The district council has completed an expression of interest for funding from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s streets for people initiative to upgrade Gerald St between Kildare Tce and West Belt.
It is for safety and intersection improvements, as well as the installation of cycle lanes along both sides, replacing on-street parking which would shift to off-street parking precincts on West Belt and the side streets of Lyttelton and Maurice Sts.
The angle parking area on the south side of Gerald St would be retained.
There is a plan for a 30km/h slow speed zone on the street.
District council spokesman Andrew Mazey said Waka Kotahi NZTA had prompted the district council to try again with submitting the application, after the roading authority turned down the local body’s earlier requests.
“Council staff have worked hard with Waka Kotahi to reach this point,” Mazey said.
The Waka Kotahi NZTA funding would allow the project, estimated to cost $6 million, to begin in the 2022/23 financial year.
Waka Kotahi NZTA will now consider the application alongside others from around the country. Successful applicants will be announced in July.
Harcourts Lincoln manager Jason Wills believed a lower speed limit than the current 50km/h was required, but he was concerned the loss of parallel parking would make the very busy road more dangerous for pedestrians.
While cycle lanes would be well-used by the many children cycling to and from school, it could force more people to attempt crossing the road as they walked from their cars to the shops.
Wills said in addition, Lincoln was a rural town, with wide combine harvesters and other machinery passing through daily. These would overlap the cycle lanes, making them redundant.
Lincoln Post, Gifts and Stationery owner Hiren Amin also wanted to see a reduced speed limit, as it would make the road safer for cyclists, motorists and pedestrians. This would be even more crucial once cycle lanes were installed, as motorists would be focusing on giving way to cyclists using the lanes.
However, there would be no loss of car parks, as the angular parking would remain and the parallel parking would be replaced through additional off-street parking areas.
The district council purchased areas for this parking ready to be developed with the upgrade and wider town centre plan.
Spokes Canterbury cycling advocacy group chairman, Don Babe, hoped the application would be successful.
“If this work will do something to bring forward some of the work then it will be a good outcome,” Babe said.
“Obviously as cycling advocates we are keen to see any infrastructure that makes cycling safer and more pleasant.”
Lincoln cyclist Mike Bowie said cycle lanes were urgently required along Gerald St.
“The worst places are where the cars are allowed to park because you have to come out further into the traffic,” Bowie said.
He was knocked off his bike further along the road on his way to Lincoln University last year, one of more than 10 minor injury crashes involving bicycles on Gerald St since the early 2000s.
He said such safety improvements were particularly required in Lincoln and the wider Selwyn area, due to its excessive growth in population and traffic flows.
