There are too many narrow, shoulder-less or effectively shoulder-less roads on the periphery of Christchurch (as the photos attest). Even where there is a shoulder of any – usually immoderate – width its often as rough as guts and worth avoiding at almost all cost but the literal pain of death on any kind narrow tired, suspension-less bike. The roughness is nothing to do with the quakes but everything to do with the the “shoulder” being an after thought and that they lack the same substrate as the road carriageway proper. This is compounded by the all too common use of the roughest chip available for macadam roads so even after years of use the only truly smooth road surface is gained through repeated vehicular weight on the roadway proper but this might be a place where cyclists fear to tread. The all to typically poor quality of any shoulder substrate also means that it is prematurely potholed over the adjacent road surface properly engineered.

Its ideal to ride at least 1m from the left marginal white line on any shoulder-less or poorly shouldered road so motorists MUST actively react to one. This works OK waaaaaay out of town on rural roads where the left marginal line IS the shoulder and its frequented by tourists as much as locals (obvious tourists – obviously in rental vehicles – tend to be more respectful of cyclists, by the way); but around town with go for the gap impatient locals 30cm from the left marginal white line seems like the better compromise. If the carriageway is of adequate width its all good; but where it usually is not and its trucks coming both ways (cars are usually OK) and the one coming from behind gives every indication of going for the gap irregardless, I do deviate from my line before as well as unintentionally after the vehicle eddy wash passes me by. There are a few truckers who do the right thing and wait to overtake at a slow to moderate speed (on roads with limits of up to 80kmph) with a margin of at least a metre and a half, but around this town and in my experience they are in the very large minority.

Photo 4 shows a section of Sparks Rd very badly designed, no? Who knows what the person putting those lines in place wasn’t thinking? Cycleway “provision” to the letter by some sort of overly literal interpretation of set distance from the roadway centre line completely ignorant of context and merely ticking boxes, methinks. Says way too much.

Dave, you’ll be pleased to know that Council is already planning to do work in this area soon. Details about the project can be found at: http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/2014/12/10/have-your-say-annexbirminghamwrightsmatipo-street-proposals/

Like I stated in my previous comment, I think that the root cause of the problem is the focus on cars when building these roads. We really need to be planning for every mode of transport when building a road, not just motor vehicles.