8 February 2018

Boost for biking in New Lynn

Auckland Councillor for the Whau Ward, Ross Clow and Labour MP for New Lynn Dr Deborah Russell set the wheels in motion for biking more easily to New Lynn School and the New Lynn Train Station today, as they turned the first sod on the Seabrook Ave Cycleway project.

The New Lynn project comes in the final year of the Government’s current 2015-2018 Urban Cycleways Programme, which is an investment of $200 million in cycling infrastructure around the city.

To be completed by June, the cycleway will start at the intersection of Willerton Avenue and Seabrook Avenue (next to Lawson Park) and run along Seabrook Avenue and connect with the existing shared paths on Margan Avenue and Rankin Avenue.

The project also includes improvements for three intersections along Seabrook Avenue and also for the intersection of Rankin Avenue, Clark Street and Totara Avenue at the New Lynn Train Station.

The Seabrook Avenue cycleway will connect to the New Lynn Train Station and town centre via the existing shared path along Margan Avenue and Rankin Avenue. The cycleway will also help children cycle to New Lynn Primary School more easily.

Councillor Clow said today that it is great to see the connections coming together for getting around Auckland by bike, especially around schools.

“This type of well-planned and connected infrastructure shows that our strategic planning to build a connected network is working. This cycleway is also a demonstration of our commitment to build high quality cycleways to bike to school and public transport. The New Lynn Train Station is a major connection so it’s exciting that many more people in the area will safely be able to get there by bike,” he says.

Labour MP for New Lynn and Chair of the Environment Select Committee, Deborah Russell, said today that the Government is excited to see a significant safety investment as part of the programme.

“A key priority for this Government is safety of our vulnerable road users, people on foot and on bikes. So I’m delighted to see in the plan, the high quality safety improvements to the intersections which will slow traffic down and make this a pleasant and safe route to walk and bike to the school, shops and the train station.”

New Lynn Primary School Principal Greg Roebuck says the school welcomes the cycleway being built right outside their gates.

“We are a committed Travelwise School which means that we are already equipping our young people with the tools to encourage safe behaviour, sustainable travel habits and commitment to road safety and active transport.

“Once complete, the cycleway will encourage even more students to take two wheels to school and become the next generation who choose to bike for transport and reap the health and environmental benefits.”

Construction is due to start on 26 February and will be complete by June 2018. Temporary traffic management will be in place to keep the public safe.

Pedestrian access along Seabrook Avenue will be available throughout construction, but some delay for vehicles is expected. Auckland Transport and the contractor will be in regular contact to help plan trips during this time.

Cycling facts:

· Cycling continued to grow in 2017. There were 3.67 million bike trips counted across Auckland by 28 regional and city centre counters.

· This is a 6.2 per cent increase on 2016, when 3.45 million trips were recorded. On average, this is 10,055 bike trips per day and means almost 7200 trips that could have been taken by car were instead taken by bike.

· November 2017 was the year's busiest month for the cycling network, with 355,088 trips recorded.

· Tuesday 21 November 2017 was the busiest day for the network, with 17,529 trips recorded.

· In 2017, AT's Active Modes research showed that 35 per cent of Aucklanders cycled, up from 31 per cent in 2016. Of these riders, 41 per cent are cycling for key point-to-point journeys, such as to the shops, work, places of study and to get to public transport.

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