail is yet to be developed. Where there are preferences for footpath level paths on some streets, this has been reflected in the options we've consulted on.
The feedback we've received will be looked at as part of the more detailed design phase. For cost and other reasons, it may be that initially lanes are constructed at road level, and then as footpaths and kerbs are replaced through our city maintenance programme, we raise them above road level.
This kind of bike lane provides some protection from moving traffic. The lane can be designed in a range of ways – including with raised buffers, marker poles, parking lanes, or a combination of measures.
These would vary from street to street depending on the width of the road and the other demands on the space available. The diagrams for each street indicate how wide the buffers will be.
In some cases, we have compromised and reduced the width of the buffer to meet community working group desires to include options which retain parking and footpath widths.
Once we have received feedback, we will develop detailed plans and more accurate costings.
Some options will cost more than others and we may not be able to do everything within the current budget. If this is the case, we will look to phase the projects in the most sensible way so that we develop as much of the network as we can in this first stage.
No, not yet. Safety audits will be completed on the more detailed plans for the various streets before Councillors consider whether to approve the projects.
The working group concluded that there is only one viable option for a cycle path along this part of Miramar Avenue. Most people on foot and on bikes travel along the harbour side of Cobham Drive so the bike path through the Miramar cutting needs to link directly to this route, on the Maupuia side.
In the longer term, there are plans for some form of mass transit through to Miramar as part of Let's Get Wellington Moving and this would likely change the road layout.
We followed the same process as the community working groups to explore cycling options for Miramar Avenue.
There was already a group looking to develop options for the town centre and investigate transport demand. Miramar Avenue is at the heart of Miramar town centre and a key transport route.
Enterprise Miramar Peninsula was set up as part of the Council’s business improvement district (BID) policy specially to work with the Council on projects like this that benefit the community. They have been working with the Council since 2016 on ways to improve Miramar Avenue, as part of furthering economic development for the area.
Like the other eastern suburbs projects, we’ve asked for feedback from the wider community, to consider the street layout options and help us refine plans.
There is not enough money to do the whole project at this stage. With Enterprise Miramar Peninsula, the Council is taking a longer-term view of improving the town centre, with designs that can be implemented in stages.
The changes are designed to improve traffic flows in the future for Miramar as the population in the area grows. The proposal for traffic lights at the intersection of Miramar Avenue and Tauhinu Road, would be considered for the longer term to replace the roundabout as traffic volumes grow.
Roundabouts work best with lower volumes of traffic. The roundabout at the intersection of Miramar Avenue and Tauhinu Road is likely to need traffic lights in the future because of high demand.
Queue lengths and waiting times already cause traffic delays. Sometimes in peak morning traffic, the queue extends almost as far as the Park Road roundabout.
We are concerned too for the safety of people riding bikes. Roundabouts can work well for bike riders if traffic is light. They are not bike-friendly when the road is busy and there is more potential for conflict.
The Shelly Bay development proposal has been taken into account by the designers. Traffic lights would have little impact and make it easier for people on bikes and on foot to cross Shelly Bay Road at the intersection.
Not at this stage. In the longer term, there may be a need to look at replacing the roundabout at the intersection of Miramar Avenue and Park Road with traffic lights. This would also depend on what types of bike lanes are decided on for Hobart Street, Park Road and Miramar Avenue (east of Park Road).