Thursday 5 February 2015

New shared path opens for the long weekend

Pedestrians and cyclists will travel side-by-side along a new shared path in Hagley Parkdue to open tomorrow – part of the changes to the way residents and visitors get around the Central City being delivered by An Accessible City.

The shared path is in Hagley Park and links the Hagley / Moorhouse Corner with the Hospital Corner – and is the first of a number of new safer pedestrian and cycle routes being delivered by An Accessible City, the transport chapter of the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan.

Christchurch City Council Transport and Research Unit Manager Richard Osborne says the Council is pleased to advise that this new shared path is open from tomorrow, Waitangi Day.

“The word Accessible puts a new focus on people – it will be easier for people to get to and move around the Central City, and one way this is achieved is by having great walking and cycling paths. While this is only a small step, it’s significant as a window into what the new Central City will look like when we have finished all the changes,” Mr Osborne says.

The new shared path is open tomorrow with signage in place and markings on the path, which is what people asked for when Council consulted over the changes last year.

These transport changes are being delivered as part of the transport projects at Hagley / Moorhouse Corner and surrounding streets, and further north at Hospital Corner.

The Council Transport Education Team partnered with Canterbury District Health Board will be raising awareness of the new path as part of a “National Go By Bike Day” event on Wednesday 11 February. For more information about this event, visitwww.bikewise.co.nz/events/2015/01/21/go-bike-day

Christchurch will see more accessibility improvements in 2015. Changes will happen progressively, coordinated with other parts of the Central City rebuild such as key anchor projects, including the new bus interchange opening later this year and SCIRT’s infrastructure and repair programme.

An Accessible City is being delivered by the Council and Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, and has been developed in partnership with the New Zealand Transport Agency, Environment Canterbury and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu.

For more information about the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, visitwww.ccdu.govt.nz/the-plan

For more information on the Council’s transport projects, visit www.ccc.govt.nz/AACtransportprojects

For the latest traffic updates, visit www.tfc.govt.nz

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