Auckland Transport has recently announced that they are adding a small piece of road to the Te Atatu Road corridor upgrade project.
As those who have read the previous Te Atatu articles on this blog will know, the new design of Te Atatu will include on-road cycle facilities for more confident cyclists, and a shared path on the northern/western side of the road for those who prefer to ride off-road.
Now that AT is proposing to also change part of this side road (to upgrade car capacity, mind), we are asking them to not miss the opportunity to extend that future shared path at least some distance down Vera Road as well.
What would seem to prevent a shared path down the first part of Vera Road is the intention to keep two existing on-street car parks on the north side, while doing the road widening. Retaining the car parks will also narrow down the footpath to 1.5m in that area, which is tight even for a pedestrian-only space.
We would like to allow cyclists – such as kids riding to nearby Flanshaw Road School – to be provided with a shared path here so they can return to the road away from the traffic signals (and also don’t have to ride next to the reversing cars from the southern car parks). Therefore, we are asking for Auckland Transport to remove the two proposed car parks on the northern side of Vera Road, and extend the shared path from Te Atatu Road into Vera Road.
This would make the proposed change more balanced for cyclists and pedestrians. Please write in to Auckland Transport if you agree.
