How many cities have found deep infrastructure failures because they build on efforts made by European colonisers?

There have always been issues in every city I have lived in. And it's not just me realising this. Any kid on a bicycle is probably going to notice how badly a city is planned.

I was lamenting one inanity in Albany when I got the response "you sound like my son, he complains about that all the time".

It's because it's a 30 minute ride to get around North Rd to the TAFE. In what could have been a 10 minute ride if they merely connected two laneways between Ulster Rd and Chesterpass Rd.

To be fair though, even Google maps admits that the modern city never finished the original connecting routes.

#Cycleways

It's local election year in Christchurch City, NZ, which means we have some politicians, including our self-confessed "petrol-head" mayor, making noise about the city's allegedly high spending on cycle ways. There's a good article today in #ThePress pushing back against that, showing that cycle way spending will be about 0.11% of rates increases. They compare that with the 4.6% rates increase for our new stadium.

What the article doesn't do is compare the city's cycle way and car way spending. I found numbers for the region on the ECan website for the next 10 years, for building and servicing our transport infrastructure. It's 74.3% car spend (mostly road maintenance and improvements), 21.9% public transport (including operating the bus fleets), and 3.3% cycling and walking.

https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360782234/what-cutting-cycleways-would-really-save-ratepayers

https://www.ecan.govt.nz/your-region/living-here/transport/regional-transport-planning/canterbury-transport-spend

#Cycleways #bikes #nz #biketooter #nzpol

The mayor of Christchurch city, NZ, Phil Mauger, is in the news backing the government’s proposal to cap councils’ rates increases. The article on #RNZ says that Mauger “agreed with [finance minister Nicola] Willis that councils had engaged in wasteful spending”.

Ah, you must be thinking, surely Mauger must mean our $683 million new stadium. That’s a big reason why Christchurch rates have gone up by on average almost 25% during the 3 years of Mauger’s term, while inflation had only risen about 8%.

No, of course not. He’s pointing at our cycle ways. “We've wasted money on how we have designed and built cycleways”. The council has budgeted on average $21 million annually over the next 10 years for cycleway and footpath maintenance and construction.

😔

Remember that it’s election year this year.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/566309/christchurch-mayor-backs-proposal-for-government-capped-rates-rises

#nzpol #BikeTooter #CycleWays #UrbanPlanning #Christchurch #nz

“You’re going to see vehicular assault. You’re going to see road rage incidents. It really feels there’s a target on the backs of cyclists in this city. The premier is playing politics with our safety.”

David Shellnutt,
a lawyer representing injured cyclists

- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/18/ontario-toronto-bike-lanes

#Cycling #Traffic #Cycleways #roadrage

#Transport for #London Press Release:
#TfL launches ten new #Cycleways across London, expanding the network to reach over a quarter of Londoners

"The new routes connect communities in areas including #Stratford, New Cross, #Barnet, #Walthamstow and #Ealing"
https://tfl-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/tfl-launches-ten-new-cycleways-across-london-expanding-the-network-to-reach-over-a-quarter-of-londoners