NZ Supplement to Austroads GTEP Part 14 Bicycles

Objective

To provide a companion document to Austroads Guide to Traffic Engineering Practice (GTEP) Part 14 Bicycles for New Zealand designers of cycle facilities

Client

Transit New Zealand (now NZ Transport Agency), on behalf of NZ's road controlling authorities

Location

New Zealand-wide

Deliverable

NZ cycle facility design guide

Timeframe

Completed 2004

Project Status

Completed 2004; published on client website 2005; latest version Sept 2008

Background

This project filled a big hole in New Zealand at the time. Austroads guidance was not always appropriate for New Zealand, and we have different road signs and markings. Practitioners needed local advice on how to design and implement cycle facilities. Transit (now NZTA) put up its hand in the national interest and agreed to fund the project.

Andrew Macbeth (then working for MWH New Zealand Ltd, but later a ViaStrada director) won the contract to develop this design guide. Axel Wilke (also a director with ViaStrada, but employed by the Christchurch City Council then) was a peer reviewer for the project. The guide was available on the NZTA website until March 2016, and is still hosted on the ViaStrada website. Until the Cycling network guidance was published in mid-2016, the Supplement information was still relevant, and is still a useful background resource (while recognising that Austroads have subsequently updated their guides too).

Not many traffic engineers get to write the bible in their areas of expertise - we appreciated this opportunity to help design good facilities across the country!