Gemma Dioni has joined ViaStrada as a Senior Transportation Engineer. She has a key interest in ensuring communities have access to transport choice, with a passion for good streetscape and public realm design to support placemaking. Those interests make her a perfect fit for our team.
We are most pleased to welcome Gemma to our team. Contact us if you have any projects where you think Gemma’s skills could be useful to helping achieve your objectives.
Following the first course in Wellington (Feb 12th), further courses on planning & design for cycling will be co-delivered by ViaStrada and the NZ Transport Agency around the country over the next few months, including Hamilton, Wellington (again) and Christchurch. 
We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season. ViaStrada's office will close up at the end of Friday 21st December 2018 and re-open on Monday 7th January 2019.
Axel and Megan attended the recent SNUG (Signals NZ User Group) workshop in Hamilton. They presented on the current trial of directional cycle signals, and the possibility of allowing vehicles to filter-turn through cycle movements coming from separated cycleways. 
It's been two years since speed limits got dropped from 50 to 30 km/h in parts of the CBD. Have crashes dropped as predicted? Yes, in line with European cities' experience (they did the same; just two or three decades earlier).
Five Bike to the Future awards were given out at the awards ceremony held in conjunction with the 2WALKandCYCLE Conference, plus a supreme award. Here’s how ViaStrada was involved. Not too shabby, we might say!
Our team spent the day planting native trees on Quail Island / Ōtamahua. The trust looking after the island has been at it for 20 years and the progress is stunning. We thoroughly enjoyed lending a few hands and adding to the collective effort.
Three of us will be presenting at the upcoming 2WALKandCYCLE Conference in Palmerston North: John (two presentations), Glen (one presentation) and Axel (one presentation). There are written papers in support of two of those presentations. See you in Palmerston North!
ViaStrada is proud to be nominated in two categories in this year's Bike to the Future Awards, as well as being involved in two other nominations. The winners will be announced at the 2WALKandCYCLE Conference in Palmerston North at the end of July.