The WCC plans Primary Bike Path along Johnsonville Road

The Wellington City Council’s new Bike Plan includes adding a “Primary Bike Path” or cycleway along the length of Johnsonville Road as outlined in the map below from this plan:

The WCC Bike Plan also states that 50Kmph roads above 3,000 cars/day should have a separated Bike Path and the main retail street through Johnsonville has over 14,000 cars/day.

Because Johnsonville Road is quite narrow, there is not room for street-side car parking and a protected cycleway (like the city has built in Island Bay). The WCC Parking Policy gives clear priority to bike paths over car parks which means that most of the car parks along Johnsonville road will be removed to make space for this cycleway … a change that will severely impact the numerous retail businesses along our main street.

And, as any business owner along Johnsonville Road will tell you, there are actually very few cyclists that travel along Johnsonville Road at peak times and almost none during the day and the evening so this new cycleway will not be used. A key reason we have few cyclists along this road, is it is both difficult and unsafe for many cyclists, especially through the busy roundabouts to the north. This is in addition to the obvious fact that Johnsonville is too far and too hilly for most people to choose to cycle to work … only about 2% of Johnsonville commuters travel by bike.

A number of businesses, such as our iconic Nada Bakery, are very concerned the proposed cycleway will severely impact customer access to their businesses. Unlike other suburban centres closer to the CBD, it is unlikely that the few passing cyclists on Johnsonville Road will be able to replace the local residents who access main street shopping by car.

These business are also very concerned at the lack of engagement by the WCC for this major change.

There is a better alternative route on Moorefield Road

The Johnsonville Community Association (JCA) and the Johnsonville Business Group (JBG) have both submitted to the WCC Bike Plan that there is a better alternative cycling route.

The WCC has long held that Moorefield Road is the main cycleway route into and through Johnsonville. The council built this wide combined walkway/cycleway along the Western side of this road as part of the Johnsonville Triangle Roading improvements in 2014. This cycling route is much safer because it avoids crossing the Moorefield/Johnsonville Roundabout and provides an easier journey into the CBD via Burma Road and Ngaio Gorge. The Moorefield Road cycleway also leads to our schools and so is the main cycling route that would be used by local students.

There is also already a cycleway along Broderick Road to Moorefield Road for those few hardy cyclists determined to travel up/down Ngaurunga Gorge.

The JCA and JBG Recommend using the Moorefield Cycleway

On this basis, if the WCC insist on building a cycleway through Johnsonville, the JCA and JBG request Primary Bike path route should be via Burma Road/Moorefield Road, not along Johnsonville Road. This alternative Primary Route will have a number of advantages including:

• Provides a safer and easier access to travel to the CBD compared to Johnsonville Road and Ngauranga Gorge
• Supports school students to cycle to local Johnsonville schools
• Enables cyclists to avoid having to cross the wide, busy and dangerous roundabout at the intersection of Johnsonville Road and Moorefield Road
• Reinforce the use of Moorefield Road Cycleway as the primary cycling access through Johnsonville
• Retaining valuable vehicle access to the Johnsonville main street

The Bike Plan also outlines the WCC will “take a new approach to community engagement and installation”

New way of working

The traditional approach to making big transport changes can take many years and involve engaging with the community on plans that can be hard for people to understand or imagine.

Given the urgency required to transition to more sustainable urban mobility, cities around the world have been using new ‘quick-build’ ways of installing interim, connected bike networks and other improvements …

this transitional approach provides better opportunities to engage the public and hear from a broad range of people (including children) based on their real-life experience of the change

People’s fears and assumptions when the project is just a plan on paper can often be resolved easily once the interim installations have settled in.

In other words, the WCC Bike Plan is to implement cycleways on an “interim” basis and then ask residents on whether they want the cycleway. This means it is important to get the cycleway route through Johnsonville corrected now !

A Public Meeting on February 2nd on the Planned Cycleway

Submissions to the WCC Bike Plan closed in December 2021 but oral hearings are to be held on the 10th February 2022.

The JCA and JBG are holding a public meeting at 7:30pm on Wednesday, 2nd February at the Collective Community Hub on Johnsonville Road. This meeting will also be broadcast live via the Johnsonville Community Association YouTube Channel (https://youtu.be/XXq05lKj1bI).

At this meeting the JCA will present the WCC Bike Plan proposal and discuss the issues related to this plan.

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