At times, cycling can feel like “one step forward, one step back”; for all the nice things to like about what’s happening around Christchurch, there are still a few frustrations. This post, originally from Sep 2012, was designed to highlight some of these contradictions – what’s the state of the good and bad these days?
Well this idea seemed to garner a bit of comment on our sister blog Cycling In Auckland, so I thought I’d try it here:
I LIKE the fact that I could go and take a whole bunch of photos for work the other day and do it all as part of a pleasant 30km bike ride around town. Stopping and starting my car to take the next photo (~140 of them) just wouldn’t have been the same…
I DON’T LIKE the number of fairly new (or still under construction) subdivisions I was looking at that didn’t have basic details like kerb ramps for the lovely off-road paths they built. How exactly do they think pedestrians and cyclists are going to access them?
I LIKE biking at night because it’s usually a lot nicer without so much traffic around. I DON’T LIKE “discovering” a liquefaction bump on the road/path at night because of limited/non-existent lighting…
I LIKE the fact that Christchurch has so many cycle lanes or just shoulders that provide space to bike. I DON’T LIKE when car drivers think this is also a great space to park (“it’s only for a minute…”) or when contractors think it’s a great place to put their signs…
{I’ll add another from this week: I LIKE the fact that so many people are in town biking today. I DON’T LIKE the fact that it makes it so hard to find a bike parking rack…}
What do you LIKE / DON’T LIKE about cycling in Christchurch?
Broken glass.
Kevlar lined tyres can solve the puncture problem.
I like the new bike paths. Unicycle is a quick route to town.
I dont like the intersection between Tara St and Nghere streets where bikes have to giveway to cars. It is the only intersection on the Unicycle where this happens and is inconsistent.
I like where there are cycle lanes on minor routes.
I dont like where cycle lanes just suddenly become car parking lanes with no warning. eg near the intersection of Centaurus and Wilson Roads or near the intersection of Forfar and Warrington Roads or near Lyttleton and Lincoln Road intersection. What on earth were the road painters thinking!
Centaurus/Wilson and Forfar/Warrington are roundabouts; standard practice is to stop the cycle lane short so that everyone merges ahead of the roundabout (safer than trying to stick to the left thru the rdbt) – Council need to mark sharrows though to make that clear to people.
Exiting some intersections, we still have the problem of some cycle lane stubs that don’t connect to anything yet and just end up at car parking. Hopefully the long-term fix is to continue the cycle lanes (and sometimes remove car parking if need be to achieve that).
Forfar and Warrington will become a signalized intersection. Be ready for “I semi-like the continuous cycle lane between somewhere east of Marshland Rd and Cranford St, but I don’t like how there is no cycling bypass for eastbound traffic on Warrington to bypass the traffic light even though it makes no sense to require people on bikes to stop there and even though this was pointed out to the council staff during consultation.”, probably closely followed by “I don’t like how the shared path on Cranford St does not provide for any eastbound people on bikes who haven’t used the crossing in front of English Park to cycle on high-car-traffic volume Cranford St to connect to Berwick St at the Berwick St/Cranford St intersection”. (see p. 62 here: https://christchurch.infocouncil.biz/Open/2019/09/CNCL_20190924_AGN_3981_AT.PDF)
I LIKE the development of the new cycleways and how it gets more people on bikes.
I DON’T LIKE the intersections with traffic lights where bikes get the red when cars have the green. Why can’t they use flashing yellow arrows for turning traffic, giving priority to bikes like they do in other countries?
The short answer Alice is the current legal limitations of our traffic rules; flashing yellow arrows have been considered as something to trial here. More details about it all: http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/2018/12/17/the-problem-with-cycleways-and-turning-traffic/
Good to know, thanks Glen.
I like how connected the various routes within the CBD feel now.
I don’t like the recently added speed bumps on the St Asaph cycleway near Hagley Ave that almost bounced me off my bike today. Would love to know why cyclists’ safety is less important than the odd car exiting a car park.
I like how the network is slowly improving all the time.
I don’t like some surface inconsistencies, signalling inconsistencies ( Colombo Street crossing Bealey Ave ) and the rat running on Trafalgar Street making you feel vulnerable, even if a relatively confident cyclist.
Trafalgar Street is a disaster. The speed limit is routinely broken and we are constantly threatened by closely following motor vehicles, revving their engine, even when riding above 30 km/h. I know who to thank for the removal of the double cul-de-sac, but I do wonder whether given the clear failure of the current set-up, it might not be time to trial a double cul-de-sac. Let’s just put some planter boxes in the middle of Trafalgar St, and see if Edgeware village really will suffer that badly and a community will be torn apart. Let’s not forget that from the very top of Trafalgar St to the village, it’s a 650 m walk and there is still Springfield St right next to Trafalgar St for those who are unable to walk five minutes and need to use a car to go shopping. Maybe time to lobby the community board and/or our newly re-elected councillor.
Ive been cycling around Christchurch now for more than 40 yrs. So have seen a lot of really positive progress and a vast improvement for safety and access for commuting cyclists. My main concerns revolve around planners car centric thinking and the poor construction of some routes, esp where they run alongside trees and hedges as root systems are quickly destroying the pathways.