WCC wants to wipe out 600 car parks

Stuff reports:

Long-awaited plans to extend Wellington’s Island Bay cycleway north to the Basin Reserve have been revealed.

Wellington City Council has released three design options for the cycleway  which will run through Newtown and Berhampore, and possibly Mt Cook.

The proposed routes would all result in a loss of car parking, with the most direct route potentially wiping out up to 605 spaces.

Which no doubt will also wipe out scores of businesses that will die because no one can park by their business.

Cycleways should be built off-road. I’m all for cycleways such as the proposed Hutt Road one which will be between the train tracks and the sea.

But fellow cyclist and Newtown resident Graeme Tuckett said cycleway infrastructure was not an issue because he used back roads to avoid traffic.

Rather than use Kent/Cambridge Terrace, he used Home St and Hania St to get to the Basin Reserve, and rather than Adelaide Rd, he often used the adjacent Hanson St.

Those routes could be sign-posted by the council as suggested cycle routes, Tuckett said.

“I definitely approve of cycleways, but they can be done simply and inexpensively. They don’t need to be over-engineered, over-complicated, and over-expensive.”

Yes!