Guest blog: Newtown Connections

Liz Springford is a resident of Berhampore. This is her submission to Wellington City Council on the Newtown Connections consultation

I believe improvements are very important for people of all ages and abilities walking and biking (and scooting) around and through the Newtown Connections area.

I have lived in Berhampore for 30 years now.

1. I recommend that WCC ask Tonkin & Taylor to develop Package Z – which combines the best of Packages A, B & C, with some new possibilities.

Package Z is based on Package C ROUTES:

• Most importantly, choose Rintoul Street to connect comfortably and conveniently from Luxford Street to Adelaide Road.
• Russell Terrace to give SWIS students a more direct route to school - and other cyclists a direct route into Newtown
• Wilson Street, Owen Street, Wellington Hospital plus Hospital Road to conveniently and safely connect to cycle route up over Constable Street and into the Eastern suburbs.
• Both side routes to complement main commute routes – western Berhampore Golf Course, and eastern Wakefield Park, Stanley Street (pink), MacAlister Park, Hanson and Tasman Streets.

BUT the TREATMENTS are these: (NB: cyclepath is level with footpath – despite design tool limits)

• Adelaide Road (Dee to Duppa): one-way cyclepath west & east sides, carparks west side streetmix.net/adelaide-road-dee-to-duppa-west-side-carparks
• Adelaide Road (Duppa to Luxford): streetmix.net/adelaide-road-berhampore-village-carpark-sections and streetmix.net/adelaide-road-berhampore-village-sections
• Luxford Street: streetmix.net/luxford-street-berhampore-nz
• Rintoul Street: on both sides (east and west) - one-way cyclepath adjacent to footpath and at same level; one-side carparks on either west or east side.
• Riddiford/Adelaide Road to Basin: on both sides (east and west) – one-way cyclepath adjacent to footpath and at same level; carparks on both sides.
• Complementary east-side & west-side routes: ensure all the off-road paths are well-lit with energy-smart movement-sensing lighting to increase social safety and maximise use.
• Stanley Street: west-side cyclepath initially next to bank and protected from falling debris, then same level as footpath northwards. Southwards cycling (downhill) marked by sharrows to take the lane.
• Russell Terrace: Remember this is likely to be used by many 10-12 year olds to bike to intermediate school. One-way cycle paths adjacent and same level as footpath. Protected from traffic with vertical posts. Design to physically slow traffic as this is a speeding zone.

People on bikes battling along a very narrow stretch of Adelaide Road

2. Principles:

• Do it right first time (rates, taxes and construction inconvenience are costly, also “dig once”). Over-riding rationale is safe cycling for all ages and abilities. Time to prioritise a safe same-level kerbside cyclepath through our Berhampore Village – ahead of Island Bay’s third cycleway version. Don’t waste rates and taxes putting in a dangerous traffic-adjacent painted cyclelane that resembles Island Bay’s original dangerous door-zoner of almost 20 years ago. Time to design for the next two decades, not recreate past problems.
• Safer for everyone – speed limits that work; cycleways, walkways and “raised table” intersections that are safer for all ages, all abilities. Safe cycleways (and walkways) are only as safe as the most dangerous section.
• Future-proof - width for new people-powered transport, overnight E-car charging, actively reduce private car reliance to decrease inefficient land use & population growth congestion. Scope to build more cycling/scooting capacity, ditto walkways, as population grows. One way streets for all traffic? Consider likely routes for light rail this decade and beyond. (Cycleway width examples: passing slower bikes etc safely/ children’s bike chariots/cargo bikes/motorised disability scooters/adult tricycles/faster E-scooters & E-bikes/motorised disability scooters/side-by-side tandems, bikes pushing wheelchairs, 2 bikes in parallel).
• Attractive Berhampore Village heart for everyone – regardless of income, culture & transport. Quirky creative features that invite lingering, sitting and chatting, inside or outside our cafes. Signage, plant boxes, art, seating, community noticeboards, native & fruit trees. Colour! Vision of our Village – not a drive-through, time to slow down, respect and enjoy.
• Build unity in Berhampore community – respect for differing situations and needs, but overall fairly sharing scarce land and air resources. Practise for more climate changes.
• Think outside the concrete mixer – reduce demand for car parks, increase supply. Rates of change matter, calculate volumes and timing carefully to avoid business impact.
• In depth consultation for the most affected streets – businesses and residents, to understand and better manage varying individual impacts, including during construction.
• Interim changes in January – cut-through pedestrian pinchpoints and ramp up & down wide footpaths, coupled with peaktime clearways along Wakefield Park, Skate Park/Cycle Park, and MacAlister Park sections of Adelaide Road. More sharrows in the narrows – including repainting please over summer. Public education about 1.5m safe cycle passing, 1m door zones, sharrows, not parking on footpaths and correct Island Bay cycleway car parking – with active monitoring, cameras and enforcement. Trial different treatments along Island Bay cycleway to make it easy for drivers not to park on the cycleway. Or start warning, then towing drivers that do park on the cycleway. Observation and photos suggest incorrect parking is unrelated to vehicle size.

18,000 cars squeeze through the Berhampore village every day, which makes cycling uncomfortable

3. More detail re “think outside the concrete mixer”

A. Reduce DEMAND for car parking:

• more people enjoying biking, walking, scooting more often and for longer distances
• car pooling for sports and cultural events bringing people into Berhampore
• special buses & minivans to zoo and other popular locations
• car pooling, minivans, “biking buses”, mixed mode movement etc for major employers such as the Regional Hospital, Wakefield Hospital, Village at the Park and Salvation Army
• promoting and actively recruiting to maximise car share vehicles in Berhampore, Newtown and Mt Cook (vouchers – especially for most affected streets and community services card holders). Each car share vehicle removes 10 privately owned cars off roads/out of parking spaces/garages
• interest free loans etc for discounted bulk purchased pushbikes, scooters, e-scooters and e-bikes. Further discounts for community service card holders and families buying multiple items.
• free prepaid Snapper cards to encourage trying buses, especially affected streets and community service card holders

B. Increase SUPPLY of car parking:

• diagonals on north-west stretch of Herald St, south-east Chilka St and other quiet wide streets?
• car-parking purchased from 25 Waripori Street apartment blocks – especially with carshare and interest-free loans etc as above.
• car-parking at Russell Terrace zoo overflow area
• apps/Berhampore Peeps Facebook to rent out unused garages and promote less parked streets

4. Do we have to go Green?

Sometimes “green” (painted cycleways) is over-rated – use natural colours to welcome into the heart of our Berhampore Village – or quirky bright colours? (But today’s bright quirky colours may date – so maybe leave these for features that are faster to recolour). Caramel coloured cross pavers clearly mark the space for cycling, but enable either walkers or cyclists to flow across if need-be and if clear. Also makes the shopping space more attractive.

I support Berhampore Village and Berhampore Community Association submissions calling for a Berhampore Village Project to give our shopping heart some well overdue love and attention – at the same time as developing safe cycling and walking infrastructure that is consistent with WCC’s Sustainable Transport Hierarchy in the Low Carbon Capital Plan (best updated to “No Carbon Capital Plan”?)

5. Finally,

I recommend this 10 minute video: vimeo.com/13499122 for an inspiring vision of how Wellington could grow as a people-friendly city, and meet our challenges of projected population growth, housing crisis and climate changes.

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Read more about the feedback received during the most recent phase of the Newtown Connections consultation here: ​Newtown Connections packages engagement data analysis