Wellington City Council is doing remedial work on a section of cycleway on Oriental Parade to improve drainage and stop surface flooding in heavy rain. Video / Nick James
A cycleway along a small section of Wellington’s Oriental Parade is being ripped up for repairs just four years after it was built.
Water has started pooling on the $900,000 cycleway between Herd St and Freyberg Pool.
This has attracted complaints from cyclists, some of whom have resorted to usingthe pedestrian path instead.
Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean confirmed remedial work was underway to improve drainage and stop surface flooding during heavy rain.
“We’ve had problems there due to ponding, given it’s very flat. So, we’re installing some slot drains to collect water flowing across from the footpath closer to the seawall.”
The estimated cost of the work is $90,000, which is 10 per cent of the original bill for the cycleway project.
“Four years of successful and safe cycling, before any remedial work is necessary, is pretty good going as far as we’re concerned,” MacLean said.
The cycleway was opened in 2018 by then Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Associate Minister Julie Anne Genter.
It was designed to separate faster-moving cyclists from people walking in an area that’s packed during rush hour, especially in the summer months.
A 2.5m-wide two-way bike path was created alongside a 4.6m-wide pedestrian-only path.
Oriental Bay Residents’ Association president Andrew Meehan said locals had strongly advocated for the cycleway so pedestrians didn’t get knocked over.
Meehan said the $90,000 remediation cost was ridiculous.
“It’s bittersweet because you see more money being spent on a c**k-up, yet it puts things back to where they should be - which is cyclists on the cycleway and pedestrians on the path.”
Water has started pooling on the cycleway, prompting complaints from cyclists. Photo / Supplied
Pukehīnau Lambton Ward councillor Nicola Young said it was disappointing, especially when money was so tight.
“If that was a house repair, I’d be spewing.”
“The council has such ambitions to build cycleways, we’ve got to do them properly otherwise we’re going to lose any social licence that we may have. We’ve got to do them once and do them properly.”
The city council is in the middle of rolling out the Paneke Pōneke bike network plan, which will expand 23km of cycleways across the capital to 166km.
This is being done through a transitional programme with plastic post separators and changes to road markings using paint.
The approach allows the network to be established more quickly and so changes to the design can be made in real time before permanent grade-separated cycleways are implemented.
New environment and infrastructure committee chairwoman, councillor Tamatha Paul said this tactical urbanism approach was essential.
“The value of the transitional cycleway approach is that it allows low-cost interventions using paint and hit sticks to trial cycleways and make tweaks where necessary so that when the gold-plated version is put in, we’ve ironed out any issues.”
The cost to fix the cycleway is about $90,000. Photo / Mark Mitchell
