The Henderson-Massey Local Board is seeking feedback for their Draft Connections Plan by Wednesday 17 April 2019. The plan aims to ‘connect neighbourhoods to key destinations including public transport hubs, schools, local shops, libraries and parks in a bid to help more people ditch the car and embrace walking and cycling where possible.’
Check out the draft plan in PDF (which includes a detailed map) and add your voice in support.
If you’ve only got one minute, just say YES to Question 1 to support the plan.
If you have a bit more time, check out our feedback guide below – created with expert local help from one of the oldest and one of the newest Bike Burbs: Bike Te Atatu and Bike Henderson.
Our Handy Feedback Guide
The feedback form consists of four questions. See our suggestions below, compiled with local knowledge.
1. What do you think about the overall plan? Do you support it in principle? (Yes/No)
Say YES! The overall plan is good and you should heartily support it in principle.
2. Do you have any suggestions that could improve the plan in general? (things like missing routes, different types of paths or new destinations)
General things you could ask for here:
- Designate more ‘Express Networks’ (i.e. separated/ protected bike lanes on key routes).
- Include key destinations in the plan, like train stations, schools, Waitakere Hospital, and local parks, and treat these destinations as priority connections.
Use your local knowledge to pinpoint anything that’s missing or in need of a ‘designation upgrade’. Bike Te Atatu and Bike Henderson have identified these key issues:
- On Te Atatu Peninsula, upgrade the ‘loop’ around Taikata, Matipo, Beach and Harbourview Roads to an ‘Express Network’. This will connect three of the five local schools with the rest of the suburb, and provide safe access for families to all those places. This is one of the key features of Bike Te Atatu’s proposal to make the peninsula a bike-friendly place.
- In Te Atatu South, earmark Te Atatu Rd from the SH16 interchange to the town centre – including Edmonton Rd to School Rd – for an infrastructure upgrade. Despite the extensive recent roadworks to upgrade Te Atatu Rd itself, the cycling facilities along here are simply not fit for purpose, as evidenced by several injury crashes and repeated near misses along here. It’s currently on the plan as ‘Existing’ facilities but needs to be designated ‘Improved Level Service’. People deserve better.
- Include Te Atatu Rd from the Te Atatu South town centre to Glendene as an ‘Express Network.’ This is currently missing from the Plan, but will be a vital link from Te Atatu to New Lynn before Te Whau Pathway is complete, and will remain a useful alternative route once it is.
- Add Royal Rd and Don Buck Rd to the ‘Express Network’. These are both busy arterials, and Royal Rd will be especially critical once the Lincoln Rd-Royal Rd-Westgate SH16 shared path opens after August.
3. Thinking about your routes, which key connections would support you to walk and/or cycle to areas where you live, work, learn and/or play.
If you’re local or travel through here, you’ll have heaps of ideas. Which links are important to you? And which potential improvements would open up better travel options for all sorts of riders, like this awesome school bike gang, for example?
In particular, you could mention:
- Te Whau Pathway. This is a high-cost, long-term project, but once complete it will create safe access to the NW Cycleway and to other parts of the area for everyone who lives east of Te Atatu Road. It’s worth mentioning this project so it stays foremost in people’s minds.
- The planned Twin Streams circuit completion along Pine Ave and Parrs Cross Road – this will close the loop on a very popular cycling track, so it’s a great thing to support.
- The Rail Corridor Cycleway – this will eventually link to the soon-to-be-completed New Lynn to Avondale rail corridor cycleway, creating a ‘Western Cycle Highway’ similar to the SH16 shared path, as a backbone path for the western suburbs.
- Hobsonville Road – because having bike lanes run the length of this road would complete an important connection from the West to the North Shore.
4. Is there any other feedback you have about this plan?
This is a great place to suggest the plan be prioritised, so formal processes (and more informal advocacy) can concentrate their energies on particular links or sections of links. This will help the document be a proper blueprint for change, and not just a wish list.
And that’s it. Ready to go ahead and add your voice? Great – use the button below!
