Transport options  |  18 Mar 2022

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A project to make a stretch of Colombo Street safer for people to bike on is about to get under way.

Christchurch City Council has engaged a contractor to begin work on creating a new cycle connection between the central city and the Papanui Parallel major cycle route.

Grab a copy of our new Bike Guide

Keen to give biking a go? Then make sure you pick up a copy of our new Bike Guide.

The Bike Guide contains a map which shows the location of more than 60 kilometres of cycleways in Christchurch. It also has other useful information to help making a cycling around the city easy.

You can pick up a copy of the new Bike Guide at bike stores and at most of Christchurch City Council’s public libraries and sport and recreation centres.

Copies are also available at the University of Canterbury and at Ara.

The project, which the public were consulted about in 2020, will involve adding painted cycle lanes on Colombo Street between Bealey Avenue and the Avon River bridge by Kilmore Street.

“We want to make it easier and safer for people travelling between the city centre and the north of Christchurch to travel by bike and these new painted cycle lanes on Colombo Street will help with that,’’ says Christchurch City Council Head of Transport Lynette Ellis.

“The Colombo Street cycle lanes will fill a gap in our cycleway network and allow people to safely connect into other cycleways across the city,’’ Ms Ellis says.

A section of Colombo Street, between Kilmore Street and Salisbury Street, where the cycle lanes are being added needs to be resurfaced, so the Council is going to take the opportunity to do that work at the same time.

“By doing both projects together we can minimise the disruption to residents and businesses along Colombo Street,’’ Ms Ellis says.

Some bus stops will be relocated and extra landscaping added as part of the Colombo Street works. There will also be some small changes made to the kerb alignment at the intersection of Colombo Street and Peterborough Street.

The speed limit on Colombo Street, between Bealey Avenue and Kilmore Street, will also be lowered to 30km an hour to make it safer for all road users. The central city stretch of Colombo Street, south of Kilmore Street, already has a 30km an hour speed limit.

The 30km speed limit will also be extended into Peterborough Street, between Durham Street and Manchester Street.

The entire project is expected to take about four months to complete. Overnight work on the site may be necessary, however, residents and business will be notified prior to the night works starting.