Many of the oldest “bike lanes” in Auckland are nothing more than a white line on the footpath. They’re cheap and easy, but not much good for pedestrians especially children, the elderly and the sight-impaired. They’re not so good for cyclists either, because they can’t get a decent
The cycleways of Auckland: Why do some cost so much more than others?
Nelson St cycleway during morning peak traffic. Photo / Michael Craig
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And cheap isn’t always best. Sometimes the drains need fixing. Perhaps aesthetics are important, because it’s a scenic route or a shopping street. Most people want a city that feels good to be in and makes the most of its natural beauty. Cycleways are a part of that.
And on the coast and in flood-prone areas, planners and engineers need to future-proof all their roading work, including cycleways, against the impacts of climate change.
There are hundreds of kilometres of cycleways in Auckland. A few are “gold-plated”, but most are not. What do the different options cost? These examples cover the main types (data from Auckland Transport).
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1. Memorial Ave, Mt Roskill: Wide footpaths
Cost per km: <$1m-$3m
The modern approach in some suburbs is to widen and resurface the footpath, or add an extra off-road path through the berm. This usually also means moving street signs and lighting poles, protecting tree roots and adapting the intersections.
Wide paths have been favoured on roads near schools and parks, such as Memorial Ave in Mt Roskill, which connects Dominion Rd to May Rd and War Memorial Park.
Head of Active Modes at Auckland Transport (AT) Adrian Lord says shared footpaths are “less problematic in a more suburban environment and in other locations such as industrial areas where there may be few pedestrians and few side road crossings or bus stops”.
Other examples include: Station Rd in Otahuhu, Albany Highway.
2. St Lukes Rd: Rubber separators
Cost per km: $0.5m-$1m
But separating cyclists from both cars and pedestrians is better, especially on arterial routes where cyclists may travel faster.
The cheapest barrier is a line of rubber or plastic dividers, grouted or bolted on to the roadway. The cycleway generally replaces car parks or a traffic lane. Sometimes drainage catchpits need to be repaired or replaced, but no other roadworks are required.
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Lord says cycleways like this are generally installed during routine road maintenance at pre-agreed fixed rates. The work is quick and easy: often, a whole cycleway can be installed overnight.
But rubber separators are also easy to drive over, so they provide no protection from bad or malicious driving, or illegal parking. Also, they wear out and shed polluting micro-plastics.
Other examples include: Upper Harbour Drive, Bader Drive in Māngere.
3. Nelson St: Concrete separators
Cost per km: $1m-$5m
Like rubber, concrete separators are fixed to the road. This creates a safe one-way or two-way cycle lane on the roadway.
Special design may be required for parking, loading bays, driveways and at larger junctions. In those areas, rubber might be used.
Nelson St is a simple version of this kind of cycleway, but AT says it can become more challenging and expensive if intersections originally designed for fast turning have to be retro-fitted.
To reduce costs, AT tries to use “design and build” contractors who have experience in the work. It’s also rewriting its design standards “to give more options to use lower cost and narrower separators”.
Where possible, AT has a “dig once” policy. Road safety, maintenance and public transport work might be awarded to a single contractor in an integrated project, or new kerbs might be built in a way that allows for cycle separators to be added later.
Concrete separators are not lovely to look at but they do the job.
Other examples include: Lambie Drive in Manukau, Beach Rd, Quay St East, the Viaduct cycleway known as “Project Wave”, several streets in Point England and Glen Innes.
4. Te Auaunga/Oakley Creek: Shared footpaths in reserves
Cost per km: <$1m-$3m
Off-road shared paths are usually wide enough to accommodate all users. Being off-road, they’re safe and often scenic, running through parks and bush or alongside streams or the coast. It all adds to the cycling experience.
Costs vary depending on ease of access for construction, stability of the land, the amount of new planting, the presence of sensitive flora and fauna and the quality of the finished work.
Te Auaunga pathway runs from Waterview to Mt Roskill along the route of the creek. It starts on a rainbow stretch and then crosses a bridge with beautiful views into the tree-filled gully beneath, before running through the Unitec campus and joining up a long series of wetlands, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and adventure play areas.
It’s part of a community resource used for far more than cycling and much of the route also doubles as a floodwater detention plain.
Other examples include: Point England Reserve, Norana Esplanade Path in Māngere/Favona, Puhinui Domain, Auranga near Drury.
5. Westhaven: Coastal boardwalks
Cost per km: $5m or more
Off-road shared paths near the coast often include stretches of boardwalk. The Westhaven pathway has a wide boardwalk, complete with seating, that protrudes over the edge of the marina.
The Glen Innes to Tāmaki Drive pathway has a boardwalk through the Ōrākei Basin. The as-yet unbuilt Ngāpipi Rd section of that pathway will include a boardwalk that swings out over Hobson Bay, around the pōhutukawa along the water’s edge.
This pathway has been largely funded by government, through the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.
Te Whau pathway is mainly still in the planning stage. It will cross the isthmus, linking Te Ātatu on the Waitematā harbour with Green Bay on the Manukau. The route sweeps up Te Whau River estuary before heading on a protected path overland through New Lynn and Blockhouse Bay, and then down to the coast.
