First Look: Southern Motorway Cycleway (Pt.1)

Back in December you might recall that the Chch Southern Motorway extension was opened to traffic (in fact we even got to bike on it before the traffic got to use it). As part of the works a new cycling route was also constructed. There was still a little bit of work to do, but I hoped to be able to post an item about the facility soon after…

More than three months later and, despite the project apparently being “delivered ahead of schedule”, we’re still waiting for the last part of the cycleway at the eastern end to be completed! So, rather than wait for the whole thing to be done, I thought I would post about the western end of the route first (Hornby-Curletts Rd) and hope that the eastern end is not too far away…

Starting at the western end, Halswell Junction Road used to be a notoriously grotty road to bike on, with bugger-all shoulder to play with on a busy 70km/h route. In some ways, things have now improved, with good no-parking shoulders to ride on and an off-road path on one side. What ruins it is the total lack of on-road facilities at the new Shands Rd signalised intersection and a pretty shoddy ride along the pathway up and down driveways and across ridiculously wide side-roads.

On to Springs Rd roundabout: the enlarged roundabout includes pathways all around the periphery, but they are potentially a tricky way to cross if you have two lanes of rush-hour traffic approaching you.

Now we get onto the pathway proper (hint: take the pathway on the town side of Halswell Jn Rd – much friendlier than the other side!). Some notable features of the new pathway include:

• Really good width – at least 3.5m, and even wider at the western end
• Good use of destination signage throughout
• Some generous underpasses along the way

At the two road overbridges (Awatea/Dunbars Rds and Aidanfield Dr) side paths connect you to the roadway. There’s also a connection to Carrs Rd (a handy way to access Wigram Skies) and in the future a pedestrian/cycle overbridge will span the motorway here. An underpass provides a (currently undeveloped) link to Aidanfield (near Somerville Cres), however they missed a trick in not providing a direct link into the Broken Run subdivision.

Approaching Wigram Rd, the pathway reaches the A&P Showgrounds underpass. Here riders face the choice of either turning left onto Wigram Rd, or right, through the underpass and then along the pathway that leads around Curletts Rd to Lincoln/Halswell Rd.

At the moment, that’s as far as the new cycle route goes following the motorway, but there will be some more joining of the dots in the near future – more details in the next instalment! (NB: Part 2 Review now available)

What do you think of the new Motorway pathway?