Silly cycleways

Good on the Island Bay residents for having a protest march about the council’s silly cycleway in Island Bay. We should organise a similar protest march in Miramar and invite the mayor to participate in a debate about cycleways proposed in Miramar, Kilbirnie and Evans Bay.

One only has to visit the Miramar Wharf area to see the silly construction currently in progress, where the road and footpath are being converted to three different levels to accommodate cyclists. This arrangement is proposed in various areas around the city.

Council proposals for cycleways in Miramar, Kilbirnie and Evans Bay were recently displayed on large-scale charts at the ASB Centre in Kilbirnie. On speaking to council officers in attendance and the consultants advising them, I gained the impression that they all believed that if they built safe cycleways throughout the city people would exchange their cars for bicycles. I do not believe this will happen.

Residents probably don’t mind the introduction of cycleways with the painting of white lines on roadways or footpaths, but the council’s proposals to change road and footpath levels to accommodate cyclists is far too disruptive and far too costly to change later when the need arises.

Let’s see common sense prevail and have no more silly cycleways in Wellington.

KEN MULHOLLAND Miramar