Construction of Nelson’s planned East-West Cycleway could be delayed or staged amid ongoing concerns about its route.
The city’s elected members attended a Wednesday workshop to discuss the project further after an earlier workshop in June revealed that 200 car parks could be lost along the recommended Trafalgar Street South route.
Council staff had been asked to consider an alternative option put forward by sustainable transport group Nelsust via Rutherford Street, but a month later their recommendation was still unchanged.
The original route down Collingwood Street, the revised route down Trafalgar Street South, and the Nelsust route down Rutherford Street were scored against each other by staff.
Out of a possible total of 30, the Trafalgar Street South option scored 28, with Collingwood Street close behind on 24, and Nelsust’s Rutherford Street proposal trailing on 15.
Car park impact, amenity, safety, and school connectivity were some of the factors considered.
Collingwood Street has already been largely discounted due its steepness.
Some elected members, like deputy mayor Pete Rainey, wanted to examine Nelsust’s proposal further, despite its poor score.
“We’ve just been presented with the staff option, but there is another option that I think we should be given the opportunity to discuss,” he said.
Elected members were still supportive of the project but remained concerned about the scale of parking loss, particularly along Nile Street, and wanted to further explore the cycleway’s design.
Mayor Nick Smith said the project would “require a bit more work”.
“For such a significant project, in which there is contention in the community, I think my instinct is that we need to have a further workshop around testing the Nelsust option.”
However, he warned that a workshop to “kick the tyres” on the Nelsust proposal would delay the current schedule to make a final route decision in September.
Smith said he would informally continue discussions with councillors as to if they wanted to continue to workshop options, or to forge ahead with just the Nile Street section.
Delivering the cycleway in sections was raised as a possibility after staff indicated that the $4 million budget for the project was tight.
“I wonder whether the right way forward is to focus on getting the cycleway from the Maitai River down Nile Street, having the proper budget to be able to build it in such a way that we can offset some of the loss of parking,” Smith said.
The current design for Nile Street, between the Maitai River and Collingwood Street, would see 93 car parks removed and 55 retained.
If Nile Street was delivered first, the remaining sections would be funded and built in future years of the council’s 10-year long-term plan.
Nelsust’s convenor, Peter Olorenshaw, was pleased the council was going to look further at the group’s proposal.
“Overall, we’ve got the same aims, we just want a good, safe cycleway. We’re sort of arguing about detail, I suppose.”
He would welcome the opportunity to discuss the Nelsust’s proposal directly with elected members, as the scoring done by staff was “very subjective” and “misrepresented” their plan.
Olorenshaw believed their route mitigated many of the concerns raised, such as steepness, parking loss, and school access, and had gone through a detailed design process to demonstrate its viability on the streetscape.
He added that he didn’t mind a delay to the project to investigate options further but was worried that a staged cycleway might not be fully delivered.
“I think it’s better to get the whole route done, maybe [in a] quick and dirty way, and then, as funding allows… polish it up.”
