Kaiapoi Ravenswood Cycleway

Council is building a new cycleway to connect Kaiapoi through to Woodend and Ravenswood. This was identified as a priority by the public through the Walking and Cycling Network Plan adopted by Council in 2022.

Both sections of this route will be a 2.5m wide shared use path. The two sections will tie into the existing on-road cycle lanes through the Woodend town centre.

This cycleway is jointly funded by Council and through Government’s Climate Emergency Response Funding Transport Choices (CERF) with the connection from Kaiapoi to Woodend additionally supported by Better Off Funding.

How did we get here?

Council developed the Walking and Cycling Strategy that aimed to improve the accessibility and safety of walking and cycling networks in the community. The Walking and Cycling Network Plan supports the strategy by outlining how we are going build the network and, after extensive community engagement, the final plan and prioritisation programme was adopted by Council in October 2022.

These projects were put forward for the CERF Transport Choices funding stream, and the Woodend to Kaiapoi connection was also put forward for the ‘Better Off’ funding stream (Three Waters Reform). Council has since secured this funding.

Government’s Climate Emergency Response Funding (CERF) is clearly focussed on supporting projects that contribute to tackling climate change. When it comes to transport, it means looking at how we can offer safer, healthier, and more accessible alternatives for people to move around their towns and cities more easily.

Why are we building this cycleway?

Through our community consultation on the Walking and Cycling Network Plan in 2022 there was overwhelming feedback that we should increase our level of investment in providing walking and cycling facilities. Over 80% of people who provided feedback stated that they support a higher level of investment by Council in building this walking and cycling plan and meaning priority routes should be built sooner.

In particular, we’ve had strong feedback from the community that they want to see Council invest in these specific routes as they connect our main towns and make the wider network safer and more accessible for everyone.

Having great infrastructure that allows people to move around the District in different ways benefits everyone and provides choice on how people want to travel. Having options means that people can make healthier choices and less cars on the roads and more parking options can make a difference.

Nationally, Waka Kotahi is supporting Councils across the country on a programme of work that aims to open our streets and help people in communities get to where they need to go safely and efficiently.

By connecting our towns people will have the opportunity to use walking or cycling as a viable means to commute to work or school in a safer and healthier way. This reduces the reliance on cars and is part of a wider programme to reduce emissions from transport.

What are the next steps?

We are sharing our plans with the community and will report back to Community Boards and Council in September/October 2023. Once final designs are approved we will undertake the procurement process and intend to award contracts for the build before the end of 2023.

Building of the cycleways should start in early 2024 with completion date of June 2024. We will continue to provide regular updates on progress throughout the build.

Please let us know what you think by completing the quick survey below before Friday 1 September 2023.