There is growing annoyance and sometimes anger over noticeably worsening traffic congestion, while the obtrusive cycle lanes that have been installed are only often empty of cyclists.
Yesterday on Facebook Clint Dane posted:
Right, before I start I want to make it clear I don’t give a flying fuck about Aucklands traffic problems, they’ve had problems for years and that’s their business.
Now then, is there any way of bringing the sudden problems with our traffic to someone’s attention that might be able to get something done about it?
I left work tonight near McDonalds on Andy Bay Road and took 30 minutes to get to centre city New World!! This is becoming a regular occurrence and I put it down to the cycleway and cycleway alone.
There are no longer places to pull over heading north on the one way system if you’re wanting to park somewhere so if you’re wanting to parallel park you now hold up a massive line of traffic. As well as this the timing of the lights is all kinds of fucked up and is in no way helped by the stupid bicycle red/orange/green lights. I’ve waited time and time again to turn and couldn’t because of those lights and you know what? I’VE NEVER SEEN A FUCKING CYCLIST! The world is going all in on trying to make things gs as eco friendly as possible yet the council and NZTA have done a bang up job of forcing a huge number of cars to idle for extended periods which only increases the amount of pollution they pump out so in reality they’ve made it worse.
I propose we gather everyone that was involved in the decision making regarding the cycleway and stone them publicly, who wants to join in?
I must admit to being frustrated when prevented from turning because of a read cycle light, with no sign of any cyclists. And roads and lanes have been narrowed to make way for hardly used cycle lanes.
There have been over 200 comments, many in agreement but with some other views, like;
I think Dunedin is just a lot busier with more cars on the road in general, right along Highgate at 3pm and 5pm is crazy!
2:30 pm onwards (and also 8-9 am) is noticeably congested except during school holidays.
But things seem to be worse after the cycle lanes have been installed. there also seems to be growing cycle rage.
More reasoned criticism from Carmen Houlahan:
I agree it is kaos out there. People need cycles ways. However, i do not think cycle ways should have been put on a busy one way. I think bike lanes could have been put around the back streets that is safer for the cyclists. There is no where to park any more and the concrete slabs are dangerous as they are hard to get around. To make matters worse someone seems to jave gone around changing lanes so you go into one lane that used to go one way then you have to try to get to the other lane. There should be signs warning that road lanes have changed.
And who put the circles every where? I don’t know what consultation was done on this but they aren’ t even round abouts. I have raised this before.
Recently a number of intersections have simply had raised round bits plonked in the middle of them, with no reforming of the roads. They are sort of roundabouts, but seem to mostly just cause confusion and make it harder to drive through intersections.
Sadly we are going to have disruptions for years to come. I am running for mayor and council at the DCC this year and I will be pushing for things to improve. Surely it has to be better than it is?
Traffic, parking and cycle lanes are likely to be a feature of this year’s local body elections.
I have noticed a slight increase of cycle use, from hardly any to a few. But days like today in particular (heavy rain, high winds, cold) there will be few on two wheels, while everyone has to negotiate the reconstructed roads.
