Selwyn cycling and walking paths

Jeanette, Megan and Andrew undertook feasibility assessments of seven walking and cycling infrastructure projects for Selwyn District Council.  The projects included six shared off-road paths and opportunities to improve the Leeston Road bridge.  We developed scheme plans for each of the projects and used these to estimate costs of construction and maintenance.  We also predicted the demand for the facilities and calculated the value of expected benefits.

The seven projects were:

1. Lowes Road cycleway (3 km);
2. Edward Street (1.1 km);
3. Coalgate to Glentunnel (2.6 km);
4. Lincoln to Springston (3 km);
5. Lincoln to Rolleston (8.5 km);
6. Rolleston to Templeton (8 km); and
7. Leeston Road bridge (0.5 km).

These projects are outlined more fully in the SDC Walking and Cycling Strategy Action Plan (2009). We assessed two options for the Leeston Road bridge project (the only one of the seven to involve a specific site treatment rather than route facility) - active warning signs and a clip-on structure.

We developed scheme designs for individual paths based on design philosophies regarding path widths, clearances to carriageways, crossing provisions, intervisibility requirements and other important path characteristics. We estimated the capital costs, annual maintenance and periodic costs associated with the paths based on the scheme plans and existing cost information.

The benefits assessment was based on the benefits created by additional demand (as estimated according to a modified version of the SP 11 demand estimation method) and accident savings associated with the paths.  We also discussed other important aspects of the paths, for example their alignment with the national strategic direction of the New Zealand Transport Strategy, predicted equity impacts and non-monetised benefits.
 
We combined the projects as a package (including the active warning sign option for the Leeston Road bridge project).