You may have heard of the decision to proceed with an $47 million upgrade of Dominion Road. What may not be obvious - especially when reading about how positively various groups reacted - is that this project is actually a significant cutback from an earlier proposal, which was costed at approximately $100 million.
Auckland Transport's Board decided that due to the high costs (the extra $53 million) involved in relocating the kerbs and underground services, they will now leave widening of most of the corridor's bus lanes to an unspecified future time.
This is a major disappointment for cycling, and also a concern for public transport, as buses and cyclists will be forced to coexist in a very tight corridor of 3m wide bus lanes - each hindering the other. Buses will also struggle more to get through congestion spots, around cars turning in and out of driveways etc...
You may remember that Cycle Action has in the past fought hard for dedicated cycle facilities - not just shared bus lanes - on Dominion Road. However, the necessary removal of parking was the lightning rod for a lot of fears about the project, especially by local shopkeers who still believe that most of their customers will drive from far away to park outside their shop, not seeing that a cycle friendly city actually benefits local shops (why drive far away to a big shop when you can cycle to your local cafe or dairy?).
Yet despite losing the fight for dedicated cycle lanes, we thought that at the very least, the 4.5m wide bus lanes would create a significant improvement for cyclists on Dominion Road.