SkyPath protest march over harbour bridge

Protesters plan to take over Auckland Harbour Bridge later this month to demonstrate against delays building the SkyPath walkway and cycleway.

A protest march is planned across the bridge on May 26.

The march is being organised by the SkyPath Trust, which has been pushing for the project for more than a decade and believes it is being sabotaged by the NZ Transport Agency.

SkyPath director Bevan Woodward told the Weekend Herald the trust will be seeking permission from NZTA and the police for people to walk and cycle across the bridge on the western clip-ons, but is not ruling out actions of civil disobedience.

“It will be a significant occasion given it is the 60th anniversary of the bridge,” he said.

A similar march occurred in 2009 when thousands of demonstrators broke through police barriers, walking and cycling across the bridge as a protest against its lack of cycle lanes. At the time, the GetAcross organisers, led by Woodward, vowed another protest if no progress was made.

Woodward said it has become apparent that NZTA has no intention of delivering SkyPath and kept coming up with disingenuous excuses for not doing anything.

Another SkyPath trustee, Christine Rose, said the project has resource consent, funding and the support of the public and politicians, but after 10 years NZTA is still putting obstacles in the way.

In August last year, Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Associate Transport Minister James Shaw announced that NZTA had $67m to build SkyPath.

Twyford said SkyPath was a “transformational project that will give Aucklanders the freedom to walk and cycle from the Shore to the city”, but would not give a completion date.

A NZTA spokesman said it was committed to building a walking and cycling link over the Auckland Harbour Bridge and work was “well under way” on a business case.

“The earliest construction could commence would be late 2020.” Tamaki Makaurau road policing manager Inspector Scott Webb said police were aware of the plans. Any group planning such an event was required to submit a traffic management plan.