Cycle Wellington is calling on Wellington City Council and Waka Kotahi to help create a dedicated, safe and protected connection for people to walk and cycle into and out of Wellington City in the north - from Glenside to Tawa.
Artist's impression - Credit: Alice Reade
At the north of Wellington City the road that runs alongside the railway line is the original main road and highway in and out of Wellington. It is currently named ‘Middleton Road’, with a short section named ‘Willowbank Road’.
The original trail created and used by Māori became a bridle track when Europeans began arriving and was built into a road by the army. In 1951 the Porirua Motorway was constructed, and over time, Middleton and Willowbank Roads became a local road.
Even though the motorway diverts a large volume of traffic, Middleton Road remains a fast road that is unsafe, and uncomfortable, and is especially under-serving people who would prefer to engage in active travel: people on bikes, walkers, locals, and people passing through for tourism or commuting.
The design of the road still reflects an engineering mindset that prioritises speed and highway-style driving, over slower speed, local, human-scale use. There is intermittent footpath space on one side.
A project to improve this connection has been going through early planning work recently as a part of the Bike Network Plan, but has been severely slowed due to the extremely counter-productive transport policies and actions taken by the coalition Government.
Central government is currently outright attacking active travel, while choosing to return to spending 10’s of billions on the failed, last century roads-heavy motonormative ideology. Without any change in strategy from our Council and Waka Kotahi, there will be no improvement to this important connection for between 3 - 6 years.
As a component of the aspirational and internationally award-winning emerging Paneke Pōneke Bike Network, this section has so far been passed over for any ‘transitional’ treatment, like was pursued with some other projects. Planners decided they could do little to Middleton without involving some heavy civil works, so were working on a more expensive and demanding ‘transformational’ business plan.
Cycle Wellington argues that there are tactical / transitional options that could be implemented here quickly and cheaply.
There are also a number of other considerations that have complicated efforts to engineer providing more space, mainly in relation to the Porirua Stream and the resilience of the land and road. We believe that these issues are best not conflated with equitable transport provision, and need to be addressed and funded separately.
This gap in Wellington’s active travel network needs fixing.
As Wellington’s bike network grows, this 70 km/ph road, which has not been appropriately reconfigured since the motorway was built in the 1950s, will hinder the expected growth of journeys by bike in the north of our city.
Middleton Road is the primary route north in and out of the city for people walking and cycling. Worse - there are no other route options that do not involve very large hills, mountain biking, or tramping far out of the way.
With the development of new cycling connections such as Thorndon Quay, Ngā Ūranga Gorge, and Johnsonville, it is critical that this key route north does not remain a dangerous gap in the network.
This route is also essential to maximise access for active transport since Transmission Gully opened. The coastal route north for walkers and bike riders is a more appealing option with lighter levels of traffic passing through Porirua, Paremata, and Pukerua Bay.
The network effect will continue increasing the number of people choosing to cycle. More and more people are interested in moving about in sustainable, healthy, inexpensive, and fun ways. The climate challenge alone behooves us to prioritise walking and cycling for everyday journeys. With around 40% of climate harming emissions in Wellington City coming from transport activity, it is clear we need to do everything we can to help people avoid unnecessary car journeys and shift to walking, biking and public transport options.
As well as there being broader network connection needs, Middleton Road is under-serving people who live in the immediate area. A better walking and biking experience should allow people living in Glenside, Tawa, and through the corridor to better access and connect with each other.
Transform Middleton Road into Middleton Parkway; a linear park, with through-access for people walking, cycling, taking the bus, and resident’s private vehicles.
The wonderful natural environment here in Glenside should be more accessible and enjoyed by Wellingtonians by returning the area to a quiet, safe, and enriching green space. It could be a wonderful community asset if we choose to use the space in healthier, more equitable ways than currently.
View an interactive map of the proposed route:
The basic format of Middleton Parkway enables generous walking and dwelling space on the Porirua Stream side for the full length of the park. The design preserves an access lane for moving some vehicles and people on bikes.
Artist's impression - Credit: Alice Reade
This slow-speed access lane acts as a two-way cycleway and accessway for authorised vehicles only to travel north-south. General motor traffic would need to use the dedicated access provided by the nearby motorway at all times.
There is space for any rare instances of any oncoming private vehicle conflict to pass carefully with one vehicle moving temporarily over into the people space. Placemaking elements every 100m or so ensure that heavy vehicles return to the accessway to continue their journey.
We hope that an approach that transforms this area into a park can bypass the new constraints on speed limits for roads. The Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, has brought in a widely criticised new Speed Rule this year. The rule increases the speed of all traffic - mostly returning to the old blanket speed limits regardless of the danger imposed. Under the rule the lowest speed for a street is 40km/ph. By designating Middleton Road as a parkway, with an access lane / cycleway, the area can hopefully avoid being considered a road or street and instead be able to utilise an appropriate, safe speed for people.
We offer up our proposal to spark people’s imaginations. We do not claim to have solved all issues. We’re very unsure what to do to best connect the parkway treatment to the Tawa shared path north of Takapu Road for instance.
We hope Council officers can build on our ideas, and refine and implement a safe solution inspired by what we have put forward, but enhanced with full community engagement and input as per usual.
The Middleton Parkway proposal incorporates features and treatments that aim to deliver as much positive impact and community amenity as possible without incurring large costs. If, as a city, we get creative, we don’t see how we couldn’t realise something like our proposal, even in these highly financially constrained times.
Street mix sketch of the general configuration. The bus and bike access lane would be two-way. Passing vehicles (i.e. buses, cars) can move past each other by encroaching carefully between placemaking elements.
Narrow section layout. (8m)
Bus stop. The bus stop is served by alighting platforms on both sides at the same point, with the lane travelling through the centre.
Connecting the parkway to the shared path north of Takapu Road Train Station will be very challenging. We don’t have a clear suggestion for this element. Some significant improvements will definitely be needed to support the network effect in the area.
Options might involve:
Move people on bikes into and out of the two-way park access lane just prior to the bridge near the Rowells Road intersection. The active travel space can use some of the wide space on the eastern verge and by reallocating the wide centre-median. This area is large enough to allow a limited vehicle turning area and some parking spaces for visitors by car.
Make a nicer, smoother connection through to the shared path north of the Takapu Station, either by a new crossing over the stream prior to the station, or incorporated into any future road bridge replacement project.
Improvements for pedestrian and cycling access to Takapu Road train station - especially the southbound side.
Active travel access east across the stream and train line to Rowels Road and Grenada Village via a motorway underpass.
