Future Ready Case Study - Christchurch Major Cycle Routes

We are collaborating with the Christchurch City Council to create 13 new primary cycling routes across the city. These routes will interconnect suburbs, shopping districts, businesses, and schools, with the goal of alleviating traffic congestion and transforming the city into a more environmentally friendly and healthier place to live.

Christchurch City Council (CCC) identified a network of thirteen interconnected major cycle routes that linked popular destinations in Christchurch’s central city and outer suburbs. The goal was to encourage and support people to see cycling as a viable transport option to get around the city and provide safe cycle routes for all ages and abilities. WSP led one of two consortia who developed the routes from investigation to construction support.

80% of the cycle routes are expected to be operational by mid-2023.
The Christchurch Major Cycle Routes project is a cornerstone of CCC’s drive towards carbon neutrality through their Climate Resilience Strategy.

Location

Christchurch, New Zealand

Client

Christchurch City Council

Project Value

$5m (Scheme business case, design and msqa safety audits, construction)

Project Status

Ongoing

[Future Trends]

How were they considered through the design process?

Christchurch City Council’s brief was to design an attractive, safe, and direct cycleway to link shopping areas, businesses, schools, parks, and popular recreation destinations across the city. The design goal was for the cycleway to be suitable for a 10-year-old, which required specific urban design and careful consideration of traffic calming. Introducing cycleways to an existing vehicle dominated transportation network is, and has been, one of the biggest challenges for CCC and WSP’s project team, especially when engaging with businesses and the community to work through and mitigate the effects of the loss of car parking that the installation of safe cycleways would inevitably require. In future-proofing the design requirements for this project, the team:

Engaged with schools and community groups to gather issues and design out their concerns, as well as encourage the use of cycle routes as part of a transport mode shift
Worked with businesses to provide cycle parking facilities and incorporated cycle repair stations and drinking fountains where practical, with urban design being an important feature of the routes to enable people to feel good about the cycle journey
Added seats for cyclists to pause and enjoy the journey and enable socialisation
Used the Earthworks/ pavement design to mitigate adding fill in flood-prone areas by carefully balancing fill areas with cut or using permeable pavers to increase water attenuation

WSP’s Research and Development team recommended, for safety, that the cycleway be painted with green vertical stripes and include a judder bar where it crosses commercial accesses. Different paint configurations and speed devices and positions were trialed, Case Study including video being used to determine the treatment that would be the most conspicuous to vehicles using the accessways and result in them having to slow or stop prior to exiting across the cycleway, which made it safer and more comfortable for cyclists to use. The WSP research team also used an automated bicycle to pick up data on bicycle users safety concerns, this data fed into the design process.

How did integrating Future Ready into the design benefit this project?

Designing the cycle routes for all ages and abilities has resulted in an increased uptake of cycling in Christchurch. A survey of cyclists using the Major Cycle Routes in 2018 and 2020 found:

94% agreed that cycleways have improved safety for cyclists
82% agreed that cycleways encourage them to make more trips by cycle
Female cyclists made up 40% of total users compared to 32% nationally
In 2022, 19% of cyclists had changed their travel mode from travelling in a private motor vehicle to travelling by cycle

While cycling reduces carbon emissions that would otherwise occur from alternate modes, the team increased the decarbonisation efforts on the project by replacing any trees removed along the cycle routes with two new ones. Vehicle speeds along the cycle routes being lowered also contributes to a reduction in carbon emissions. Additional planting of native trees was integrated into the design along the cycle routes built along rivers, canals, and the Heathcote Estuary to consider and account for increased flood levels. These new native trees have also provided an additional habitat for birds, for example along the Linwood Canal through the Charlesworth Reserve Wetland. Street enhancements along cycle routes have added to the community sense of place through plantings, the installation of street furniture, and slower vehicle speeds. There has been an increase in older cycling groups within Christchurch making use of the safe cycle routes to get together to exercise and meet for coffee. The new cycleways have proven to be an attractive alternative for people who may not have the mobility to participate in walking groups.