First image of Auckland's $13.9m cycleway released

Interactive lights, Maori carvings and a vibrant magenta surface are set to turn the old Nelson Street motorway off-ramp into a must-see Auckland attraction. Photo / AUCKLAND COUNCIL

Auckland's new super-bikeway over Spaghetti Junction will boast a deep purple surface in striking contrast to the motorway grey beneath it.

An artist's impression of the new $13.9 million cycleway, the first stage of which will be opened in early December between Upper Queen St and Victoria St, previews the effect of interactive LED lights on a patterned rich magenta surface.

Maori etchings will be set into some of the columns holding up 3m-high transparent barriers on each side of the Spaghetti Junction section of the cycleway, which is being developed along a disused motorway off-ramp to the intersection of Nelson St and Union St, where a 6-metre pou will be erected.

An artist's impression of the new $13.9 million cycleway. Photo / AUCKLAND COUNCIL

The off-ramp section will be 7m wide and will be connected to Upper Queen St by a bridge about 160m long and 4m wide which is already taking shape over the motorway from Canada St below Mercury Lane.

That should provide ample room for pedestrians as well as cyclists, who will also gain their own protected pathway down the western side of Nelson St to Victoria St.

But they will have to cross at traffic lights to the opposite of Nelson St to continue to the waterfront in a second stage of the project, to be completed next year.

Auckland Council, which is contributing $2.55m to the project against Government funding of $11.35m, has issued the artist's impressions after a survey in which 862 people had their say over the cycleway's design.

They rejected "motorway grey" in favour of a bright and bold design which would be "distinctly New Zealand."

Councillor Chris Darby, Auckland's designed political urban design champion, said today that the project "shines a light on walking and cycling and offers an inspiring new way through a previously impenetrable Spaghetti Junction."

"It offers a seamless walk-across-the-rooftops connection into the city centre, with sweeping views of the city and harbour."