Research and publications

Walking and cycling strategies are useful tools that aid councils in providing for pedestrians and cyclists. In 2005, earlier research found that 36 strategies were held by 30 different councils throughout New Zealand. A stocktake of all current walking and cycling strategies was undertaken. This revealed that there are now 61 strategies prepared by 55 different councils (out of 85).

Traditionally aimed at roading engineers and contractors, the conference this year focused more attention on the new era under the NZ Transport Agency, which aims "to provide an integrated approach to transport planning, funding and delivery". Active transport (principally walking and cycling) is an increasingly important part of New Zealand's transport future.

The Cycling Advocates' Network (CAN) has presented the 6^th annual Cycle-Friendly Awards, celebrating initiatives to promote cycling and create a cycle-friendly environment at both a national and local level in New Zealand. One of the award categories, the Cycle-Friendly Commitment by a Public Organisation, was sponsored by ViaStrada.

At the Trafinz Conference in Christchurch (8-10 September 2008) ViaStrada presented the preliminary results of an inductive loop, continuous cycle counting trial undertaken for the New Zealand Transport Agency.

The document looks at ways of optimising New Zealand's road transport network. It is assumed that we will not be attempting to build our way out of congestion - instead we are moving towards smarter ways of managing land use (to reduce the need for travel) and more sustainable modes of transport. Better integration of land use and transport planning is recognised as a key requirement through to 2040 and beyond. Increasingly, we will be attempting to get better value for money out of our road network by using existing roads better (for all modes) rather than building more roads.

The remit is a progress report on research on the safety performance of roundabouts, with particular interest in cycle safety at different types of roundabouts (i.e. single lane versus multi lane roundabouts). The presentation is available for download from this website.

At the New Zealand Cycling Conference in September 2001, Andrew Macbeth gave a presentation on traffic calming on arterial roads, using examples from his work in Toronto.

The presentation showed how arterial roads can be narrowed, from four lanes to two, still with adequate capacity for up to 20,000 motor vehicles per day, but with improved or maintained facilities for a variety of users including cyclists. The conclusion drawn was that where traffic calming reduces speeds, safety is increased, especially for vulnerable road users.

ViaStrada took a leading role in research to develop a technique for estimating cycle traffic on new cycle facilities. The research has been published as Research Report No. 340 Estimating Demand for New Cycling Facilities in New Zealand.

There had been little guidance available for estimating demand on a new cycling facility. The purpose of the research was to develop a tool that could be used for Land Transport New Zealand funding applications and for helping to understand the impacts of a new facility.

Andrew presented information on how to count bicycle traffic by a variety of methods. The presentation also discusses current research on field-testing two commercially-available models of continuous cycle traffic counters at five locations in Christchurch for Land Transport NZ.

This paper presents some of the technical information on the process and design of the "Papanui Railway Cycleway" and in particular "dedicated cycle signals".

The paper is available online on this website.