Photo of the Day: Matai Cycleway Rail Crossing

It’s great to see the new Matai St East cycleway, now mirroring the older cycleway on Matai St West. As you heard recently, already it looks like it is a popular route for cyclists. But perhaps the price of that popularity has been the recent erection of a new sign at the pinch-point in the middle…

As if there weren’t already enough signs to pay attention to…

It’s usually a sign of design failure when you’re requiring cyclists to dismount on a cycleway (at least they said ‘please’…). Personally I have a pet hate of these ridiculous maze crossings and strongly suspect that people are too busy trying to follow the circuitous path (and staying upright if on a bike) to be able to pay attention to any passing train. But supposedly it’s all in the name of level crossing safety (particularly when people unfortunately continue to get killed crossing tracks). Fortunately the plan is to replace this maze with an automatic barrier-controlled crossing; last I heard that might be about April. Which seems to make the decision to install this (presumably short-term) sign all the more curious…

What do you think of this crossing? Would you dismount going through here?

9 thoughts on “Photo of the Day: Matai Cycleway Rail Crossing”

  1. No I didn’t dismount – I’m more stable on my bike while riding than standing over or beside it, due to cleats. I’ll happily give way to pedestrians, but dismount? No.

  2. That’s a coincidence, as I just came through it yesterday.
    I treat them as akin to signs that say “Drivers, please push your car through the junction”.
    So, no – I look both ways and ride through 🙂

  3. This crossing is the reason I have always used Kilmarnock St to go between the CBD and Riccarton. Have you tried to get a tandem, trailer, or bike loaded with panniers (grocery shopping) through there?

  4. It’s a good thing this is discouraging a number of cyclists not to use this route at the moment. The widening of the narrow section of pathway in Hagley Park at the other end of the new cycle way will need to be done at the same time as the automatic barrier arms at rail crossing given the potential increase in use it will cause. It’s too narrow for the number of users already.

  5. For the record, I despise them. They distract me from watching for trains, slow me down, and put me in the killing zone for longer than I need to be.

  6. Asking cyclists to dismount is ridiculous. We have to be constantly alert for dangers. Taking care at railway tracks is just part of a cyclist’s routine.

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