NZ Supplement to Austroads Part 14 further amended

Transit NZ has released another amended version of the NZ Supplement to Austroads Part 14 (edition June 2008), following the recent update in April. And there has since been yet another update in September 2008.

The April 2008 update was the major revision. ViaStrada has provided a significant amount of input to the changes.

The April & June 2008 changes include (where bolding denotes a significant change):

• Figure 4.1 (the facility selection tool) has been replaced with the chart from the Cycle Network and Route Planning Guide;
• the wording in the tables in Section 4 has changed from "Desirable Width" to "Desirable Minimum Width", encouraging the provision of more generous cycle lanes and road shoulders and guarding against "standards dilution";
• the use of red surface colouring for cycle lanes and advanced stop boxes in Christchurch has been endorsed (green is recommended elsewhere in the country);
• the range of dimensions for parking lanes has changed;
• the case of reverse-in angle parking next to cycle lanes has now been allowed for;
• updated information is given on hook turn facilities;
• the implementation plan of 'Getting there - on foot, by cycle' has been referenced;
• the Australian Bicycle Council's 'Cycling Resource Centre' is mentioned;
• the advice on bridge handrails has been changed;
• Figure 4-2 now shows a best practice example; and
• the text in section 5.4.1 about SCOOT loops has been revised.

We understand that the September 2008 update fixed formatting problems only.

Well done to Transit NZ for keeping this guideline up to date, and issuing updates in such quick succession. For links to the Supplement itself, please refer to the main article.