Christchurch secures $87.3m in 'shovel-ready' funding for cycleways

Friday, 7 August 2020

A cyclist on the Rapanui – Shag Rock cycleway on Christchurch’s Linwood Ave.

Christchurch is the big winner from the Government’s $220 million shovel-ready cycleways package, securing more than a third of the funding.

Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter on Saturday announced $71.5m in new funding to complete and fast-track several major cycleways in the city.

Cycling advocates have welcomed the news, saying it will result in a more joined up network and make it easier and safer for more people to bike.

'We are already the best cycling city in the country,” Christchurch transportation engineer Glen Koorey said.

Existing and new cycleways making up the Christchurch major cycle route network.

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Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter announced the $71.5m in new funding for Christchurch cycleways on Saturday. It comes on top of an earlier announcement of $15.8m.

“This will make it even easier to get around. It gives more people more options.”

It follows an earlier announcement of $15.8m to complete the final section of the Christchurch coastal pathway between Redcliffs and Rapanui – Shag Rock.

The combined $87.3m comes from the $3 billion infrastructure fund for shovel-ready projects, which includes a $220m cycleways package.

A spokeswoman for Genter confirmed Christchurch had received the most cycleways funding of any centre outside Auckland.

Christchurch councillor Sara Templeton says the shovel-ready funding will allow the city council to progress its cycleway network “much quicker than we had planned”.

The $87.3m is in addition to pre-existing Christchurch City Council and NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) commitments, taking the total spend to $125m to complete six major cycling routes, some of which are already partly open.

“Without this funding, many of these projects would be years away from even starting,” Genter said.

The council approved 13 major cycle routes in the city in 2013. Three are fully open and five are partially open. Construction has yet to start on the remainder.

The funding will ensure the completion of the coastal pathway, the Rapanui-Shag Rock cycleway connecting the coastal pathway to Linwood and the city centre, the Northern Line connecting Belfast to South Hagley Park and the CDB, and will extend the Heathcote Expressway from the Tannery in Woolston to Heathcote.

Work on the Rapanui-Shag Rock, Heathcote Expressway, and Northern Line would not have started until 2022 without the funding.

The funding will also enable the completion of new cycleways the South Express, connecting Templeton to Hagley Park, and the Nor’West Arc, which connects Princess Margaret Hospital in Cashmere to Papanui via the University of Canterbury.

“Construction is expected to start on some of these projects within the next few months, with the remainder beginning in 2021,” Genter said.

The Nor’West Arc will intersect with five other cycleways.

Koorey said the more the cycleways were joined up, the more “you start getting that network effect”, where it became more convenient for people to bike.

There had already been “really good growth” in the number of people cycling in Christchurch with the existing cycleways, Koorey said, and the new routes would only bolster that.

Cycle trip numbers in the city have increased by 80 per cent since counts began in 2016. There has been an increase in the number of female cyclists counted this year (41 per cent) compared to 2016 when just 32 per cent of cyclists were women.

Christchurch city councillor Sara Templeton said getting the funding was hugely exciting.

“It will allow us to really progress the network of cycleways much quicker than we had planned,” she said.

“As we saw during lockdown, there’s this huge latent demand of people who would like to cycle, of all ages, but don’t feel safe on our roads with the number of vehicles.”

Templeton said she hoped all 13 cycleways could be completed by 2025.

“Having the network completed will be a game changer for Christchurch.”

A council spokesman said after the cycleways receiving “shovel ready” funding were completed, four cycleways would remain: Wheels to Wings that goes to the airport, Southern Lights connecting existing routes through Beckenham, Avon/Ōtākaro following the river from the central city to New Brighton, and the Ōpāwaho River Route along the Heathcote River.