News

The Hornby to Prebbleton section of the Christchurch to Little River Rail Trail is the third section to be completed. It was officially opened today by mayors Bob Parker (Christchurch City) and Kelvin Coe (Selwyn District).

ViaStrada was engaged by Christchurch City Council to undertake the scheme design of the 3.6 km long Hornby to Prebbleton section.

ViaStrada directors Axel Wilke and Andrew Macbeth have been appointed as project engineers to the NZ Cycleway Technical Assessment Group (TAG), under a contract between the Ministry of Economic Development and ViaStrada.

Some ViaStrada staff, especially Axel and Andrew, work exclusively for the TAG on NZCT initiatives, including the seven "Quick Start" projects and the 13 "Phase Two" projects approved for feasibility studies. They are thus not available for project applications for the NZCT, so that conflicts of interest can be avoided. If you would like engineering and planning support for new local or regional initiatives, please contact Warren Lloyd (Christchurch).

The Cycle Trail Design Guide developed by ViaStrada for this project was published in March 2010.

The Nelson office received a surprise decision from Tasman District Council declining consent for a high profile proposal for a crematorium, memorial gardens and café at the Gardens of the World near Richmond.

On behalf of NZTA, ViaStrada is developing an Advanced Cycling Planning and Design Course to expand on the Fundamentals of Planning and Design for Cycling course. Training courses will start in September 2009.  Further details are available on the training course web page.

Proposed changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) are due to come into force around 1 September 2009. These changes are proposed to streamline resource consent processes, but practitioners are yet to be convinced.

If you are contemplating a development or looking at needing resource consent, contact one of our planners early in the concept stage, who can advise on the upcoming changes.

As a service to the profession, ViaStrada keeps track of conferences that are relevant to the planning and transportation industry. Please find those events in our website calendar. So our website is a good tool for you meeting your CPD requirements, or for planning ahead in terms of conference attendance.

ViaStrada welcomes Government's announcement of a $50 million fund for National Cycleway initiatives.

ViaStrada is uniquely placed to assist with the planning, design and implementation of components of the National Cycleway. We are NZ's experts on cycling infrastructure. We would be more than happy to assist project sponsors with any of their planning and design needs.

ViaStrada has been commissioned by NZTA to administer the walking fundamentals, and deliver some of them. Courses will be held around the country over the next six months.

The 7^th New Zealand Cycling Conference will be held on 12 & 13 November 2009 (Thursday & Friday) in New Plymouth.

Presentations are now being called for from sector professionals, policy makers, advocates, elected representatives, researchers and other interested people.

Adele Burbidge joined the Nelson office of ViaStrada on 9 April 2009 as a Planner.