Heavy commuting traffic on Victoria St where the new cycleway is being built. Photo / Herald
Heavy commuting traffic on Victoria St where the new cycleway is being built. Photo / Herald
The $5.3 million Victoria St cycleway that is part of roadworks reducing the city centre to a standstill will be partly dug up in a few years for another project.
A council report says the separated cycleway is considered an "interim solution" to provide a safe cycling route along Victoria St until a "linear park" with native trees, plantings and paving is built.
The Victoria St cycleway runs from Nelson St all the way past Victoria Park to the bottom of College Hill.
A section of the cycleway between Nelson St and Halsey St, where the linear park stops, will be replaced by cycling within the public space of the linear park and on-street cycling, says the council report from 2016.
The revelation that part of Victoria St will be dug up twice within years is at odds with a press release from Auckland Transport (AT) before Christmas that said construction of the cycleway "will be a dig once approach".
It coincides with National's MP for Auckland Central, Nikki Kaye, instigating a crisis briefing with AT to explain the logic behind the "perfect storm" roadworks bringing central Auckland to gridlock at times.
The traffic cone minefield is founded on the two major projects of the City Rail Link along the length of Albert St - lasting until 2024 - and the plethora of downtown street and marina upgrades rushed through for the 2021 America's Cup.
National Party MP Nikki Kaye, who has been fielding calls from angry Aucklanders over the amount of road construction clogging the streets. Photo / Dean Purcell
Kaye said she would be asking for a briefing on the cycleway and linear park, saying it did not make sense to dig up Victoria St again in a couple of years.
"We need to make sure where possible with cycleways and other infrastructure we do not go back and dig stuff up," she said.
An AT spokesman said the section of the linear park along the cycleway route is not funded and will not be built for several years.
"There is considerable demand for a cycleway on Victoria St as it will connect the cycleways on Franklin Rd and Nelson St, creating a safe route into the city. Waiting several years for a bike connection here is not an option," the spokesman said.
Liz Nicholls, a manager at council's development programme office, said the linear park is part of the city centre master plan and something Aucklanders have asked for.
An artist's impression of the linear park on Victoria St looking towards Albert Park. Image / Auckland Council
She said funding is available for the first section outside the station entrance on Victoria St for the influx of people when the City Rail Link opens in 2024, but funding is not available for the full length of the street.
"Auckland Council and Auckland Transport have been working closely on both the medium and long-term changes to Victoria St to ensure that minimal rework is required while providing transport options for people living, working and visiting the city centre, which will increase when Aotea Station opens in 2024," Nicholls said.
Last June when council awarded a contract for a business case and a conceptual design for the linear park, Mayor Phil Goff said the project was some years off completion but "one step closer to creating a great space for people in the middle of our city".
The linear park will be built on the southern side of Victoria St as a green belt connecting Albert Park and Victoria Park. Victoria St as far as Halsey St will be reduced to two traffic lanes with a 30km/h speed limit.
In 2016, council hired four consultant design teams to come up with ideas along different sections of Victoria St, including Isthmus Group for the section between Nelson St and Halsey St.
An artist's impresion showing a cross section of the linear park at the Victoria Park end. Source / Auckland Council
Isthmus' ideas included mixed low native plantings and lawns, pohutukawa, nikau and kowhai trees, paved areas, basalt stone seat walls, sculptures and a potential water feature, described as a "journey through a sequence of spaces ascending from the former coastal edge into the city centre".
Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck said she hoped any planning for the linear park takes account of the work happening now for the cycleway.
"People need confidence in planning, co-ordination and communication," she said.
