UPDATE I just got a nice email from a council engineer, apologising for delay, but basically agreeing and complete with a sketch of improvements they want to make. And it’s a ticket in the maintenance programme for this year now. As we might have suspected, this shared path segment was implemented by the Crown as part of the recovery work and that explains the weird not-joined-up nature of it. Anyway, contacting the council can work! Huzzah.

Update: I just emailed the council to ask them if this is the final form, if there are further plans, or if I’m just misunderstanding how it’s supposed to work.

Agreed. Given how few buildings there are, NOW is the time to make the roadway wider. Not later when property has been built-on.

I’d agree with you about Armagh Street. Whether it is the tram tracks, inaccessibility due to one way streets or a multitude of other little reasons there needs to be closer attention to street detail from a bike scooter perspective for a much better experience to get around the central city.

It makes sense when you’re coming along Kilmore St to jink onto the path on the right hand bank, then trundle along the bank, over this bridge, pop out Armagh, thus bypassing Margaret Mahy playground and the crowds of people. I like it (and not coincidentally, am generally starting from the same place as LennyBoy, heading in the same direction…)

What gets me about the Armagh St “shared path” between Durham and Colombo is how you are supposed to get off it if you are continuing along Armagh St. There’s no curb cut until the intersection and you’re potentially cut off by left-turning cars. The painted bike lane doesn’t start until the next block. And if you ride on the road, cars don’t give you enough space, it’s relatively narrow and the tram tracks give them a strong visual clue to stick left somehow.

To me, the final version is just a bridge and doesn’t appear to contibute much to access or the flow of people beyond that provided by the two adjacent bridges. Maybe people will merely cross it because it’s there.

I suppose it helps join Victoria Square with Margaret Mahey Park, in a straighter line than using the two Terraces, but realistically that particular 250 metre distance was served by Cambridge AND Oxford Terraces for walking/riding. Also, Armagh and Kilmore both have painted bike lanes nearby.

Call it what it is – “art” instead of thinking of it as a bridge, transport, or anything intentional.