Auckland Transport’s proposed “improvements” for cycling on Green Lane West won’t meet basic safety standards – but small affordable tweaks can change that. Speak up now!
The context
Green Lane West is infamous for having some of the worst bike lanes ever painted. Not just dangerous, but ridiculously narrow, barely wide enough for a bike stencil. Have you seen them? You’d need to squint.
Here’s an earlier Bike Auckland article about Green Lane West’s cycle lanes.
So we should be over the moon that Auckland Transport is planning “changes for better bus reliability, safer walking and cycling” on this stretch of road. Especially as this is a crucial east-west link in Auckland’s “Bike Bermuda Triangle” – where safe cycling routes are rare, even on the big wide boulevards.
What’s more, Green Lane West connects Aucklanders (and visitors) to some really important places! Gorgeous Cornwall Park and magnificent Maungakiekie. Events at Alexandra Park and the Auckland Showgrounds. Healthcare, at Greenlane Clinical Centre. Plus shops, schools, neighbourhoods, and Greenlane train station.
Green Lane West is identified as a strategic “regional” route for cycling and micro mobility (on the same level as the NW cycleway) in the strategic network, as shown on AT’s Future Connect maps. These are the routes expected to carry the highest volume of journeys, and providing the fastest and most direct connections.
So what’s the issue? Well, as we all know, paint is not protection! AT’s current proposal is simply to slightly widen the on-road bike lanes, and add a few sections of shared path. This won’t actually make things safer – and it might actually make things more dangerous, by attracting new riders into a risky situation. (See below for more details of the proposal).
The good news: there’s a huge opportunity for AT to get this right via some small, sensible and affordable tweaks. So we’re calling on AT (with support from elected members?) to deliver proper protected on-road bike lanes, and better bus stop bypasses, on Green Lane West.
The deadline for feedback is Friday 19 December so this deserves your speedy attention! Think of it as your Christmas gift to Auckland.
If you’re short of time and want to jump straight to the feedback guide, jump ahead now. Or read on to understand the issues with the design.
What’s proposed for cycling on Green Lane West?
The changes for cycling are part of a wider suite of improvements for the 2.7km stretch of Green Lane West between St Andrews Rd and Great South Rd. These include bus lanes and T2 lanes, new signalised crossings, and repositioning bus stops.
AT is upfront that these changes all need to fit into the available space:
“Making the most of the space on this corridor while aiming to move everyone safely through this road is a challenge we have taken.”
Hold that thought. Road space is always finite, which is why it’s vital to put safety first.
The key changes for cycling apply between Manukau Rd and Wheturangi Road, so let’s start with the straightforward stuff. AT is proposing to:
Add two new cycle crossings – one near Manukau Road and another near Wheturangi Road to give cyclists safe places to cross and continue their journey.
This is good! The first of these “new cycle crossings” will make it legal to ride your bike over the slip lane from Green Lane West into Manukau Rd south (7 on the image below).
For real safety, that crossing should be raised – or even better, the slip lane removed – but that’s probably a debate for another day.
The second new bike crossing, at the Wheturangi Road intersection, will give people on bikes a connection between the (new) shared path on the north side, and the existing shared path on the south side.
There are also two new signalised crossings for pedestrians in the middle of the green space, both hugely important for safety and worth supporting. We think the one that links the Showgrounds and the Clinical Centre should be a paired bike crossing as well, given people on bikes will be accessing both destinations from both directions.
Now we move to the other key “improvement” for cycling, and here’s where we think AT can do much, much better:
Where possible, we are proposing to narrow the flush median and widen the on-road cycle lanes to provide safer cycling facilities. We are also proposing a new shared path where the footpath is wide enough to accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists and the road is too narrow to provide a safe on-road facility.
To see what this might look like, here’s a section at the east end of Cornwall Park. You can just make out the narrow on-road bike lanes. And in the second close-up image, you can see that the north side bike lane ramps back onto a shared path for safety reasons.
While the on-road lanes may be a smidge wider, they remain physically unprotected, and are thus not “safer” in any meaningful way. That’s a problem… but it’s also a huge opportunity.
See the detailed consultation designs here.
What’s good and what’s not about the proposed design for Green Lane West?
Usually, something is better than nothing – but paint is not protection. We are adamant on this point: AT must – and can! – physically protect these on-road bike lanes. Their own safety and design standards require it.
In AT’s design guide (see here, and diagram below from p40), two things determine the need for physical protection for people using cycleways:
- how many vehicles people will be riding alongside, and
- how fast those vehicles are going.
Green Lane West is a 50km/h street that carries ~25,000 vehicles per day, so it ticks both boxes, hard.
And the brilliant thing is, there is enough room to protect these lanes.
AT’s technical rules require 400mm of road space in order to protect a bike lane with a 300mm separator (concrete “tim-tam”). In the current design, the bike lanes are already at the minimum of 1.5m, and the four vehicle lanes are 3.2m each, with 300mm of separation between the cycle lane and the outside road lane.
This means AT only needs to find an additional 200mm of road space to protect the bike lanes on both sides of the road.
To help us visualise this: 200mm (20cm) is the length of a small paperback book, or a family bar of chocolate – and it can be found by shaving, say, 10cm off each of two traffic lanes.
