Are you aware you can cycle almost 2/3 of the way from St Martins to Brighton off road on council land? How are those using the Bexley Park facilities going to get there? How do you get from St Martins to Bottle Lake or Brighton to the hills? How does the kid in Aranui get to work in Bromley?
The Heathcote river route isn’t broken and we don’t need a cotton wool padded corridor to nowhere, it’s as much help as race track to solve gridlock.

There are 2-3 of the planned routes that are somewhat recreational; this is one of them. Not all cycle trips are utilitarian and we will probably attract some new riders via casual scenic rides first. As the map indicates, large parts of this one are already there, but it does need work to be acceptable to “all ages and abilities”, e.g. missing links, wider paths, major road crossings, route signage. And, like the Avon River route, it may be that some shortcut links can also be enhanced and highlighted to avoid some of the river loops.

Jaimita, that’s an ongoing work in progress too, with discussions with Council/NZTA/SCIRT and their contractors, e.g. see http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/general-a2b-by-bike/road-works-around-the-rebuild/. But you can also let them know directly when they’re not doing their job by various ways; see our advice at http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/cycle-infrastructure/who-ya-gonna-call/ – they’re pretty prompt if it’s a safety issue.

Nat, the photos give you an idea of what you might expect. So yes, I’d expect them all to be paved. Indeed, some will be existing quiet streets.

Fair comment Gregor, although bear in mind there is a wider network of cycle routes that will also complement these initial 13 cycleways. Also not shown is that there will be a cycleway alongside the planned Northern Arterial (probably similar to the Sthn M’way one) – see http://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/northern-arterial/ for info. And the Highfield Park development just off Marshlands Rd is likely to include some cycle-friendly routes too – see http://www.highfieldpark.co.nz. But I’ll keep it in mind when we’re looking at quick wins too.

I’ll have a think about the naming competition. Nice chance for some creativity I think. Can I enter 13 times???

For the quick wins, I’m thinking stuff that raises profile of biking to all in Chch. Eg better and more bike parks at retail, work and leisure places. Don’t hide them away in inconvenient places, let people see the advantages of encouraging bikes even if they don’t ride themselves. No more chained to railings, benches and drain pipes!

Cheers 🙂