Wellington City Council have put plans to build a permanent cycleway in Brooklyn on hold after losing over half of its funding. Waka Kotahi was expected to fund 51 percent through the Transport Choices fund, however Transport Minister Simeon Brown confirmed there would be no funding for the project in December.
There was also no mention of the Transport Choices programme or any alternatives in the draft Government Policy Statement in March.
A trial bike lane was installed in 2021 through Waka Kotahi’s Innovating Streets programme.
“In the interim Brooklyn Connections continues to function as a successful cycleway,” Hodgetts said.
Well the trial one is just most of the way up Brooklyn hill, and the proposed one would expand it to connect it to other ones according to the article.
It also talks about upgrades to what’s there already - at the moment its just part of the existing roadway blocked off with plastic bollards and those curb segment things bolted to the surface. It could be referring to something like what they’re doing on Thorndon Quay, where the cycle lane is actually going to be grade separated from the roadway at the level of the footpath, not sure.
Its a shame it’s not going ahead because a connected up network is what’s really needed for cycling to be a safe enough option for many people.
That’s exactly why it’s not going ahead. A safe, connected cycleway has users and that undercuts the ideological reckons and feels in the GPS.
Totally, the party that claims to be all about freedom of choice is shutting down choice of transport options