Update on Parade works

Brad was unable to attend our committee meeting on Monday 4th to provide an update due to sickness, he has however provided this written update:

Update on progress:

Southern end – all concrete buffers in the Southern end of the Parade have been installed along with the driveway speed humps and the line marking.

Northern end – all the concrete buffers have been installed in the Northern section of The Parade. This completes the installation of concrete buffers. The remainder of the driveway buffers will be installed this week together with completion of road marking, weather permitting.

Concrete buffers:

There have been some queries on the painting of the concrete buffers and potential workmanship issues – the concrete buffers are painted by our road marking contractor using their spray cart and while this is accurate when painting lines on the road we do get a little overspray when applying to the edges of the buffers. As can be observed we have only applied one coat of paint and will return to apply a second coat later in the year when the weather improves.

Chipseal:

Some queries on the standard of the chipseal have been raised and I agree – it’s not looking great… We have investigated why it is doing this and our conclusion is that it’s an issue with the application of bitumen on the day.

The technical response to this is:

The design called for a bitumen application rate at the lower threshold of good practice standards due to the high traffic volumes over the section.
This leaves very little room for error and should application rates drop lower by as little as 0.1 litres per square metre then the potential for stripping increases dramatically.
The sections from Mersey St heading south are performing well with very little chip loss and had the same claimed application rates as the stripping section.
The stripping section was chipsealed on Saturday the 2^nd of April. The weather was fine and hot on the day as well as the next three days with an average temperature of 19 degrees Celsius over these days.
As such, weather did not play a roll in the stripping. The application rate of the bitumen looks to be at fault. The fine line between correct application and low application might have been crossed on the day.

I know that the technical explanation doesn’t help at the moment – but we do plan on fixing it. We cannot do any repairs at this stage as the weather is not favourable for it. We can only manage it by increasing the sweeping frequency. The current plan is for the team return in summer to do repairs on the stripped areas. Sweeping increments will be dictated by weekly site inspections by my staff and requests from the public. Programme wise we are looking at coming back in early December to fix the situation more permanently.

Cycleway widths:

Typically the Northern end has a width of 1.5m and the Southern end a width of 1.9m although it varies a little. I would say the Southern end is not a problem because space has been won by extensively removing parking from one side. But at the Northern end parking has been maintained on both sides so in widening the traffic lanes space has been taken from the cycle lane. Previously the cycle lane was about 2m wide including a shire line at 600mm. The concrete buffers at 900mm have taken up the shire space plus some of the cycle lane proper now making the cycleway feel narrower and physically constrained.

What I need to emphasise is that the previous cycle lane was regularly obstructed by cars parking into the shire space and the added potential for car doors to be opened into the cycle lane. This is now avoided with cars having a physical barrier to park against and the 900mm wide buffer protecting cyclists from car doors opening into the cyclists path. While narrower, the cycle lane now gives confidence to cyclists that it is free from obstructions and any uncertainty of cars doors opening into the space.

Attached cross-sections show the approved northern area layout and the existing layout.

Other comments on the cycleway design:

The approved road layout puts people on bikes in between a concrete kerb, and (in many cases) either a concrete or mountable separator. Although the goal of the approved design is to improve safety for all road users, we understand how adding a concrete/mountable separator can appear counterintuitive to this goal. Over the years, the leading cause of reported crashes on The Parade (where bikes are involved) are due to motor vehicles driving into and out of driveways, and in intersections where vehicles and bikes are more likely to come into contact with each other. In these crashes, drivers often failed to see the cyclist on the bike lane when turning into/out of driveways, parking spaces, or intersections. There have also been reports of bikes having to go around vehicles that park on the bike lane, or dodge car doors that swing open into the bike lanes.

Adding consistent, (900mm) wide concrete/mountable separators will slow vehicles down when turning, increase driver awareness, and provide physical protection between people on bikes and motor vehicles. The combination of which will greatly help reduce the chances of these crashes and incidents from reoccurring, and will give people on bikes more confidence to use a space that is largely free from obstruction. The wider concrete separator also provides a safe place for vehicle passengers to open car doors, and step out of vehicles without getting in the way of moving bikes. The approved design is a result of addressing the known safety issues, complying with Waka Kotahi guidelines, Wellington City Council guidelines, other guidelines and best practices, to ensure overall safety standards are met. A similar design has been in place in Rongotai Road, Kilbirnie where, to our knowledge, has not had reported crashes involving bikes. Refinements to the approved design have also been made as an outcome to many previous and ongoing conversations with members of the community, businesses, residents associations, cycling advocates, and others.

Regarding the bike lane maintenance, the Council roading maintenance crews have footpath sweepers that are narrow enough to fit in the bike lanes and keep these clean.

Further traffic resolutions:

There are a few traffic resolutions that will be going up to the P&E committee in the next few months. I have attached the drawings associated with TR97-22, TR98-22, TR99-22 and TR100-22. These TR’s are for the northern and southern areas and are based on our discussions with local organisations in terms of how we can minimise the impact of parking loss. The businesses seem to be happy with what we have developed here – we are planning to take these TR’s to the August meeting. I have also attached a copy (draft) of TR20-22, which is the TR for the town centre which we are planning to take to September’s meeting.

These docs will all be sent out via letter drop prior to it going to committee – I just thought that you may want to know that this will be occurring.

For TR20-22:

In 10 March 2022, the P&E Committee resolved to:
- Defer the traffic resolutions relating to the town centre section until the parking management plan has been completed. The traffic resolutions for the town centre will then return for decision later in 2022 to the P&E
- Request officers undertake a Local Parking Plan (Parking Management Plan) as required by WCC’s Parking Policy and progress plans for realising any potential parking efficiencies as soon as practical
The Draft Parking Management Plan has been completed by Abley. It recommends converting unrestricted parking to time-restricted parking spaces on Medway (17 spaces) and Avon Streets (9 spaces)
Some businesses within the town centre have made requests for parking changes

Moving forward, we plan to:

Recommend the P&E committee proceed with the shopping centre safety improvements as proposed in the 10 March 2022 P&EC meeting (TR20-22 The Parade, Island Bay – Safety Improvements). The 8 September P&E paper will be an update to the 10 March P&E paper
1. The draft paper is in the works, and I have attached to this email.
Because the 8 September paper is an update rather than a new TR, public consultation is not required. However, keeping the community updated is deemed best practice. We’ll:
1. Send an email update to the relevant TR20-22 consultation responders, letting them know where we’ve gotten to, where we’re headed, and what to expect next. This email has yet to be written, and will be emailed out by 11 July 2022 (TBC)
2. Allocate a consultation period for the community to comment on the town centre safety upgrades. Consultation dates will likely be from Monday 18 July to Sunday 7 August 2022 (TBC)
3. Utilise the standard media resources as part of the public notification/consultation, such as updating the transport project website, and news release, on top of the email update (TBC)
Where applicable, requested changes from the town centre businesses will be included/proposed in the 8 September P&E paper. New TR’s are not required for these changes as they are relatively minor in nature, fall within the original project scope, and have come as a result of the TR20-22 public consultation
Parking improvements as recommended by the Parking Management Plan will be progressed via the traffic resolutions process in early- to mid-2023.

Brad Singh
Kaiwhakahaere – Ngā Waka me te Hanga (Manager Transport & Infrastructure)