Consultation closes at midnight tonight, Friday 21 October – but we have time for a quick look at Route 3 of the current omnibus consultation for the Inner West: the Grey Lynn Greenway.
This section has a bit of a head-start, thanks to some recent path-widening through Cox’s Bay Reserve, Hakanoa Reserve, and Grey Lynn Park. Big ups to the Waitemata Local Board for their work on the parks part of this project!
Our concerns
- There are no measures to reduce the volumes of traffic along the route.
- We think the stop controls are currently inadequate, especially given the number of downhill paths for cars.
- The side roads are wide, with splayed entrances, so the proposed stop signs and raised crossings may not provide sufficient protection for pedestrians and people on bikes. We suggest splitter islands as well.
- If this is a Local Path, of the kind envisioned by the new Local Path design guide – why not reduce the posted speed limit to 30kph? This would be a fine place to start.
Richmond Rd to Grey Lynn Park
Repairs to the Cox’s Bay reserve path at the Richmond Rd end remain incomplete.
On Westmoreland St, the proposed shared path and raised table looks like a good solution given the width of the road reserve. (Note on-street parking flipped to other side of road). Traffic queues often form to exit Westmoreland.
Westmoreland would work better for pedestrians with a splitter at the intersection
Dryden St
AT are essentially proposing a cycle boulevard along Dryden St, although it doesn’t seem to connect to anything. It could be extended up Prime Rd to connect with the West Lynn/ Grey Lynn shops and Route 1 along Surrey Crescent.
Also, a section of Dryden St adjacent to the park is narrow, creating a pinch point. It’s not clear that on-road sharrows will help less confident cyclists ride this route.
Grosvenor to Great North Rd
We question the suitability of the section of Grosvenor near Great North Rd: how will people on bikes negotiate around the angle parking on Grosvenor? It’s also quite steep.
We also suggest restricting entry/exit options on Grosvenor between Williamson Ave and Crummer Rd, to reduce its rat-run nature – especially given that there are parallel access options via Crummer Rd.
There’s no indication yet of how the Greenway will connect to Route 4 (Great North Rd).
And the Crummer Rd intersection treatment could be beefed up, too.
Sharrows
Some people aren’t convinced that painted bike ‘sharrows’ on the road are the way to go, but assuming the above improvements are also made, we think they provide useful signaling to people on bikes about where the path goes – and also remind people in cars to watch out for people on bikes.
Lastly: let’s put some more green into the Greenway
The new Local Path Design Guide outlines ‘Preferred Green Thresholds’ for streets linking park areas of a greenway. We understand there may be funding constraints for this project, but can AT in collaboration with the Local Board make a plan to green it up a little? For example:
- Make the Hakanoa Reserve to Grey Lynn Park section (via Dryden St) read as a ‘park’ that cars may pass through, but where walking and cycling in ‘leafy greenness’ is the priority.
- Likewise, the park/reserve at end of Tutanekai could be read as part of the park itself, and we’d definitely like to see planting on the kerb build-outs there.
- Similar Greenway signaling should be evident at the Williamson Ave and Crummer Road crossings.
Right. Here’s the project page for direct feedback on this section (closes midnight Friday 21 October). Or, if you simply want to support all four Inner West routes in principle, dash over to the Generation Zero quick submit page.
