Cycle Wellington is calling on Wellington City Council, Waka Kotahi and KiwiRail to improve the shared path on Old Hutt Road. People who will be using the soon to open Te Ara Tupua coastal path need a safe and attractive continuation of this soon to be iconic seaside path. This section needs to complement the quality and vision of the Great Harbour Way linear park around our beautiful harbour environment.
Artist's impression - Southern section looking south - Credit: Alice Reade
Hutt Road was originally the main road to the north of Wellington to the Hutt Valley and Nga Uranga Gorge.
The section of Old Hutt Road has been a secondary adjacent road to the Wellington Urban Motorway since the first section of it opened in 1968. For recent decades the footpath beside has been classified as a shared path which, while not ideal, has at least enabled people walking and cycling to travel here in some capacity.
With a total of 10 lanes for motorised vehicles in the area, as well as rail lines, it is clearly time that comfortable accommodation of people walking and cycling is finally taken seriously here.
Active travel facilities to the north and south have been upgraded recently. Wakely Path and improvements on Nga Uranga Gorge, and the separated cycleway along Thorndon Quay encourage and enable more safe walking and cycling.
The northern approach into Wellington along Thorndon Quay is currently the busiest cycling route in the city at commute times.
Te Ara Tupua is the walking and cycling path currently being constructed from Petone to Nguaranga, opening in early 2026. This will be an attractive route for a wide range of visitors and people getting around by active modes - people walking, visiting the city, tourism, school groups, and recreational users on the Great Harbour Way and the Rimutaka Cycle Trail.
Having an uncomfortable and unsafe section on the approach to the new shared path risks undermining the $300m investment in this new facility. For Wellingtonians, and visitors to Wellington, to really enjoy the experience of our harbour environment - this 1.4km segment of Wellington’s active travel network needs upgrading urgently.
NZTA’s 2020 analysis of projected demand on Te Ara Tupua contained the following estimates of weekday cyclists (predominantly) and walkers between Petone and Nga Uranga:
|
Current |
721 |
|
12 months after completion |
1812 |
|
2035 |
3631 |
This 5-fold increase over a decade results from a combination of better facilities, increased e-bike uptake, population growth, and an increasingly urgent response to our climate crisis.
Leaving the Hutt Rd section of this overall route un-improved will:
The corridor connecting the Wellington central city to the northern suburbs and Hutt Valley has been a major and expensive undertaking. Te Ara Tupua will cost around $300 m. The path from Petone to Melling cost $74 m. Hutt Road and Thorndon Quay cost around $50 m (including non-cycling infrastructure such as urban redesign and infrastructure upgrades). Ironically, the Hutt Road path - which has been deferred - is the cheapest and least complex section of this route, and would involve no loss of car parking. Yet this weak link remains. Overall, this is nonsensical.
Wellington City Council committed to upgrade this section of path during Justin Lester’s mayoralty, if a project connecting to Petone (Te Ara Tupua) was ever consented and funded.
Page 11: Minutes of the Transport and Urban Development Committee 19/05/2016
"When the Petone to Ngauranga cycleway improvement is consented and fully funded
r. Implement improvements to the cycleway between Caltex and Ngauranga"
This section of road ended up as a part of the ill-fated Let’s Get Wellington Moving programme and attention to improve this area was abandoned completely following the LGWM cancellation in early 2024.
The new old Hutt Road path could be made up of two main configurations providing separated space for walking and cycling.
Some of the improvements we suggest could be done quickly and cheaply, but a fully accessible and appealing route needs to be achieved in the first couple of years after Te Ara Tupua opens.
For the southern (almost) half there is an opportunity to provide wide, comfortable walking and cycling by adapting a section of the adjacent railway maintenance access road. This configuration would run from between the U Gas fuel stop until the motorway underpass.
Adapting the access road here solves the worst pinch point of the segment: at the overbridge of the main rail line heading north.
There would be several pieces of work needed to make the rail access lane usable as a footpath:
The current fence between the two paths already has some beautiful mature native trees and shrubs that will provide a pleasant physical separation.
Hopefully KiwiRail can collaborate with WCC and NZTA on this needed improvement. There is otherwise no space to fit active travel space without impacting on the road lanes.
There is an existing precedent for this solution from KiwiRail, where the shared path between Mana and Plimmerton doubles as the maintenance access to the neighbouring railway line.
For the northern (bit more than) half: create a dedicated footpath space to the east of the existing shared path. The available space for another footpath is variable, but would fit well for most of the length in question.
Northern section looking north - Illustration by Alice Reade
The new footpath would need to be a good quality surface. Some form of differentiation from the asphalt of the existing shared path would help make the different uses intuitive to walkers and cyclers alike. There also exists a raised concrete edge, so the footpath can easily be on a slightly higher level from the cycleway. Some markings similar to what people will see on Te Ara Tupua to indicate the priority uses of each space could also help.
In the medium term, we recommend exploring how to repurpose some of the eastern-most southbound traffic lane to become the two-way cycleway as the motorway and mature trees make a pinch point on the path where an adjancent footpath cannot fit.
Given that the new Aotea Quay roundabout provides a route where freight trucks don’t need to use Hutt Road, some of the traffic lane space here could be allocated differently to properly accommodate active travel.
The Te Ara Tupua project provides several locations where more space allows people to rest and enjoy called ‘Ūranga’ or ‘landing place’. They include some bike parking, seating and new planting. There are opportunities where similar attention to detail could be applied along Old Hutt Road as well.
At roughly the middle of the route there is a large open area that could provide some space for people to take a pause, and would be excellent for a coffee cart.
And at Jardin Mile where the path heads under the motorway to the seaside there is a large corner of empty space on either side that could be tidied up and made much more pleasant.
The lighting along this section is limited as there are only street lights on the far side of Old Hutt Road or the Motorway. Ultimately this section of path should be upgraded to similar lighting as Te Ara Tupua. New lighting needed for the new footpath section beside the railway lines as well. Perhaps in the short term some solar powered lighting could be installed.
There is a lot of mature greenery along the whole route. There is some really nice planting between the shared path and the railway access road that would be nice to keep but definitely needs some love… The greenery on the bank of the motorway would benefit from some attention. Some of the trees will need careful trimming back to fit the new footpath space in places.
Improvements already planned at Jarden Mile connect to Te Ara Tupua through the motorway underpass, but do not connect well to the existing path or to the improvements we propose. The currently planned Jarden Mile changes create a pinch point where the path meets the bus stop and a new bus shelter, despite the pavement widening planned. Further widening the path, and changing the bus stop layout, would:
The Jarden Mile changes finish north of this entrance, failing to improve another risk area.
The stock trucks using this entrance have blind spots to their left. They cross this path at an angle that neither improves visibility or slows trucks to a safe speed to cross the path of people cycling southwards. We know of riders hit by left-turning traffic here.
We recommend a raised platform to slow trucks, and widening the path here to provide more avoidance space in the event of conflict. Clearly defined priority for cyclists and slower trucks would be safer, reflecting the relative numbers of each.
Connecting into the southern end should be fairly straightforward.
The layout will need to be sensitive to interactions with the self-serve petrol station at this point. We have seen treatment for a similar situation at Waitomo further south on the Hutt Road. With signs, and traffic calming at both the entrance and exit. This could be appropriate treatment for the southern boundary of our proposal.
The available space along Old Hutt Road warrants exploring peak time bus lanes in each direction (southbound AM, northbound PM). These would further make public transport by bus more efficient and appealing for the routes that traverse this area.
