Completing Tauranga’s network of cycleways and providing safety upgrades to existing ones are among “the city’s most urgent needs” say cycling advocates disappointed by the Government’s decision to spend less on new cycleways.

The advocates say if the Government has ruled out investing more in new cycleways and safety upgrades to existing ones then the community needs to look to Tauranga City Council to do so.

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has unveiled a $1.9 billion investment in transport projects in the Bay of Plenty region which he said would boost economic growth and unlock land for thousands of houses.

This includes funding to progress work on three Roads of National Significance in the Tauranga area and improvements to Welcome Bay Rd, Turret Rd and 15th Avenue, as well as $412 million to prevent potholes on the Bay of Plenty’s state highways and local roads.

Brown said the $32.9 billion National Land Transport Programme for the next three years included less money for cycleways and a move away from public transport, and the new focus was on economic growth and productivity.

The Government’s budget for walking and cycling improvements goes towards helping councils build new cycleways. This has been halved from $910m in the 2021-2024 programme to $460m in this plan – a large cut when factoring in inflation that has occurred in that time.

Cycle Action Tauranga chairman Kevin Kerr says a new design enabling the completion of the Ōmokoroa to Tauranga cycleway comes as a 'huge relief'. Photo / George Novak.

The minister defended the decision to halve the walking and cycling budget, saying the Government needed to move away from “nice-to-haves” and get back to basics.

He said he believed New Zealanders were “sick and tired” of money being spent on cycleways.

Passionate cyclist Kevin Kerr, the former Tauranga chairman of the Cycle Action Network advocacy group, said everyone was disappointed there was no funding allocation from the Government for new cycleways and urgent safety improvements.

“It would be nice to have a network of cycleways throughout the city to connect the suburbs, particularly on Welcome Bay Rd and Turret Rd, and into the city.

“This is one of the city’s most urgent needs. However, if the Government is not going to give us the money for new purpose-built cycle lanes, there are some things we can do within the council’s money constraints to make the existing network safer for cyclists.”

Kerr said a number needed upgrading to make them, and the cyclists using them, more visible to motorists.

Improvements needed were better signage, more greenway lanes with visible yellow paint highlighting the paths used by cyclists and more cycle paths being physically separated from other traffic, he said.

“At the moment what we’ve got for some of them is pretty little demarcation between cyclists and other traffic.”

Wednesday Challenge director Heidi Hughes.

Former city councillor and the Wednesday Challenge director Heidi Hughes endorsed Kerr’s comments.

The Wednesday Challenge aimed to get Tauranga people to use alternative modes of transport one day a week to help reduce the city’s congestion and carbon footprint, and so far this year there have been 280,000 alternative mode trips recorded, she said.

Hughes said it was “hugely disappointing” to see such an imbalance in the amount of investment in alternative transport modes by the coalition Government.

“With only 6% going to public transport and a negligible spend on cycling and walking, we’re in for a future of further traffic congestion and car dependency in Tauranga, much like Auckland has experienced and is now struggling to dig itself out of.”

She said Tauranga had just begun “building momentum” in providing cycleways across the city.

“However, most are not yet connected across the city, and there are still many danger points. And we’re not seeing the uptake we could get if we continued the investment and finished what has been started.”

She said there was “often vocal indignation” as each new cycleway went in and a perception that outrageous sums were being spent.

“But the reality is that the amount of funding required to build cycleways is far less than building roads per the number of people who use them, and the return on investment is multiple times greater.”

Hughes said 7800 people were taking part in the Wednesday Challenge, including 19 schools and 55 business teams.

“However, it is only when there is the commitment to fund safe and reliable alternatives, that we will see our city reach its true potential,” she said.

Mahé Drysdale is Tauranga's new mayor. Photo / Alisha Evans.

The Bay of Plenty Times asked Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale whether the council was prepared to fund all or part of the money required to complete the city’s network of cycleways and fund safety upgrades to some of the existing ones.

“We need to deliver value for money for our people,” Drysdale said. “If cycleways can deliver that and reduce our need for roads then we will consider those on a case-by-case basis.

“However, we are facing some tough financial times, and don’t want to increase rates more than we have to. So we need to take that into account with every decision we make.”

Drysdale said a report would be presented to the council on Monday to discuss NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi’s recent decision around transport funding and what this would mean for the council’s transport projects.

How the funding is split

• Tauriko West SH29 – Estimated cost $264m
• SH29 Ōmanawa Bridge – $174m
• SH29 stage one – route protection $6.5m and SH29A stage three pre-implementation $72m
• Takitimu North Link stage one – cost $655m with $4m of road revocation funded in this announcement
• Takitimu North Link stage two – $93m
• SH2 Waioeka Gorge – $110m

*These figures are provisions within the National Land Transport Programme and unless already approved, are subject to change.

-Bay of Plenty Times.