Media release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, 25 June 2015

Cycle highway projects accelerated in Upper Hutt

Today’s announcement of allocation from the Urban Cycleways Fund sees Upper Hutt’s development of two major cycleway projects accelerated.

UPPER HUTT, Wellington NZ, 25 JUN 2015—Upper Hutt Mayor, Wayne Guppy is both thankful and excited about a boost in funding for its urban cycleway projects, and what it means for the development of cycleways in the city.

Announced this morning, Upper Hutt has received an allocation from the Urban Cycleways Fund. Nationally, the fund represents a $100 million total pool and the announcement today includes a regional allocation toward metropolitan Wellington projects which are estimated to cost between $65 and $75 million over the next three years.

Nationally, 23 councils are expected to receive an allocation from this fund.

Upper Hutt’s allocation of $1.5 million goes toward two of its major cycleway projects: The rail corridor route and sealing and widening the Hutt River Trail. Both of these projects have been outlined in the city’s Long Term Plan 2015 – 2025 which is due to be adopted on 24 June. Originally the projects were scheduled for completion toward the latter part of the plan but the funding announcement has enabled the Council to bring the projects forward.

“This is the result of good planning and political determination—perseverance which has led to this wonderful opportunity,” says Upper Hutt Mayor, Wayne Guppy.

“I want to both congratulate and thank the government for their contribution toward these projects. The establishment of the Urban Cycleways Fund shows that they have rightly identified cycling as a key area for growth in our national psyche—both for tourism, and for the health and wellbeing of New Zealand’s citizens.”

“This is a great way to promote our assets and, in Upper Hutt, fits in with our city vision of Life. Leisure. Live it!”

“It is also great to see complementary funding going toward our neighbours in the Wellington region adding to the cohesive work we have all been doing—building up cycleway networks that are regionally, and now nationally significant.“

Under terms of the funding, the two cycleway projects will need to be completed over the next three financial years. This should, in turn, help to bring forward other cycle projects. Upper Hutt’s Long Term Plan identifies a citywide cycling network which the Council now believes will be completed much faster than was thought possible.

The rail corridor project will see a single cycleway run parallel to the railway from Silverstream to Upper Hutt’s City Centre. This will be a safer and more direct alternative to cyclists using the city’s very busy main trunk road—Fergusson Drive. It will open up access, linking the city’s urban areas to railway stations along the corridor. Several new housing developments and three of the city’s colleges are located within 400 m of the rail corridor. The route is expected to create new opportunities for planting and beautification as well as providing a safe central trunk line for cycling through the city—a ‘cycle highway.’

The Hutt River Trail project will see sections of the route sealed and widened to meet ‘ride of national significance’ standards. The Hutt River Trail now forms part of the Rimutaka Cycle Trail which extends south through the Hutt Valley and connects north into the Wairarapa. The route is already widely used by both locals and tourists and continued investment is expected to enhance this.

Final details for both projects are yet to be confirmed but work on the projects is expected to start in late 2015.

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