Reviving an old thread. Last night I mentioned how maybe some good visualisations are needed to convince people what a quiet/shared space might feel like compared to the car-centric streets of today. And today I wondered what chatgpt could do. So I asked it nicely….
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Nice! Gen AI is getting better at this type of stuff. Very helpful - I’ve moved this to Projects > Improvements Wiki as that is what this hopefully will evolve into.
Update from Simone today:
The business case is on our website Albany Street Connection - Dunedin City Council (at the bottom).
As a heads up, we are currently preparing another round of consultation – focused on the proposed parking restrictions – to go live this Thursday.
I totally agree with this. I think a Dutch style “Fietsstraat” (Bicycle Street) would be a much better option. There would be no need to get rid of car parks.
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I note, that in the Netherlands they would not put a cycleway on a minor street like Albany Street. They would make the whole street more people-friendly. I think a fietssstraat would be much safer because when you build cycleway you got all these crossing, which are potentially dangerous.
The problem with Albany st is it’s not a minor street. It’s the first arterial link between SH1 and SH88 after the university and the first direct link as dundas meanders round butts road or multiple corners through the polytech. Albany is so dangerous because it’s one of the busiest roads in the city, regularly getting gridlocked at rush hour (which is why the bus to port chalmers is always later because it gets stuck at that corner).
Albany st. is a major street, it just was never designed to be a major street.
I dont think an alternative to Albany, but a better shared path and cycleway alongside Albany st definetly.
Union St. used to be that, before bikes were banned from campus, the old and awful union-to-leith cycelane could be made safe, possibly but its dundas st crossing being across the bridge will never be safe, it could cross at st david with a new, wider bridge?
There’s also the option of Minerva to Riego then through university, or leithbank st but they both involve intersections where cars on busy forth and clyde streets aren’t expecting traffic so are dangerous (but also i currently use them anyway when I’m headed to Burns or Castle).
The best alternative I have seen proposed is the Love Your Leith https://www.orc.govt.nz/media/5764/love-your-leith-forth-st-harbour-potential-concepts.pdf proposal for a shared path along the leith as part of an upgrade mostly about natural water absorption to stop the lower leith flooding so often. (not a perfect proposal, for some reason all the benches in it are those hostile architecture anti-homeless ones).
It’s an ORC plan but would require DCC and ORC and Uni to work together on it. But it would be a safe corridor from the stadium through to the gardens that could be fully separated from road intersections!
Someone on FB has suggested Dundas as an alternative and as a former LPHS student who lived in NEV at the time and cycled to school, capitol N No. Going down the hump of dundas on a bike in winter needs to be prevented!
I know Albany street is used as a link between SH1 and the west harbour…. but it should not be used as such: the planning dept is quite clear that traffic is meant to use Frederick street. The problem is that there is nothing to encourage this.
It is hugely frustrating that they appear to be incapable of implementing restrictions and street design on Albany street. For over 2 years I have been saying to dcc that the cycle way solution was not necessary, but due to co-finding requirements.
The alternative of taking a cycleway along the Leith (which we have been going on about for a while) is in the ODT, led by @steve:
And a followup today:
I don’t know.
Personally I’d rather Albany St was a shared street: with measures put in place to stop it being a rat-run the traffic should be low and slow. No need for the dedicated cycleway and if paved for pedestrians, not cars, it would be a great space. Cycle along it in the middle of the day and look at how many students are on the pavements. We have to get away from the ingrained notion that 80% of city street space needs to be given over to a few drivers.
While more pleasant, I’m not sure the leith route is more direct for most people. But maybe if cycling was taken out of the equation, something good could happen to Albany Street. And maybe by having bikes closer to the uni the policies could change and better connections through the university could flourish.
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I totally with you on this. I have written letters to the odt about this, and included comments in my submission. In the Netherlands, they would never put a cycleway on a minor street like that. They have moved on.
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I’m a BIG fan of creating a shared path along the Leith. LOVE the idea of overhauling this waterway - adding trees, planting and lighting. Could be an excellent collaborative project for three major players in our city - the DCC, the ORC and the University. Creates a space for commuters, family adventures and students.