Funded cycleways a ‘justice issue’
A woman hit by a car while cycling in Kilbirnie two years ago has urged Wellington City Council to increase its cycleways spending to improve safety for inexperienced riders.
Stephanie Cairns, who was hit by a car at a roundabout on Crawford Rd in 2019, was one of several public submitters yesterday who encouraged the council to commit to its ‘‘full’’ cycleways programme over the next 10 years.
That would require the council to find more than $100 million of extra funding in what is already a crammed budget that proposes a 13.5 per cent average rates rise and an increase in borrowing.
Cairns, who did not sustain any injuries in her accident, said she felt a degree of inevitability about the crash.
‘‘If you cycle in Wellington, you just have this sense of danger on all sides, pretty much all the time,’’ she said.
‘‘I thought, ‘this thing that has happened to lots of other people is now happening to me’, and that just kind of made me angry about the slow progress on cycleways.’’
The council is proposing to spend $120m on cycleways over the next 10 years, having agreed to a $45m increase proposed earlier this year by councillor Laurie Foon.
Investment would focus on the eastern suburbs, and include projects in the northern and western suburbs.
The ‘‘full programme’’ would cost $226m, and would include additional cycleways in the northern suburbs, and along the south and east coast between Shelly Bay and O¯ whiro Bay.
Cairns, a cycling skills instructor and community bike mechanic, said full funding for cycleways was a ‘‘justice issue’’.
In her written submission to the council, which she presented yesterday, she said the biggest deterrent to cycling was not the city’s weather or hills, but the ‘‘very real prospect of getting squashed by a car, or verbally abused by a driver’’.
Russell Tregonning, a former executive member of OraTaiao: The New Zealand Climate and Health Council, which includes more than 500 medical professionals, said the council needed to act on its climate change pledge.
‘‘Climate change has been deemed by the council as an emergency. It therefore needs maximum funding possible,’’ he said.
Submitter Jesse Matthews said the price of delayed cycleways was ‘‘measured in broken bones and dead friends’’.
‘‘At the preferred level of investment, Wellington’s cycle network will still not be complete in 10 years’ time,’’ she said.
Trudy Shannon said improved cycling infrastructure was needed to help casual cyclists feel safe, while Cycling Action Network national project manager Patrick Morgan said there were numerous climate, health and city-shaping benefits to building cycleways.
The council’s draft 10-year plan, which will be finalised by June 30, includes a record investment in capital spending and cycleways.
Separate improvements to central city cycleways are proposed under the $6.4 billion Let’s Get Wellington Moving programme.