Last week I was up to Wellington for a few days attending a Transportation Conference there (lots of great cycling-related papers there too by the way!). On one of the afternoons we got the opportunity to get out and try a few technical tours. With my previous work and social trips, I’ve already had a pretty good look at some of Wellington’s new cycleways south and east of the city, so I elected to hop on a Flamingo e-bike and see what the cycleways to the north looked like.
Once we left the waterfront, the first section of interest was the Thorndon Quay cycleway from the Railway Station to Tinakori Rd. This has long been a notorious section to bike along, particularly dodging angled car parking. Now a completely separated two-way cycleway has been installed on the eastern side.
This project has certainly not been without its grumbles by some and apparently some confusion about how exactly it works in places. Generally though, it provides a great safe alternative to taking your chances on-road, and they’ve also thought carefully about how to handle locations where people have to cross near bus stops and pedestrian crossings.
North of there, we carried on along the Hutt Road cycleway and then reached the southern end of Te Ara Tupua, the proposed cycleway from Ngā Ūranga (aka Ngauranga) to Pito-One (Petone).
The project is hopefully only weeks away from being officially opened, but we got a sneak preview of where it’s at for now. They are just putting the finishing touches on the walk/cycle overbridge at the southern end, which takes the pathway from the seaward side over the railway corridor to connect with the Hutt Road pathway.
I remember when I was living in Hutt Valley 25 years ago and the only way to bike into town was either via the (OK-ish) highway shoulders or a fairly crappy adjacent pathway. So I imagine that this link will be a game changer for getting more people out and about riding to/from Wellington City.
What do you think of the new cycleway projects in Wellington?