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Would you support the use of Hunter St as part of a dedicated city centre cycleway circuit?
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Comment 1 20 Jul 2010, 10:12 AM
Yes
Comment 2 20 Jul 2010, 10:27 AM
I would prefer a solution that ran along King St, there is too much traffic, cars on the side of the road and buses that run along Hunter street. It would be much easier to separate the bikes from traffic along King street and/or warf road.
Comment 3 20 Jul 2010, 10:48 AM
I broadly agree with uraok. Hunter street at present is too dangerous with narrow kerbside lanes, buses and traffic. Overall we need just one good route free of car doors that links the main east west cycleway which peters out at Darby st to the center. I would suggest King is more natural, but diverted through to the mall before it starts going uphill down perkins or wolf. The mall allows access to the foreshore via the bridge, and if it is followed up hunter against the one way section, down left to the station and foreshore at watt or straight on to the beaches. This at present is the least stressful cycling route into the city but is illegal as it involves cycling the wrong way in the mall.
Comment 3.1 24 Jul 2010, 9:42 PM
I would skip the mall, too many conflicts. Take the route on to Scott St at that point, as the railway on one side makes this pretty simple and safe.
Comment 4 20 Jul 2010, 10:57 AM
King street is the obvious choice for cycle way development. This wold remove the pedestrial shopper potentail to conflict with cyclers. In any case there is an obvious need for higher level policing of cyclists when using public roads.
Comment 4.1 20 Jul 2010, 1:46 PM
I disagree that there is inevitable pedestrian/shopper conflict with cyclists if design is thoughtful (eg different coloured cement, barricades/chicanes and crossing points. Such problems have been solved elsewhere) But I don't really care where the route is, as long as it is actually built instead of endlessly talked about. At present I just ride up King, but the hill I imagine puts a lot of casual cyclists off and so they will end up illegally in the mall or fighting with the traffic on hunter.
Comment 4.1.1 26 Jul 2010, 7:58 PM
I'm with Plaz on this one, I think Gary isn't much of a cyclist here. King Street is probably better for at least some of its length, but things get rather dicey up there east of Union Street, and even worse after Darby. I would recommend running the cycleway along King Street up to Stuart Avenue or Union Street, then moving down to Hunter Street. This also supports the cycleways as they are, since most cyclists will be approaching through Hamilton South (Along Dumaresq, across Stuart Avenue, down the cycleway that runs alongside Newcastle High and then across the netball more…
Comment 4.1.1.1 30 Jul 2010, 2:25 PM
I am sick and tied of stopping at red lights and having cyclists ride straight past red lights, not wearing helmets, riding on the wrong suide of the road, it is about time that the irresponsible cyclists were fined
Comment 4.1.1.1.1 19 Aug 2010, 10:12 PM
I would call this a case of remembering the positives. You suspect that cyclists are irresponsible and so you remember the irresponsible ones and forget about the 99% of perfectly nice safe cyclists. It's okay, I do the same thing with drivers. I agree, though, irresponsible cyclists are not caught nearly enough. It's just that your attitude irks me.
Comment 5 20 Jul 2010, 4:51 PM
It does not matter too much which street (Hunter or King) is chosen, or even a combination, with inbound along King and outbound along Hunter. The important thing is that it provides a safe, identified and marked cycling route from West of the City to the City and beyond to the beaches. It needs to be well designed, engineered and built.
As others have commented, if it is poorly designed it will be bypassed and only add to the aggravation that the cycling community receive.
Comment 6 20 Jul 2010, 6:32 PM
I agree with all the posts in particular the choice of Street not being important but that it should eventually take you back to Hunter through the mall or Scott St not via the hills. We just need a dedicated cycleway that is well planned and with no parked cars in it.
Comment 7 20 Jul 2010, 8:10 PM
Remove vehicle parking from one side of ANY street or route chosen, divide that lane into East & West cycleways. Public transport would have to compensate for loss of parking.
Comment 8 20 Jul 2010, 8:51 PM
I live in the city and ride a bike every day. Hunter Street is the last place you would put a bikeway. Even if you took the unlikely step of removing parking, you would still have to deal with a bus every 2 or 3 minutes pulling in and out along with other traffic movements at every intersection. King Street is slightly better, but still too busy and dangerous. Honeysuckle Drive is much safer but has very poor connections into the city due to the barrier formed by the railway line. If the HDC report is implemented and a cycleway more…
Comment 8.1 23 Jul 2010, 3:59 PM
I agree bike riders would appreciate being catered for,but King & Hunter Streets are not the answer. Far better to wait and utilize parts of the heavy rail line into the city,which eventually must happen. One must remember most bikers are most probally children or workers,NOT shoppers,therfore cars will always require more space than currently provided. Most shopping parcels etc. are taken home by cars, not bikes,buses or trains. Trevor
Comment 8.2 26 Jul 2010, 8:03 PM
Contrary to my previous comment, but you have changed my mind. Fully in agreement here; rip up the bloody rail line and put a cycleway there (possibly running down Stuart and through or beside the Wickham interchange, assuming the line is stopped at Wickham which is really the only sensible choice). Make it nice to walk along and beautify it a little, and put a wide and shallow-inclined footbridge at any road crossings (Civic Station and any streets which get extended across the former rail line) so that the road and cycleway don't interfere.
Comment 8.2.1 30 Jul 2010, 2:19 PM
Keep the Rail line, add light rail to supplement the rail line and make the rest cycleways
Comment 9 29 Jul 2010, 12:52 AM
What a fantastic idea!! Many cities in the world have dedicated cycling paths on main roads into and around their city. Keeping the cycleway simple and easy for all to use is the key to making it successful. I have seen situations where the footpath consists of two pathways side by side - one for pedestrians only and the other wider for cyclists. I think this could work in Hunter St.
