This is the most common news type.
During 2017, ViaStrada joined Trafinz, the New Zealand Local Authority Traffic Institute. Whilst we obviously aren't a local authority, Trafinz is a principal champion for road safety initiatives, and that makes them a logical partner for us.
They're back! In September/October 2017 there will be two new training courses for Planning and Design for Cycling offered in New Zealand:
Neighborhood greenways (also called "bicycle boulevards", "local street bikeways", "quiet streets", "fietsstraat", "fahrradstrasse", and others) are growing in popularity as a tool for encouraging bike use on low-traffic streets without dedicated bike facilities, while also introducing traffic calming elements to enhance pedestrian comfort. They have significant advantages over dedicated cycleways in terms of lower costs per km and reduced impact on car-parking.
ViaStrada's Glen Koorey contributed to a recent Press discussion about the future of transport in Christchurch, and it might look and operate quite differently...
On 19 June 2017, the ViaStrada team met for breakfast at Meshino in St Albans before riding the Papanui Parallel (Puari ki Papanui), one of the Major Cycle Routes under construction. We last checked out the route as a team in December 2015 when it was just an idea; now it's almost there. We rode the whole length, starting at the Railway Cycleway where it crosses Sawyers Arms Road.
Have you heard yet that KiwiRail has accredited a number of industry professionals? Going forward, any safety audit that incorporates a level crossing will be required to have a KiwiRail-accredited team member.
Also, modifications to or new designs for rail crossings are from now on subject to a Level Crossing Safety Impact Assessment (LCSIA) and, before KiwiRail will accept any design, you need a review from a KiwiRail-accredited reviewer.
Get in touch with ViaStrada if your work requires a KiwiRail-accredited professional.
It's official: ViaStrada sucks at cycling. You may ask - how come? Well, we entered the Aotearoa Bike Challenge where staff record their bike trips for a month. And we came a miserable 14th in our category (7 to 19 staff). All of us bike to work; most of us every day. Not everybody works every day, so it took until day 2 before we hit 100% participation. What scores highly, though, is to encourage non-cycling staff to give it a go. And there we failed miserably; we simply don't have those people on the team.
We're closing for the holidays on Friday 23 December and will be open again on Wednesday 4 January.
We wish all of our colleagues and contacts a merry Christmas and happy New Year.
The following legislative changes relating to cycling have gone through. The give way rules change is a big one, as it enables us to design and build better protected cycle lanes and shared paths.
Road User Rule amendment 2016, principally: