Russley Road/Memorial Avenue Intersection Improvements
NZTA are looking at three options to separate State Highway 1 and Memorial Ave at the Russley Rd intersection (by the Airport). These options are: 1) Memorial Ave over Russley Rd (bridge), Memorial Road over Russley Rd (tunnel), and 3) Russley Rd over Memorial Ave (bridge). A three options provide for improved cycle and pedestrian access to the Airport, although Option 1 is less advantageous as cyclists would have to climb to cross over the bridge.
A brochure illustrating the options can be found here:
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/network/projects/memorial-intersection/docs/broc...
A submission on behalf of Spokes was sent on Friday 26th of March 2010, as follows:
Hello
This is a submission from Spokes - the Canterbury Cycling Association.
I was about to send these comments using the online web feedback form when it vanished from the screen - it must have been taken off just on 5pm! Fortunately I had saved the comments to another document.
Our comments are as follows:
Do you have any current concerns with the Russley Road (SH1)/Memorial Avenue Intersection? If yes, please provide detail.
Currently the intersection is a barrier to walking and cycling between the City and the airport, due to the design of the roundabout and traffic speeds in the area. It should be noted that, as those visiting or leaving the airport people also travel to work at the airport by cycle or on foot. The intersection is also a barrier for cyclists using SH1.
What are the key issues you would like to be resolved at the intersection?
1) Reduction or removal of barriers to cycling and walking to and from the airport area.
2) Elimination of the danger and inconvenience currently experienced by cyclists and walkers trying to cross this intersection.
Three options to improve the intersection are being considered. What are your views on the options for the intersection? Would any of these options solve your current issues with the intersection?
All of the options have the potential to reduce the barriers to cycling and walking to and from the airport. However, there are likely to be issues with all options where walking and cycling paths cross on and off ramps between the two roads, and separated or controlled crossings of these would be required. Both Option 1 and Option 2 involve longer underpasses beneath one of other of the main roads, which would be less attractive for cyclists and walkers in the case of Option 1 and cyclists in the case of Option 2. There may also be air quality issues associated with these underpasses. Option 3 would therefore be preferred as long as there is a good level of separation between a shared (or separated) walking and cycling path and the main carriageway, and all crossings of on and off ramps are separated or light controlled.
Please indicate if you would like to be contacted regarding further project development.
Spokes would like to be consulted as part of further project development.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Robin Delamore
Cycling Improvements convenor - Spokes
Spokes Canterbury Newsletter
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I have sent a brief
I have sent a brief submission to NZTA re. the Russley Road/ Memorial Ave intersection improvements - its on the original post.
The following is a draft of
The following is a draft of what Living Streets Canterbury is looking to say. In case its helpful to Spokes. I quess Spokes might want to say that they also wish to ensure that State Highway 1 has adequate shoulder width to ensure cyclists who choose to cycle on it can do so more safely.
Re: Russley Rd (SH1)/ Memorial Ave Intersection Improvements
As a pedestrian advocacy group we agree with your assessment that pedestrians and cyclists are poorly catered for in the current intersection. and We appreciate the attention to pedestrian issues. It is important that pedestrian issues continue to be at the forefront of future iterations of the project. Busy roads with no crossing points can be a major issue for pedestrians, particularly at busy times (times when there are also likely to be more pedestrians) and the airport is an important destination for people travelling from hotels etc in this area.
We do not support the statement under “Final design options” of “to maintain flow and a greater speed environment for state highway traffic”. We need to be looking at reducing speed through this intersection whatever the final design solution is.
Meetings and conferences such as the Canterbury Road Safety Forum (ECan) are held at hotels near the airport such as the Sudima and Russley hotels for their convenient location for out of town attendees People coming from the city can also cycle. Due to the proximity to the airport of these hotels, people may wish to walk to the airport
Bus stop locations at these conferences venues also need to be reassessed. Encouraging people to use the bus by providing convenient bus stop locations both at the airport and at destinations such as these hotels is critical to encourage less cars using Memorial Avenue.
However, we appreciate bus stops may be outside of the scope of this project-please pass these comments on to the appropriate people.
Option 3 appears to be the most advantageous from an pedestrian and environmental point of view. The issue of disrupting ground water aquifers and the ongoing maintenance required to manage ground water in Option 2 is of much higher priority that the visual issues associated with Option 3. From our perspective Option 1 is not ideal as utility traffic comes from the city centre and people walking and cycling will mostly be coming from Memorial Avenue. For this reason we want Memorial Avenue to have priority (in the sense of no barriers such as an over bridge may create) over State Highway 1.
I've just been looking at
I've just been looking at this from a living st's perspective and think version 3 looks best. Easier from a cycling/ walking perspective for anyone coming from town and less damaging than version two in terms of disrupting aquifers and having to manage water tables etc.I guess I rate keeping the aquifers in tact above the views.
Chrys H
Re. the Russley
Re. the Russley Road/Memorial Avenue Intersection Improvements - what do we want to say on these (if anything). Do we have a preferred option?