Editorial: Brooklyn Bridge move shows the way for Auckland harbour crossing

A vision of how one major commuter route is being converted for cyclists. Illustration / New York City Department of Transportation, via AP

Editorial

EDITORIAL

The mayor of a major city announced this week one lane of a bridge into the city would be closed to traffic and converted into a lane for bicycles only.

No, it wasn't Auckland and again, no, it isn't comparable to the Auckland situation. However, it does give rise to the "why not" question.

In this case, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared the innermost Manhattan-bound vehicular lane on the Brooklyn Bridge will be removed and transformed into a two-way, protected bike lane.

BREAKING: @NYCMayor announces on Monday the @NYC_DOT will close down the left lane of the Manhattan-bound side of the Brooklyn Bridge to begin converting it into a lane for bikes only.

Construction to be completed this fall. https://t.co/srh5dghWDa pic.twitter.com/K5tdVMADyc

— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) June 17, 2021

Of course, New York has other bridges and therefore can more easily afford the luxury of surrendering a vehicular lane to the pedal-powered.

Bike Auckland and the GetAcross group have been campaigning for a trial of walking and cycling on the Auckland harbour bridge for some time. A May 30 rally and unauthorised ride over the bridge polarised opinion for and against the proposal. Some consider a trial now would be capitulating to law-breakers while others may have been convinced by the size of the rally to give them a go.

Meanwhile, the Government has announced an intention to construct an entirely new $685m span, exclusively for walkers and cyclists - inevitably raising the volume from both sides of the debate.

Other suggestions have flowed in, such as providing buses, vans or ferries to carry cyclists and their cycles over the harbour. This is largely missing the point that cyclists are cyclists because they prefer to cycle.

Leaving aside the legalities of the "storming of the bridge", the alternative methods and routes cycles can now take and the Government's lofty new crossing, the key question remains: Is there a case for alternative transport over the Waitematā Harbour?

Until we have a meaningful trial, we will never know.