This photo is from Keenan Roberts at Buzzfeed via Grist. Read on to find out more.
A few links that caught my eye during the last week.
Good post by Green MP: Obviously I’m hugely biased because I like her and I once worked for her and I’m a member of the same political party she represents. But having said that, I liked this great blog post, “There’s no better time to invest in cycling,” by the Green’s transport spokesperson, Julie Anne Genter, a lot.
Here’s a sample paragraph:
 ”Hastings has had dedicated investment in cycling and walking infrastructure from NZTA as one of its ‘model communities’, and cycling figures there have shown the results – a rise of 23% just a year after the iWay program began.
Portland’s entire cycling network has an estimated replacement cost of one mile of urban motorway, and that city has seen a 400% rise in cycling numbers in the past 20 years (check out the PDF here). It now has the highest bicycle mode share in the US.”
Now we just need more action from the Greens (and other political parties) to make these great ideas a reality.
Transmission Gully approved: And, on the dark side, some distressing news is that Transmission Gully has been given resource consent by the Board of Inquiry, which means it’s almost bound to go ahead.
So there’s another $1 billion from the transport budget wasted on a huge motorway project with questionable economic benefits, and unquestionably significant negative environmental impacts.
Puhoi to Wellsford moves on: Another massive motorway project, Puhoi to Wellsford has also taken a step forward, with NZTA confirming their route for the $750 million section from Puhoi to Warkworth. They are hoping to start construction in 2014.
This is depressing for those us of who were beginning to hope that the project might be delayed until, eventually, a more fiscally prudent government was elected and cancelled the whole thing.
However, the good news is that NZTA may be backing away from ever completing the second section from Warkworth to Wellsford, which would save the country around $1 billion (possibly more since that initial costing could be a considerable under-estimate – this seems the most likely reason why NZTA has delayed announcing the alignment of the second section).
They may have done press releases but I must say I’ve seen little public opposition by either Labour or the Greens to these two major announcements which is a bit disappointing, given what a huge extravagance these motorways are.
Dogs on bikes! Finally, just to cheer you up, Grist has a post about some very important photos of dogs on bikes which it is imperative you look at right now. Here are some of my favourites below.
Great pictures and a great message of hope in improvement. After arriving in NZ a few months ago from Europe we love the country & its peoples, but have taken an instant dislike to its cars and their owners ability to drive them and have respect for ped’s & cyclists!
Lets hope the pressure for joint facilities can be increased so we can all enjoy biking around NZ and feeling comfortable in the city on a bike.
Our own dog did not make the trip this time, deciding to dedicate the rest of his life to chasing postmen on bikes in the northern hemisphere. However we hope to have a K9 on pedal power some time soon here in NZ.