Fulton Hogan’s Project Manager has flagged to us that the cycleway route needs to be diverted temporarily as part of the cycleway and other upgrades happening along the NW Motorway –
“We’re gearing up to begin work on the Te Atatu project and one of the elements of the job is a shared use path along the westbound carriageway which will link up with the Lincoln Road path we are building that ends at Henderson Creek Bridge.
The current cycle path that joins in to McCormick Rd is hard up on the designation and needs to be removed while we install vector Cable ducts under it and then replace the current path with the 3m shared use path. We are proposing to divert cyclists and pedestrians along the current footpath / access way on the west side of Te Atatu Rd until Royal View Rd and then along Royal View Rd until they meet McCormick Rd where they currently exit into Royal View Rd. This will allow us to do the work along the old route as quickly as possible in the very limited space we have to work in. Once we have the path concreted up to the current point it bears left towards McCormick Rd we can get the cyclists back on to the new path in this area.
We would like to start work in the next couple of weeks and will have the detour in place until around August this year when we will move back to the new path. If we can finish earlier we will move everyone back as soon as we can. As usual space is at a premium on site but we are sure we can provide a safe route that does not cause too much inconvenience to users.
On a positive note our design for this project has allowed us to reduce the contract duration and we will be able to commission the new cycle route much earlier than the specimen design so your members will hopefully be able to use the full new route to Lincoln Road in early 2015! Something to look forward to.”
One of our regular NW commuter and sports cyclists has reviewed the diversion plan for us, (thanks Carl), and advises us that –
‘I can’t see this being too much of a problem – the benefit outweighs the drawbacks, and although Royal View Rd can get busy in the morning with eastbound traffic, the traffic is slow moving, and traffic in both directions is almost non existent in the evening. As for inconvenience, the distances are similar and small (barely 100m difference), so that should not be a factor in delaying work.
One thing that Royal Rd might need is some sort of temporary sign asking for a gap for cyclists in the westbound lane, as they tend to queue hard up against the curb in the morning traffic – one just past Milich Tce and another just past Vera Rd would be good …’
Any more comments for us to take on board?
