Cycleway Plan Controversial

St AlbansThe Voice of our NewsNeighbourhood December/January 2015 Vol 21, No 11, Issue 211 Cycleway plan controversial by Belinda Carter The planned Papanui Parallel cycleway is having a rough ride through the consultation process as St Albans residents and businesses voice their objections to the design the Christchurch City Council has come up with. The original plan was to run the Papanui Parallel Cycleway plan down Colombo St from Bealey Avenue through to Trafalgar and continue down Rutland St where it runs on to reserve land, past Northlands Mall and then on to Sawyers Arms Rd. Council staff say they considered four options and had to balance the needs of cyclists, residents, businesses and motorists with an emphasis on safety. On street car parking has been halved, trees are being removed (some may be replanted), berms replaced by concrete in some areas and traffic flows restricted, particularly The Caledonian Rd option, as an alternative to Colombo St, was added in Trafalgar St with a double cul de sac to the consultation process following community feedback. The council calming traffic. New traffic lights will map shows the northern end where it intersects with Edgeware Rd. be installed at several intersections including Rutland/Trafalgar, Edgeware/Colombo and if Heated discussion the Caledonian Rd option goes ahead Purchas/Colombo. The first consultation meeting got a bit heated when This was put forward after feedback from the first council staff admitted they had sat around a table working consultation meeting at the St Albans Community Centre on the plan and visited the sites on their own and had not on November 11. It was one of four options considered by consulted the business community nor SARA (residents’ the council design staff but not included in the consultation association) prior to the documents being drawn up. One document. The cycleway will be two way on the east side business owner described the design as a “man made of the road only and space for vehicles travelling will disaster”. be narrowed to 10 metres. Parking will be available on What also concerned them was the council staff both sides of Caledonian Rd between Edgeware Rd and looking at different options, deciding what was best for Purchas St except for the portion between Edgeware and the community and leaving out less favoured options in Canon St, which will have angle parking on the eastside the consultation stage so people can either consent or only and a narrower footpath and no parking (but grass object to something council staff have already decided on, berms) on the west. The cycleway will join Colombo St although staff said this was not the case. by turning down Purchas St, where there may be traffic St Albans Business Association Chair Malcolm Pearce lights added. said the association was concerned about the removal of street parking and the double cul de sac and would put in a submission. He said that people with mobility issues needed to be able to get access to businesses but the council was planning to remove most of the on street parks continued on page 3 The St Albans News — distributed free to 7000 households www.stalbans.gen.nz Published by St Albans Residents Association Page 2 St Albans News December/January 2015 Poor planning lets down proposed Papanui Parallel cycleway Over the past 15 years I have pours another 27,000 cars into the area, each carrying involved myself as a resident in a single person rushing through to get to the other the urban development of this city and, in particular, side. The cycleway will be of no benefit to St Albans the St Albans community. I enjoy following what best residents if we can’t safely get to it. practice urban development is happening around the For this plan to benefit local residents, the wider world and get excited about what the future will hold environment also needs to be conducive to cycling too. for me, my children and beyond. I spend much time researching what makes a happy Plan for the future healthy life and then, unfortunately, as much time Transportation planning must start focusing more reading about the decline of people’s physical and on desired future outcomes and less on our existing mental health, their social cohesion and their finances situations, however disparate the two are, as suggested (have I left anything out?). by G Koorey at the IPENZ Transportation Group International and New Zealand research suggests Technical Conference in 2012. that the way we have been designing and planning our The lack of integrated planning is very obvious cities over recent decades is leading to some unintended when you overlay the two plans... how will it work? Not negative consequences for people. well I think. All the roads planned to accommodate the This is particularly relevant in St Albans, where cycle lane are also expected to carry more vehicles in planning for the area has been primarily around the NAE. Take Trafalgar St, for example, it has a cul- cars since the 1960s. Even worse, the planning has de-sac in the cycleway plan but will be carrying more been based upon accommodating single-occupancy vehicles in the Northern Arterial plan. You don’t have commuter vehicles which today dominate our to be the brightest crayon in the box to recognise that residential community. that won’t work well. These current transport plans have been developed Health issues compartmentally. They don’t integrate with each Planned primarily around cars, these other and they definitely haven’t been developed neighbourhoods are not conducive to physical activity within a framework that addresses the bigger for either recreation or active transport. In the resulting picture of community cohesion, local infrastructure, environments, there are fewer opportunities for social intensification planning, land use, resource allocation interaction, more motor vehicle emissions contributing and transport within the large historic inner-city to poorer air quality and greater risk of road traffic residential community of St Albans. injuries, according to a report by the Public Health For the life of me, I can’t understand why CCC has Advisory Committee in April 2010. not already taken up the opportunity that has been The Northern Arterial Extension (NAE) down shaken upon them and courageously stopped short the Cranford St is something that was planned for a world practices of the past 45 years, to plan for a city of the four decades ago, it’s backward and will go nowhere future where our residential communities add to the towards achieving its desired outcome of decreasing health and happiness of all residents, including those single-occupancy vehicle commuter travel times. living in St Albans who should not be forced to live in Nor does it not fit well with the development of the St a car-dominated environment. Albans community as a healthy, safe and vibrant inner It’s great to see Mike Davidson and the Shirley city community which has been SARA’s aim for as Papanui Committee Board questioning the current long as the roading plan has been rolled around like a cycleway plan. Our community deserves better than ad tumbleweed. It is far from best practice. hoc planning, with its focus on cars. Residents need to Now the Papanui Parallel Cycleway just adds to my be involved in building communities fit for living in wonderment of the mediocrity of the vision for urban now and in the future. development in St Albans and beyond. This is not a cycleway plan, this is a concrete track tacked onto a Emma Twaddell car-dominated road, thought up without one ounce of Co-Chair, SARA resident input. As a resident in St Albans, I don’t feel safe cycling around the area at present, let alone when the NAE St Albans News December/January 2015 — Page 3 continued from page 1 to cycle and could bring in cyclists from other areas to in Edgeware Rd between Cranford St and Caledonian Rd. shop in Edgeware Village, thereby offsetting the impact of The cul de sac in Trafalgar St would divide St Albans, and any apparent loss of car parks. reduce the numbers of people visiting Edgeware village so Also in the news recently, fewer and fewer children they want the council to look at alternatives for calming are cycling to school and are being driven there by cars, traffic. creating more congestion on the roads. Are the cycleways, SARA is concerned about the lack of prior consultation which cross intersections going to be safe enough for and even different parts of the council coming up with parents to let their children use the cycelways. A mother at different plans for the same street because they appear not the first consultation meeting said she wouldn’t. to be talking to each other over plans for Trafalgar St (see Cr Pauline Cotter, who represents the Shirley-Papanui Emma’s chairchat). ward, attended three consultation meetings and was The cycleway plans are likely to have an impact on other impressed with the way the community has engaged over streets – adding to their traffic load as people will not be the plan and with efforts made by council staff handling able to travel straight through Trafalgar St. Streets like issues raised by residents and business people, in particular Springfield Rd, Courtenay St, Massey Place and Dover St parking and Trafalgar St traffic. may face increased traffic, traffic they may be ill equipped to deal with. People did want the cycleway but it was working out Pamphlet circulating a way of putting it through a built up area, and causing Residents on the earmarked roads are concerned about the least amount of angst in the process, she said.

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