Make Wellington an even more attractive and sustainable city
Create places and neighbourhoods where people want to spend time
Move more people with fewer vehicles as the city's population grows
Provide safer and easier ways to go places by bike
We expect this and other projects for a cycle network to be progressed as future funding allows, including through the Long-term Plan 2021-2031.
The information on this page will be updated once the Council makes decisions on the Long-term Plan on 30 June 2021 and timings for the Let's Get Wellington Moving programme rollout are finalised.
The Parade in Island Bay is an important part of a future safer biking connection between the south coast and the central city that will pass through Berhampore, Newtown and Mt Cook, and provide links to local destinations in these neighbourhoods.
Work with the community to plan routes and street changes was under way as part of the Newtown Connections project. However, as outlined in the draft Long-term Plan, it's now expected that much of this key public and active connection to the central city will be planned and delivered through the Let's Get Wellington Moving programme.
Councillors agreed on a redesign for the layout of The Parade, including bike paths, at a meeting of the City Strategy Committee on 27 September 2017.
A consistent concept design for the layout of the road, footpaths and bike paths was planned from just north of Reef Street to just south of Dee Street, with some variation through the main shopping area.
During the concept design work that followed, more detailed topographic information showed building bike paths above road level, which was a key feature of the 2017 Councillor-approved design, was going to be challenging and costly - in part because it would require major additional drainage infrastructure.
The project was effectively put on hold due to the increased budget and funding shortfall.
Several attempts have been made to secure external funding support for the project over the last few years. None of these has been successful.
Since 2018, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has said it will not consider providing funding for work on The Parade until a business case has been completed for the route between Island Bay and the city.
The Council plans to make some safety improvements to The Parade in conjunction with planned resealing work late in 2021. Any longer-term changes are dependent on funding-level decisions that will be made in June 2021 as part of the Long-term Plan.
If you have information or suggestions that could help the designers during future design work for The Parade, email transport@wcc.govt.nz
See more about the design that was approved in 2017.
Councillors discussed a co-funding opportunity at a meeting on 18 October 2018, and unanimously agreed it was the best approach. This affects the timing of reconstruction work on The Parade.
The Labour-led Government has more than doubled the available funding and increased the financial assistance rate to local authorities, giving Wellington the opportunity to potentially secure up to $24 million in government funding for walking and cycling improvements in the city's southern suburbs.
To do this, we need to put forward a plan for integrated, high quality improvements from the south coast to the city. This includes the agreed improvements to The Parade, and the plans in development for the wider Newtown area.
With the $8 million in ratepayer funding already approved, this would enable us to do a lot more in more places, without any additional ratepayer funding.
We will be working closely with Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and the community to develop a plan for improvements that meet the funding criteria.
Apart from the routine maintenance carried out in late 2018/early 2019, construction on The Parade will not happen until the Transport Agency has considered the plan for the whole route and confirmed what level of funding it will provide. The Transport Agency is likely to make these decisions once consultation in Newtown, Berhampore and Mt Cook is complete.
News release - Council to work with the Government on walking and cycling - 18 October 2018
Work carried out on The Parade in late 2018 and early 2019 was standard road maintenance and line marking work. As part of the work, some redundant (ghost) roadmarkings were removed or improved.
The work included:
It wasn't possible to waterblast old markings in areas with chipseal (the stony road surface), as the water blaster would have removed stones and damaged the road surface.
The road surface between Dee and Tamar streets was repaired and then resurfaced with asphalt in March. This work had to be done because the road surface on this block had deteriorated more than other parts of The Parade.
In September 2017, Councillors agreed on a design for the area at the City Strategy Committee meeting.
Following the public feedback from Love the Bay, four design options were developed, and these went out for wider public consultation in June 2017. Over 3700 submissions were received. You can read the feedback report here.
Between August 2016 and July 2017, we worked closely with the Island Bay Residents Association, Cycle Aware Wellington and local businesses to set up a syndicate for a community-based design project looking at the future of Island Bay and The Parade.
A community network, Love the Bay, was set up to involve everyone in place-making and design. A pop-up community shop on The Parade was a place where people could go to look at ideas, leave comments and talk to Council representatives. Public workshops were held in 2016 to establish a shared vision and goals for the community. More than 200 people attended, and several hundred more participated online.
The feedback received was used to develop community design objectives and options for how different parts of the bike paths and road layout could be treated.
In 2014, the kerbside cycleway was consulted on and approved, and constructed in 2015. After a post-construction safety audit by the New Zealand Transport Agency, councillors passed a resolution to re-engage on the cycleway at the 30 June 2016 Transport and Urban Development (TUD) Committee meeting.