Wellington car dealer proposes alternative to controversial cycleway plan

Part of the proposal from Myles Gazley. Image / Supplied

A Wellington car dealer has come up with an alternative proposal to a controversial cycleway plan - one that doesn't remove any car parks.

The current Wellington City Council plan includes the removal of 50 parks on Cambridge Terrace and a full lane of traffic.

Gazley Motors' Myles Gazley engaged engineering consultants Spencer Holmes on the plan, which would have the cycle lanes running down the centre traffic islands between Cambridge and Kent Terraces.

He revealed the new proposal to Newstalk ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills today.

In his proposal, he said the current council plan was "flawed" from a planning and economic perspective.

"A large majority of the land and buildings in both streets make up the largest car retail and repair area in the greater Wellington area which represents brands making major inroads into the decarbonising of the industry towards EV vehicles," he said.

"The council plan would stop the traffic coming down Kent Terrace and turning through the two busy turning circles and into Cambridge Terrace, which will push car and truck delivery traffic around the Basin Reserve which is one of the city's most over-congested areas creating dangerous chaos.

"There is no need for any of this stupidity."

Gazley said using the centre traffic islands was the "most obvious design".

The island was more than 10 metres wide with 1.9m pavements on either side, he said.

The space was "underutilised" by pedestrians as there were already footpaths on the terraces.

"The pavements on the centre island already attach to the council's proposed cycleway from the Basin Reserve."

Part of the proposal from Myles Gazley. Image / Supplied

The Paneke Pōneke bike network plan, of which the Newtown cycleway is part, will expand the existing 23km of cycleways across the capital to 166km.

Gazley said it was "simple" to repurpose the islands and wouldn't require any major works other than kerbing and crossings with signals between each island.

"This would take cyclists all the way to the waterfront," he said.

"This proposal will not require the deletion of lanes of parking, traffic or the closing of the two busy turning circles between these busy roads ... and will not require any cyclists [to be] put in harm's way against oncoming traffic."

Gazley told Mills the council's current plan was "just insane" and "didn't make any sense".

It also did not serve cyclists well and put them in danger, he said.

A letter to Gazley from Spencer Holmes confirmed the option was permitted under the district plan.

"The option of putting the cycleway in the centre island would appear the least disruptive of the options available and would enable more time for the city to transition to sustainable transport options," the letter said.

Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said the council's planners had considered running the cycle lanes down the centre islands but decided against it.

It would involve having cyclists riding on footpaths and would mean they needed to cross busy lanes to get onto the island, he said.

The council believed it was easier to have cycle lanes running down the edges of the streets.

The new proposal:

• Use the centre islands and parallel pavements as the new cycleway.

• Cut kerbs and put crossings strips between the traffic islands.

• Remove obstructing sign and signal posts from the two pavements.

• Repurpose the intersection signals to add crossing signals for bikes.

• Fill in some of the small garden areas at the end of the islands and asphalt for the bike lanes.

• If required add the plastic divider strips to the outer pavement edges on both sides of the island to protect bikes.