Rangiora Town Cycleway Stage One

Council is developing a new cycleway to connect the Passchendaele Memorial Path through to the Rangiora Town Centre in the future. The first stage of this is getting people on bikes safely through the busy Southbrook commercial area.

This was identified as a priority by the public through the Walking and Cycling Network Plan adopted by Council in 2022.

The cycleway is jointly funded by Council and through Government’s Climate Emergency Response Funding Transport Choices (CERF).

The approved route for Stage One is as follows:

• Railway Road

• Torlesse Street

• Coronation Street

• Country Lane

• South Belt (to King Street)

This route will include a combination of separated shared use paths, dedicated separated cycle facilities, and neighbourhood greenways.

As the route runs alongside the KiwiRail South Island Main Trunk Line, Council staff are working closely with KiwiRail to mitigate impacts, and identify any additional works required as a result of this project. There are robust processes in place to do this and Council staff are currently working with KiwiRail to undertake this process.

The scheme design for this project includes two significant changes to the road layout of Railway Road to improve safety. These are outlined below:

Marsh Road / Railway Road Intersection

The scheme design proposes to give priority to Station Road / Marsh Road traffic. This is a significant change but is intended to improve safety at this intersection by:

• Simplifying the intersection for drivers using the existing level crossing. Drivers on Station Road and Marsh Road will still need to STOP prior to driving over the level crossing, but they would not need to give way to Railway Rd traffic, removing the risk that a motorist may be required to stop on the railway line.
• This change in priority also has a significant benefit to delivery vehicles accessing businesses off Station Road. Giving these users priority will make their turning movement from Station Road into Railway Road safer.

Railway Road One-Way (between Marsh Road and PAK’nSAVE rear entrance)

The scheme design proposes to make this short (60m)length of Railway Road one-way northbound only.

This is a significant change, and will mean residents of Railway Road, Torlesse Street, and Marshall Street area will exit to Southbrook Road via the new traffic signals. Residents will still be able to access PAK’nSAVE via Railway Road.

Staff have worked to address the specific requirements raised by KiwiRail, and local businesses about this section of Railway Road. The one-way design is intended to reallocate the existing road space by providing:

• 3.5m north-bound traffic lane
• 3.0m short term truck parking
• 2.0m safety buffer between truck parking, and proposed pathway.
• 2.5m shared use path
• 5.0m safety buffer between shared use path, and railway line

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 will develop the network and, after extensive community engagement, the final plan and prioritisation programme was adopted by Council in October 2022.

This project was put forward for the Climate Emergency Response Funding (CERF) Transport Choices funding stream and Council has since secured funding to develop plans for this route. Government’s (CERF) Transport Choices 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 transport 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 network 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 this specific route to provide safer and more accessible connections 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 scheme plan with the community and will report back to Rangiora-Ashley Community Board and Council in 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. Due to the tight timeframes, we are seeking community feedback on the proposed design while staff are continuing to work with KiwiRail and local businesses.

Pending feedback, 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 Monday 11 September 2023.