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| Motueka - No space for cyclists on High Street |
Extensive community feedback defers cycle lanes on Motueka’s High Street
An impressive volume of feedback from the community will continue to shape the Motueka Transport Choices Project. To date, Tasman District Council (TDC) has received almost 500 pieces of feedback across the project.
Transport Choices is a Council managed - Waka Kotahi (NZ Transport Agency) funded project. The nationwide fund is from the agency’s Climate Emergency Response Fund (CERF) that encourages New Zealanders to choose transport options that lower overall emissions into our environment. To enable that choice, the Transport Choices project seeks to make the streets around Motueka safer and more appealing for walking and cycling.
Responses to the proposed project work have been varied, from ardently supportive through to passionately against, with a huge variety of opinions in between, said Transportation Manager Jamie McPherson
“The community has given us some excellent ideas for how they want or need the transport system to function for them and their families, and how to keep mobility scooters, scooters, walkers, e-bikes and cyclists safe in our community.”
“Such a diverse range of opinions means ultimately not everyone will be satisfied with the final results, but it is important that we stay focussed on what the overall best outcomes are for the community.”
Where to from here?
The installation of cycle ways on High Street between Wharf Road and Whakarewa Street has been deferred and will not occur as part of the current Transport Choices Motueka project.
We will revisit what is possible and what the community would like to see on High Street in the future. Many safety concerns from residents and businesses were raised in the feedback about this stretch of State Highway. These will be summarised and fed back to Waka Kotahi.
We have a number of other priority projects being investigated and are working through the list of alternative suggestions raised by the community to enable safer walking and cycling.
Working with residents, businesses, schools and community groups to inform safe and convenient connections for all active transport users will help us decide the next steps for the project and to work out what is possible under the budget and timeframes determined by Waka Kotahi.
The ‘next steps’ plan will be presented to the Motueka Community Board at their July meeting and updates to the project will be posted on the Shape Tasman website.
Tasman District Council
Pigeon Post News, Richmond
So glad they deferred the cycle way through Motueka. The speed limit is 30 km. Cyclists are entitled to use the road and a 30 km speed limit should provide some increased safety.
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