Report recommends bus lanes for busy Lincoln Road

A report recommending Christchurch City Council proceed with installing peak hour bus lanes on Lincoln Road and Moorhouse Avenue will be considered by the Spreydon-Cashmere Community Board this week.

Last year the Council sought public feedback on a proposal to introduce bus priority measures on the two busy roads in a bid to cut travel times for public transport users.

Buses are scheduled to travel along Lincoln Road every 15 minutes.

Buses are scheduled to travel along Lincoln Road every 15 minutes but during the morning and afternoon peak, the road often becomes congested and buses get stuck in slow moving traffic, impacting on journey times and making bus travel less attractive to users.

By introducing peak hour bus lanes the Council expects to be able to improve the reliability of bus journey times and reduce average bus trip times by about six-and-a-half minutes in the evening peak and four-and-a-half minutes in the morning peak.

The Council received 247 submissions on the proposed bus lanes and the associated road improvements. 

After considering the public feedback, Council staff are recommending the Council proceed with installing bus lanes on Lincoln Road between Moorhouse Avenue and Whiteleigh Avenue. These lanes will operate between 7 and 9am for the city-bound journey and 4 and 6pm for the Halswell-bound journey, Monday to Friday.

Staff are also recommending the Council proceed with installing a bus lane on the south side of Moorhouse Avenue, between Selwyn Street and Lincoln Road.

Originally it was proposed the Moorhouse Avenue bus lane would operate around-the-clock but, in response to public feedback, Council staff are now recommending the bus lane only operate between 4 and 6pm.

Council staff are also recommending that the speed limit on Lincoln Road between Moorhouse and Whiteleigh avenues should be reduced to 30kmh and that a new traffic light-controlled pedestrian crossing should be installed outside 332 Lincoln Road.

The Spreydon-Cashmere Community Board will consider the staff recommendations when it meets tomorrow.  The Board will then make recommendations to the Council.

Read the report.