Auckland community furious as drivers hit new cycle lane protectors – صحيفة الصوت

Auckland Transport has promised a rethink over a major, partially-completed cycle lane upgrade, after angry and at-times tearful Greenhithe residents spoke of a spate of accidents since the project began.

A recreational cyclist who broke his collarbone days after the installation of the first concrete separators along the Upper Harbour Drive cycle lane claimed Auckland Transport (AT) had broken the law.

The man hit a concrete separator on a bend on a pre-dawn ride, and said there were no signs, cones or markings to warn cyclists the separators had begun to be installed.

AT’s programme manager Mitra Prasad conceded traffic management elements such as cones and signs should have been put in place by contractors, and he could not explain why they hadn’t been.

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The $1.5 million project to fit concrete separators along 4kms of the North Shore arterial route is the biggest and the first of 60 similar projects to upgrade safety on existing cycle lanes across Auckland.

Residents estimate around a dozen cars, cycles and a bus have hit the separators since work began in March, on what they said was previously a safe road for both motorists and cyclists.

AT halted work ahead of Thursday’s public meeting organised by Upper Harbour MP Vanushi Walters, at which around 100 people joined online, with some gathering at the Greenhithe school hall.

Gary, who has lived on the road for 20 years, said he was a cyclist and had always wanted a safer cycling lane, but what AT had built was wrong.

“I have never seen so many crashes on Upper Harbour Drive – there will be a serious crash and you will have caused it,” he told the AT officials participating online.

When Stuff talked to AT on Monday the agency had defended the design and safety of the concrete separators, and while conceding mistakes in how the project rolled out, was not planning major change.

However, AT officials told the Thursday night meeting that after a spate of accidents this week, three on Wednesday and one on Thursday morning, they were considering alterations.

“This has not gone as well as we hoped,” said Melanie Alexander, AT’s Network Group Manager, to a roar of ironic laughter from an online participant.

“Do we want the barriers removed?” asked one resident in the hall audience – “Yes” came a collective response.

Prior to the meeting AT had said the concrete separators had not changed the width of either the existing painted cycle lanes or traffic lanes, and were to make cycling safer and more attractive to new riders.

Critics of the concrete separators have been encouraged by a letter written by the Police’s district road policing co-ordinator, Senior Sergeant Warwick Stainton, listing six perceived problems.

These included constraining vehicles turning in and out of driveways, preventing cars from being able to pull to the side of the road urgently, preventing groups of cyclists from riding two abreast, and making it difficult for police to do u-turns or set up speed traps and checkpoints.

Prior to the meeting neither police nor AT would discuss with Stuff whether the officer’s views reflected police opinion on the safety of the cycle lane design, which is being replicated across Auckland.

John Thornley, the road policing manager for Tamaki Makaurau attended the meeting in person along with Stefan Sagar, the area commander, but Thornley made only general comments in favour of making roads safer.

Prasad said AT didn’t like what it had been seeing this week, and Upper Harbour Drive needed to be safer for both cyclists and motorists, and Alexander conceded “there do need to be changes”.