Click to enlarge
Left to right: Barbara Cuthbert, Cycle Action Auckland; Tommy Parker, NZTA State Highways Manager Auckland and Northland; Councillor Christine Rose, Auckland Regional Council and Councillor Ken Baguley, Auckland City Council

MEDIA RELEASE

NZ Transport Agency – Auckland Regional Office

4 November 2009

NZTA closing the gap

The NZ Transport Agency has started work on completing the missing section of cycleway alongside the SH16 Northwestern Motorway between Bond and Myrtle Streets Kingsland.

When this 1.24km section is completed in early 2010, cyclists will enjoy an almost entirely off-road 12km stretch of cycleway from Newton Road in Auckland all the way to Te Atatu Road in Waitakere.

The project was celebrated today by NZTA and Auckland City Council representatives, who marked the occasion with a tree planting ceremony and bike ride along the existing cycleway.

The NZTA says the project is in line with its commitment to help ease congestion on Auckland roads, and provides an alternative transport choice.

“Joining up the two sections will make it easier, safer and quicker for cyclists to commute by bike between west and central Auckland.

“Cyclists will no longer have to leave the cycleway at Nixon Park in Kingsland and ride along steep and busy local roads,” says Tommy Parker, NZTA’s State Highways Manager for Auckland and Northland.

Convenient new access points onto the cycleway will be created at Nixon Park, Kingsland Avenue, School Road, Finch Street, Mountain View Road and Myrtle Street. See the attached map for more details.

The work will cost up to $3million and is being built on NZTA land alongside the SH16 Northwestern Motorway. Vegetation clearance work is currently taking place and the NZTA apologises for any inconvenience this has caused to nearby property owners. The final stage of the project will see fences and noise walls replaced, and native trees and bushes replanted to maintain privacy between the cycleway and adjoining properties.

“We hope that this project, when complete, will encourage more people to use the cycleway,” Mr Parker says.

Improvements to the existing cycleway will also take place between Waterview and Rosebank Peninsula as part of the SH16 Northwestern Motorway widening work.

The NZTA is currently investigating plans to extend the Northwestern Cycleway further into the city towards Auckland University.

ENDS

© Scoop Media