We know this can be done, because AT’s done it before!
On Tāmaki Drive, where a key element of AT’s response to Max’s “Bike Auckland Quality Option” pitch for Tāmaki Drive was narrowing the traffic lanes a smidge – resulting in a much better outcome all round. And guess what: Tāmaki Drive, like Green Lane West, is a four-lane arterial, carrying around 27,000 vehicles a day, plus frequent buses and about 6% heavy vehicles.
Or another example even closer to hand: most westbound traffic on Green Lane West continues along Balmoral Road, where (west of St Andrews), the outer lanes are 2.6-2.7m wide plus a 300mm channel. Narrower vehicle lanes may actually be a good thing.
Now that it’s clear protection is possible, AT would be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory if they go ahead without protecting the Green Lane West bike lanes. Which is where you come in.
(Side note: close readers may be wondering about the potential for a bidirectional cycleway on the south side of the Green Lane West, especially given the tie-in to the existing south-side path at the east end, and the potential to continue west of Manukau Rd at the west end. We’ll leave that level of discussion to our technical experts and AT’s project team for now!)
But first! One more small tweak for everyone’s safety: we’re asking AT to fix the way bus stops interrupt the bike lane.
As currently designed, buses picking up and dropping off passengers will (briefly) sit in the cycle lane. See screenshot below of the westbound stop outside Greenlane Clinical Centre.
AT’s consultation materials confirm that stopped buses will still pause traffic in the kerbside lane – which means, there’d be no adverse impacts on traffic of having proper inline bus stops, with bike bypasses. This seems like a really easy fix, given the bike-bus bypasses currently being constructed on Great North Road.
We should also note the prime opportunity to extend the bike lanes westward, all the way to St Andrew’s Ave. This would be easy, as there’s plenty of space and it’s within project scope. And this would be a significant improvement to the Bike Bermuda Triangle, an easy win for safety and the strategic network! It’s worth asking for in your feedback.
One last note: the grass is always greener over the fence, and we’re hearing people ask whether paths for people (walking, biking, jogging, rolling, etc.) could run inside the heritage stone wall. It’s an alluring vision, but it would involve a much larger conversation amongst many parties. For now, our focus is on fixing the existing proposal: a bird in the hand is worth two in the park!
Bike Auckland’s suggestions for your feedback
Right, let’s get down to business. Here’s the feedback form, and the deadline is end of the day on Friday 19 December.
The feedback form has four pages, and it should only take a few minutes to add your voice.
- Page 1 asks about how (and when) you travel along Green Lane West.
- Page 2 is about details of the design
- Page 3 asks demographic details (optional)
- Page 4 asks about your Local Board area, and you can sign up to get updates.
Page 2 is the key place to add your feedback.
Select YES as your answer to this question:
Is there anything you would like to tell us about this proposal?
And this will open up a response box, with this question:
Please tell us what we should consider refining in our proposal, while ensuring that it is still able to improve public transport in your area.
This is the place to strongly advocate, in your own words, for:
- Physical protection of on-road bike lanes, as per AT’s own safety requirements
- Better/safer integration of bus stops with the bike lanes
- Bike crossings over Green Lane West, outside the Greenlane Clinical Centre
- Extend the bike lanes westward, all the way to St Andrew’s Ave
- Anything else you can see that needs improving
- What these improvements will mean to you, your family, your journeys.
Remember, AT says this project aims to deliver a “transport system that works for all” and “move more people, more safely”. So the key point to make is that safe, protected bike lanes will encourage people of all ages and abilities to cycle here – whereas paint-only lanes alongside 50+km/h traffic absolutely will not. AT can solve this!
(Note: the next question asks if this project will encourage you to cycle here, Y/N – but there’s no space to explain in detail. So, put all your key feedback and personal experiences here!)
There are two other questions you can give feedback on:
Looking at the proposed plans, are there any other minor improvements from the list below that we may have missed to further support the enhancement of Green Lane West?
The options are: Wayfinding signage, Lighting, Footpath upgrades, Other, I don’t know.
If you select OTHER, you can reiterate the need for physical protection of the on-road bike lanes, and any other minor improvements you think are important – like, bike parking?
Lastly, AT asks about other locations for upgrades – but oddly doesn’t mention bike lanes:
We are looking at other places that may benefit from special vehicle lanes (e.g., bus, transit of heavy vehicle lane). Please tell us if you would like any of the below implemented somewhere else:
Bus laneTransit lane (e.g. T2 or T3)
Heavy vehicle lanes (e.g. for heavy vehicles to transit only)
I don’t know
Top tip: click “transit lane” (because cargo bikes are T2 or T3, right?) to open a comment box, where you can make the case for more bike lanes in this or any other area.
Hot on the heels of celebrating ten years of the pink path, this is our moment to make sure Green Lane’s green lanes are the best they can be.
Consultation closes FRIDAY 19 DECEMBER – so hurry, scurry, get your feedback in now!
Support Bike Auckland’s advocacy for great infrastructure
Are you an engineer, planner, or urban nerd and want to help? Join our volunteer Infrastructure Team here and help with our future submission guides, project watch blogs, and Bike Auckland submissions! Also – if you want to share your reasons for supporting better bike lanes for Green Lane West with us for a follow-up post, drop us a line here.
