Central city cycle projects approved

Christchurch City Council has approved three projects that will make it easier and safer for people to get into the central city by bike.

The first project involves creating a separated cycle lane on each side of Antigua Street, from St Asaph Street to Moorhouse Avenue, where it will link into the Quarryman’s Trail major cycleway route.

There is already a two-way cycle lane on Antigua Street between Tuam and St Asaph streets.

New traffic calming measures and a 30km per hour speed limit will also be put in place on Antigua Street.

The second project involves making changes to the Antigua Street footbridge to ease the existing bottleneck that constrains the flow of pedestrians and cyclists, creating safety issues.

The third project will see changes made to Worcester Street, between Fitzgerald Avenue and Manchester Street, so that people using the Rapanui Shag Rock major cycleway route can get in and out of the central city easier.

That section of Worcester Street will become a 30km per hour shared-road, with sharrows, and a speed hump to slow-down motorists.

Council Head of Transport and Waste Management Lynette Ellis says the three projects are part of the Council’s push to improve the safety and accessibility of cycle connections within the central city.

Work on the Antigua Street cycle lanes and footbridge will begin in late 2022, while work on the Worcester Street changes will begin in September 2022.