Quite a bit of cycling infrastructure is nearing completion in and around the new cycling/pedestrian bridge over Onehunga Harbour Rd. On the matter of the bridge itself, I reported that the Minister of Transport was intending to make himself available on Sunday 28th November for an official opening. Unfortunately, I have to report that this is no longer the case. The opening ceremony has been rescheduled to a weekday event that is yet to be confirmed. “A low key affair” is what is now on offer. Regardless of whether we get to celebrate the opening or not, we will still get a mighty fine bridge that will also be very functional. Three cheers to that. I have a feeling that this bridge and the surrounding network of linking paths will bring even more people out in to the community. Which is a good thing. Because cities are for people after all.
The narrow footpath that ran between the Sea Scout Hall and the Port entrance is another of the improvements that I am now enjoying. It has been replaced with a very pleasant and much wider option. During the upgrade some red handrails were also installed. You do see these types of things around but mostly at controlled intersections. Initially I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of these hand rails placed on either side of the road that leads to the Port. But then I started to think more about them. What’s going on here? What’s the suggestion request that these handrails make? Cyclists are required to give way to vehicles entering the Port, of course.
In which lies one of the major barriers to making cycling a go-ahead transport choice. This was first highlighted to me about a decade ago by Joel Cayford at the Auckland Cycling Conference. This piece of real estate where the cycle path disconnects is in effect, a no-man’s land. What I see as a minor impediment is seen by a less experienced cyclist as a big black hole full of danger and an accident waiting to happen. What happens when I cross this intersection will depend on the driver that is entering or exiting. Some drivers will give way to me even if they are not required to. Others will claim the space aggressively and block the road even though they have to wait to move out onto the busy Onehunga Harbour Rd. In these cases I have to negotiate my way around their vehicle and then return to the cycle path.
I spoke to a traffic engineer about this situation recently and gained some insight into the issue. In this type of situation, under New Zealand law, the motor vehicle on the road has right of way over persons cycling across. In cities where cycling is successful, the reverse is true. It is all about the status that cycling is afforded. Currently in New Zealand you, as cyclists, are treated as second class citizens. Legally and morally. Will we have to wait 39 and a half years?
cycling/freedom
Cycle Action Auckland – a voice for cyclists
Actually it's not entirely cut & dried like that. While the default situation is that path users must give way to traffic entering/leaving the side road, it is now possible (thanks to the 2004 Traffic Control Devices Rule) to introduce GIVE WAY signs to change the priority so that a pathway has right of way. This is easier to do in a mid-block situation (e.g. like Nelson's Railway Reserve Cycleway), but technically there's nothing to stop it applying at a side-road (Matai St in Christchurch has one). To make it work in practice however, I'd recommend a raised crossing, and this might be a sticking point for the Port entrance…
Hi Mark
Talking about such a particular instance, I think its a valid point you raise about the presumed "hierarchy" (cars first, of course!).
However, I think giving way here as a cyclists is a simple defense mechanism, which would not be different in Europe or elsewhere! Cycle paths located on one side of the road only have a pretty crap safety record where they cross side streets – always had, EVEN in cycling-friendly countries (I had a leaflet in my mailbox in Germany once of a CYCLING group advocating AGAINST off-road paths for that reason). People forget to expect cyclists coming "the wrong way".
The perfect solution would be to have the cycleway on a raised crossing, so that vehicles have to slow down – but if anyone thought of it, it was prevented by the fact that this is very truck-heavy crossing, and trucks don't do raised humps well.
So those red bars may only pretty up a somewhat unpleasant situation, but they have a use – because for your own safety, on this one we probably SHOULD stop unless we are perfectly sure we can go.
PS: Did they sweep the glass and grit on the off-road path in the area – there was a lot of it around recently.