The Auckland Council has contributed some of the cost, but much of the money may have to be sourced privately. Costs to date are estimated at $60m for the 12km route.
Other examples include: Hobson Bay, Cox’s Creek in Westmere, Te Atatū Peninsula, Hobsonville Point.
6. Takanini to Papakura: Shared paths by motorways
Cost per km: $10m or more
There’s an old joke in transport planning that says the best way to build a million-dollar cycleway is to build a billion-dollar motorway first. These days, it should probably be multi-million and multi-billion.
One of the best examples in the country runs through beautiful wetlands alongside the Kapiti Expressway north of Wellington. In Auckland, stretches of all the motorways have shared-path cycleways. The 4.5km Southern Path, connecting Takanini and Papakura, is one of the newest.
This option is not cheap. By definition, motorway construction is gold standard, especially as the route will probably need bridges and/or subways. But there’s a big advantage for cash-strapped councils: the Government pays for motorways and their associated amenities.
The city end of the shared Northwest Pathway was upgraded recently to separate cycling and walking and enhance the route’s drainage capacity. It’s a good example of an amenity that was built with the capacity to expand, and proved its worth before the new work was done.
Other examples include: Northern Pathway (Albany to Constellation Drive), Northwest Path (Upper Queen St to Westgate), South-Western Path (Mt Albert to Māngere Bridge).
7. Meadowbank: Shared paths by railway lines
Cost per km: $10m-$20m
Most of the Meadowback section of the Glen Innes to Tamaki Drive shared path runs alongside the railway line and Purewa Creek.
Railway routes have the advantage of being relatively flat. But AT’s Adrian Lord says this one is in a sensitive marine environment and there were many topographical challenges. As with motorways, the only safe way to cross the line is by bridge or tunnel. And the work had to be done in a narrow space with a live railway line running past. That meant smaller machines and more manual labour, which slowed the work and added to the cost.
Other examples include: New Lynn to Avondale, Panmure.
8. Karangahape Rd: Street rebuild
Cost per km: $10m-$30m
Whole street rebuilds are expensive but that’s because they’re much more than a cycleway. Typically, the work includes moving and upgrading stormwater drains, preserving mature trees, planting new trees and rain gardens to provide sustainable drainage, replacing overhead wires with underground cables, moving kerbs, replacing and moving streetlights, replacing existing bus stops, adding/upgrading pedestrian crossings, installing seating and other street furniture.
Road resurfacing is also usually required. If the road is at the end of its serviceable life (like Meola Rd), the subsurface must also be replaced. The cycleway itself is likely to be grade separated, which means it runs perhaps with a hard gutter, like Queen St, or a sloped gutter edge, like Franklin Rd in Ponsonby.
Franklin Rd includes a roundabout designed to slow traffic and prioritise people walking and cycling. It was the first of its kind in Auckland.
The cost depends on how much work is done, the number of intersections, crossings and bus stops, and underground engineering factors. Karangahape Rd, 1km long, cost $30m. That’s the gold-plated version.
Queen St, also 1km long, cost just over half that ($16m). As with the nearby High St, the lower price was achieved with a “no dig” policy: it’s not a street rebuild. Wooden and asphalt platforms were put down to widen the footpaths, and plants, street furniture and painted designs were added.
On Great North Rd (city end), AT says it will be saving costs by not moving the kerbs, but because it’s an old part of town it has 23 side streets, which will drive up the cost.
Quay St was more than a street rebuild: the entire seawall beneath the roadway was replaced. Extensive planting of shrubs and mature pōhutukawa have helped create a park-like environment on the waterfront, with their beds also serving as rainwater sinks.
Other examples include: Point Chevalier Rd and Meola Rd (under construction).
9. Te Ara I Whiti/Lightpath: Featured cycleways
Cost per km: $15m
Auckland has some feature attractions in its cycling and walking network. Te Ara I Whiti, the Lightpath or Pink Pathway, is one of them. Built largely on a never-used strip of motorway in 2015, it’s a key component of the northwest cycling route and much used for evening strolls, especially by people living in the apartments nearby. Despite minimal maintenance in recent years, which has left it looking shabby, it’s still a popular spot for photos.
The $15 million cost includes the Nelson St cycleway that connects the Lightpath to the Viaduct.
Another feature attraction is the Ngā Hau Māngere bridge with its sweeping steel arch, connecting Onehunga and Māngere Bridge. It’s 8 metres wide, up to 12m at some points, which makes it a kind of linear park over the water, popular with anglers and family groups. Ngā Hau Māngere cost $38 million.
Tāmaki Drive also has a featured cycleway, still under construction. It offers a completely grade separated, exceptionally scenic ride around a 2.4km stretch of the harbour’s edge.
The project cost $14m, which includes tree-route preservation, a major footpath rebuild and future-proofing. The carriageway has been raised to provide greater resilience to climate change.
To explore Auckland’s cycleways
Auckland Bike Map has a good map of the whole Auckland region with routes graded for type, safety, and rider experience.
Simon Wilson is an award-winning senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018.
