Cycleway debate heats up
Manawatu¯ politicians have let transport officials know exactly how they feel about the lack of a separated cycleway and walkway for the Manawatu¯ Gorge replacement route.
The NZ Transport Agency’s regional relationships director Emma Speight went to Horizons Regional Council’s regional transport committee yesterday to give updates on projects.
She was put under the blowtorch by committee members over the agency’s announcement on February 27 that it would not build a separated cycleway and walkway as part of a new highway project linking Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu¯ .
The majority of submissions on the new highway, proposed to be a new State Highway 3 between Palmerston North and Woodville, wanted a separated path. Draft designs only show a half-lane-wide strip on each side of the four-lane highway for cyclists.
Committee member and Horizons councillor Rachel Keedwell said she found it hard to align the decision with the fact the Government was putting an emphasis on safety.
Although speeding up work to add a clip-on cycleway to the Manawatu¯ River bridge at Ashhurst was great, not adding one to the second bridge required across the river nearer the gorge as part of the new highway lacked forward thinking, she said. She also criticised the agency for never letting the committee know it was not in scope. ‘‘We always asked if walking and cycling was being considered.’’
Fellow committee members Bruce Gordon and Grant Smith, the Horizons chairman and Palmerston North mayor respectively, echoed that sentiment. Speight said the issue came down to how the project scope was defined.
As the scope was only for a new highway, adding a separate cycleway and walkway would require added planning work.
Speight said the agency is looking at changing the scope, but could only go so far as to say it is being investigated.
She said funding for highway projects is falling. And although the cycleway may be important to people in wider Manawatu¯ , any decision on funding would have to be made in a national context. The agency is obligated to look at the transport network as a whole, including the Saddle Rd and Pahı¯atua Track, when deciding on options, she said.
‘‘We are looking at making it as safe as possible. That doesn’t mean we always have separated systems for every road user.’’
Public hearings on the highway, scheduled to last three weeks, begin in Palmerston North on March 25. Information is available at council offices and libraries in Manawatu¯ and Tararua, or online.