Tēnā koutou, Mayor and Councillors.
I’m writing on behalf of the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum on the importance of the proposed East-West Cycleway. We realise the implementation of this cycleway has been dealt a major blow by the withdrawal of Waka Kotahi funding.
However, extension of Nelson cycleways, and in particular, this one, is of such importance that we wish to put before you some options far preferable to cancelling this valuable project.
We in the Climate Forum are driven by the urgent imperative of driving down carbon emissions by a rapid transport mode shift away from fossil fuelled cars. However there is an impressive list of other reasons to encourage cycling on safe cycleways in Nelson :
- Higher fitness levels in both children and adults
- Cleaner air -> less asthma, lower health costs, longer life expectancy
- Reduced social inequality
- Increased social interactions improving social cohesion
- Youngsters can get themselves to school, sports and friends
- Lower demand for parking
- Less traffic congestion
- Lower demand for roading and road maintenance
- Fewer garages
It is widely agreed that the East-West cycleway will fill a gap in Nelson’s cycle network. It enables cycle access to six schools (Central, St. Joseph’s, Nelson College, Nelson Girls’ College, Hampden St., Nelson Intermediate) a kindergarten and NMIT. It is strongly aligned with the NCC Climate Strategy and Action Plan.
Business for Climate Action’s Mission Zero team has begun an ambitious project funded by a grant from NCC. They will promote and assist transport mode shift in half a dozen large employers in Nelson, with a total of more than 3000 employees. A central feature of this project is the promotion of cycling.
Nelson Tasman Climate Forum is shaping a proposal to run a School Travel Plan project, boosting the number of Nelson children using active and public transport to get to and from school. Experience in many cities in Aotearoa and other countries has established the importance of safe cycleways in increasing the rate of cycling. These community-led projects and an expanded cycleway infrastructure would mutually support each other’s success.
One of the claims for the Maitai Valley development was that residents would easily be able to cycle to town, emphasizing the growing need for separated cycle infrastructure in the city.
There are two options we would like to put before councillors, both recognizing the current funding constraints.
- Plan to complete the cycleway in stages, using the funding now reserved for the project in the Long-Term Plan for the first portion now. The first stage would comprise the more straightforward sections:
- Along Nile Street which is wide and tree-lined so the cycleway could go between the trees and the sidewalk, and the current angled carparks could become parallel parks (so parking spots decrease, but still exist). This section of Nile Street would connect the current Maitai bike path/route (which already includes some of Nile Street) and also the Brook to the CBD/Collingwood Street. It passes Central Primary and NMIT.
- Another easier section would involve improving the track that goes through Fairfield Park onto Van Diemen Street. Hampden Street School needs safer crossings regardless of having a cycleway, so working on this section would be helpful for pedestrian safety too. A cycleway here would also remove angled parking from outside the Van Diemen stretch of Hampden Street School, but this parking was removed previously for a construction project and the flow of traffic was satisfactory.
- Another option is to install a low-cost temporary cycleway using painted lines and vertical wands to separate traffic. This could be done in the form of a public consultation after a limited time (perhaps a year) before more permanent traffic separation was installed.
We request that Council undertake one of these options, including it in the upcoming annual plan in order to work in synergy with the above-mentioned behaviour change plans, and retaining the full plan for the East-West Cycleway.
Yours sincerely,
Joanna Santa Barbara
Co-Chair, Nelson Tasman Climate Forum.