If the Great South Road Sikh Temple pedestrian crossing can’t be built with Waka Kotahi Climate Emergency Relief Funds, Manurewa Local Board will consider paying.
Board chair Glenn Murphy says the crossing must be built.
“We’ve had a Waka Kotahi Transport Choices package put to us. If the money isn’t there, we’ll consider using our Transport Capital Fund. Temple users have been patient, but older residents struggle to access a culturally important place.”
The board was responding to its monthly Auckland Transport report, sending feedback that again opposed the separated cycleways included in the package.
“This is about opposing concrete barriers, not cycleways,” Murphy says. “Existing lanes aren’t well-used and there’s little evidence separators will change that. And there’s no way to quantify emissions reductions, so we don’t think separators are a good investment.”
He says evidence suggests most cycling accidents are at intersections, where money would be better spent. “Separators on Browns, Weymouth and Great South roads would also cause problems for wider vehicles and won’t significantly increase cycling safety.”
The board remained open to discussing separators on the basis they were less disruptive than concrete barriers, sites were agreed, and that they could be removed if cycling uptake did not increase.
It acknowledged Waka Kotahi preferred to fund the entire package but said pop-up cycleway benefits were not well-evidenced, instead endorsing intersection work at eight sites, mostly around Browns and Weymouth roads, bus stop improvements, better bus and rail connections, and interchange parking and drop-off improvements.
Murphy says pedestrian crossing improvements at Kerrydale, Wattle Farm and Grand Vue roads, Burundi, Beatty, Tington, David and Dennis avenues, and for the temple, were supported, as were footpath improvements at Ashkirk, Elrita and Eulogy places, Dr Pickering Avenue, and Tamworth Close.
“We’ll continue to advocate for projects enabling safe cycling and walking, and we’d ask Auckland Transport to engage with us and the community on that.”
Waka Kotahi has been told told by the Government to save $50million, mostly from Transport Choices – designed to improve walking and cycling, public transport reliability, and children’s routes to school.
It is seeking to prioritise projects based on public support, ease of delivery and benefits in terms of delivering greater transport choices.
Murphy and deputy chair Matt Winiata will talk with Waka Kotahi before a final project list goes to the Minister of Transport in December.
