Cycleway a headache for residents

A new two-way cycleway designed to make it safer for children getting to school has become a daily headache for residents.

The cycle path, close to 3 metres wide, along Blenheim’s Eltham Rd has come at the expense of many car parks, and residents say getting in and out of their driveways just got a lot trickier.

Whitney Street School parents, on the other hand, are mostly on board for the upgrade, despite residents wondering if it was even needed.

A report prepared for the Marlborough District Council by Via Strada estimated 200 cyclists would use the route once completed, but residents were sceptical.

Eltham Rd resident Russell Dyer said hardly any cyclists used the road to begin with.

‘‘If it was going to be used all the time, I wouldn’t object to it,’’ Dyer said. ‘‘I just can’t see the justification for it.’’

Nikki Andrews, who lives next door to Whitney Street School, described the cycleway as a ‘‘dog’s breakfast’’.

‘‘I was very disgruntled ... the island is especially annoying,’’ Andrews said.

The island, directly outside Andrews’ driveway and close to 3m from the footpath, was used as pupil-controlled pedestrian crossing at the start and end of school.

‘‘At night, [the island] is difficult to see. You can’t see where the lumpy bits, the bike lane, start or end.’’

‘‘I am all for keeping the kids safe, but it’s all quite confusing. Having the bike lane go both ways, it gives mixed messages,’’ Andrews said.

But parents doing the school pick-up on Tuesday were more optimistic.

Paula Saad conceded the cycleway might be a bit big, but ‘‘it’s good to know the kids will be safer’’.

Jenny Foot agreed it was ‘‘a bit wide’’ and removed a lot of parking but it was ‘‘about keeping children safe’’.

There were only two accidents involving cyclists along Eltham Rd and the nearby Beaver Rd between 2012 to 2016. In comparison, the Alabama Rd/weld St intersection had eight accidents in the same period.

Bikewalk Marlborough coordinator Braden Prideaux said the Eltham Rd path still had to be painted and raised reflectors would be added to the kerbing to make it more visible to traffic.

Residents were invited to a public consultation in April 2017.

Yet, several residents said they knew nothing about the consultation.

‘‘I had heard there was a consultation process, but I didn’t receive any notification that it was going ahead,’’ Andrews said.

A post on social media website Neighbourly had mostly negative comments on the cycleway.

‘‘As a resident of Eltham Road ... not impressed,’’ one woman wrote. ‘‘Consultation was about a year ago, put in our submissions. Was told that further consultation would happen when the final design was chosen. Next contact was a letter in the mail box telling us they would begin construction next week.

‘‘We had to visit the council website to find the plan of what was happening. I am all for cycleways and encouraging people to bike but pretty sure it