Auckland Transport are attempting to regurgitate the same flawed design for the Grey Lynn/Westmere cycleway that was overwhelmingly rejected by the community three years ago.
In a stealthy attempt to sneak it past the community, Auckland Transport gave the bare minimum notification of their intent to re-float the design. Public input could only be made via an obscure website accessed via a lengthy and cumbersome URL. How successful was this? They didn’t get a single response.
The design for this area was previously ‘consulted’ in 2017 when Auckland Transport set up a ‘community liaison group’, after a community group occupied a traffic island at the corner of Old Mill and Garnet Road to draw attention to the problems with the plan. This ensuing ‘pseudo consultation’ did not meet the threshold of ‘consultation’. Auckland Transport went as far as changing their design manual to not allow the previous designers, Boffa Miskell, or their plan to include community input from the consultation in their presentation.
The original and rehashed design both set up a potential ‘blood sandwich’, a cycle lane between the kerb and parked cars. The parked cars block both cyclists and residents from seeing each when residents turn into their driveways.
In an attempt to re-float the design, Auckland Transport have rehashed this design inhouse, as urban designers have refused to touch the proposal. It changes a wide road with plenty of room for sharing by both modes of transport, vehicles and bikes, with a medium strip for safe turning into side streets, into a narrow dangerous alleyway.
The proposed ‘inline bus stops’ bring all traffic to a standstill, as all traffic has to stop when passengers embark and disembark. A series of raised pedestrian crossings at odd locations along the route, might slow traffic, but are located at points that don’t coincide with where pedestrians actually need to cross the road. For example, a pedestrian crossing is proposed halfway between the Bullock Track and the entrance to Western Springs Stadium, instead of being located adjacent to the stadium entrance where it would make sense.
The West Lynn Village has been marked as ‘completed works’ yet the slope from the pedestrian crossing from Moa to Dear Reader is too steep for mobility impaired access. At the point where the cycleway crashes into the pedestrian crossing, by the Liquor Store and Ready Roast, the stopped buses block the view from uphill vehicles. This was described as “dangerous” by the Herald’s Simon Wilson. This obvious safety issue remains unaddressed and consequently unchanged in the re-floated proposal.
Auckland Transport and cycle lobbyist, Pippa Coom, agreed that they got the original proposal horribly wrong by not employing qualified designers 4 years ago.
When the alarmed community became aware of the plan at the last minute they quickly organised and submitted ‘Occupy Garnet Road’s petition from 1027 local residents. The petition calls for the local board to note our concerns at the lack of community consultation, notification and the safety risk, and ask that the project immediately cease, pending full review.
As a result the Waitematā Local Board transport representative has asked Auckland Transport to extend the consultation period and organise a public meeting to discuss the proposal. Waitematā Local Board’s response will be an indicator to their integrity and recent assurances they will begin listening to the community. The mayoral candidates might even want to venture into the ongoing sham public ‘consultancy’ processes of Auckland Transport, a ‘council controlled organisation’.
Gael Baldock,
Community Advocate and Architectural Designer
Published 4 March 2022