A successful workshop was held at the Great Lake Centre on Thursday 31 March 2005 as part of the review of the Taupo District Council's Cycle Strategy for Taupo Town.† Please read on for the workshop outcomes...

If you would like to make further comment please send your comments to Gerry Dance at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it †or Else Tutert at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Outcomes Workshop 31 March 2005

Cycling Strategy Review

What are the main issues/ barriers for cycling in Taupo?

Group 1:

•†††††††† No signs or stencils on Heu Heu Street and other bike areas

•†††††††† New ‘Kea’ crossings are a hindrance to cyclists (jutting into moving lane)

•†††††††† More green paint/ delineation at intersections

•†††††††† More recreational paths off road carriageway

•†††††††† Signage at these paths

•†††††††† Actual bike barriers should be more consistent

•†††††††† More barriers in some areas to assist in dual use areas, e.g. Lions Walk

•†††††††† Be aware of ‘over signage’ or proliferation of signage

•†††††††† Emphasis on biker/ walker/ user culture, change ‘kiwi culture’

•†††††††† Work harder at ‘cycle to work’ routes, both changing culture

•†††††††† Better use at wide arterial routes, e.g. Rifle Range Road

•†††††††† Change/ alter degree at car/ vehicle parking on main arterials, addressed through structure planning

•†††††††† General state of existing network OK, state of cleanliness

•†††††††† Cycles ultimately would be best adjacent to footpath - safer!

•†††††††† Cycle widths wider than 2 pax!! - Paths in new subdivisions at least 2m to provide for cyclists and pedestrians

•†††††††† Better utilisation of unused areas, flood zones, wider berms.

Group 2:

•†††††††† Bad drivers

•†††††††† Tour bus drivers getting too close to cyclists

•†††††††† Bad cyclists, cycling too wide

•†††††††† Not cycling single file

•†††††††† Oncoming traffic on tracks, footpaths

•†††††††† Dog walkers and their dogand their dropping

•†††††††† Broadlands Roadbig chip on patch ups - not smooth enough

•†††††††† Recreational increase most heartening

•†††††††† Boom in mountain bikingthanks to great tracks

•†††††††† Why are people not cycling to work:

o††††††† Climate extremes for cycling to work/ school

o††††††† Hills

o††††††† Clothing change needed

o††††††† Danger aspect

o††††††† Peer pressure for school kids, not cool!

o††††††† Wearing a helmet?

o††††††† But schools do provide racks etc.

o††††††† Kids are using BMX, Velodrome, Mountain bike tracks, craters

o††††††† Can’t carry much

•†††††††† Path along lakeshore, car park near Scout building/ Taharepa Road intersection, car parked at the car park overhang footpath

How can we make Taupo the most cycling friendly District?

Group 1 - Taupo town:

•†††††††† Legalise cycling along lakeshore reserves

•†††††††† Links from recreational corridor along ETA into town (Landcorp/ Council subdivision to Wharewaka and Rainbow Drive/ Greenwich Street and Titoki Avenue Reserve / Arrowsmith and Fairview Terraces reserve

•†††††††† Underpass/ bridge at SH1 linking Landcorp/ Council subdivision with Rainbow Drive area

•†††††††† Links in gullies

•†††††††† Alter wooden barriers at Waipahihi Sportsground

•†††††††† Bridge to link Acacia Bay Road with Town Centre

•†††††††† Designate cycle lanes:

o††††††† Richmond Avenue (Waipahihi Sportsground to Ingle Avenue and link with Titoki Reserve and Bernard ST reserve)

o††††††† Kiddle Drive

o††††††† Taharepa Road

o††††††† Mere Road

o††††††† Heu Heu Street

o††††††† Rifle Range Road

o††††††† Kaimanawa Street

o††††††† Tauhara Road

o††††††† Henry Hill Rd from Kimberly Reserve to Rokino Road (and link with path in Mere Rd Reserve with Mere Road)

o††††††† Spa Road

o††††††† AC Baths Avenue

o††††††† And links to schools (Rangatira Strret/ Frederick Street/ Horomatangi Street)

•†††††††† Paths through reserves:

o††††††† Waipahihi Sportsgrounds

o††††††† Aubrey Crescent Reserve

o††††††† Titoki Avenue Reserve

o††††††† Bernard St Reserve (Tremaine)

o††††††† Dr Armstrong Reserve

o††††††† Mere Road reserve

o††††††† Riverbank Recreational and Scenic Reserve (from Control Gate Bridge to Spa Park and other side to link with end of Hindmarsh Drive)

o††††††† Path along river / Tongariro Domain

o††††††† Harvey Street Conservation area

Group 1 - Rural:

•†††††††† Shoulder widening Poihipi (priority #1) (speed, busy)

•†††††††† Shoulder widening Broadlands Road

•†††††††† Widening Mapara Road

•†††††††† Link from 5 Mile Bay to Waitahanui

•†††††††† Increasing population in Kinloch and Mapara Road - so provisions for cyclists

•†††††††† SH5, widening from Crown Road to Deborah Rise

•†††††††† Widening Acacia Bay Road between Acacia Bay and Nukuhau

Group 2 - Taupo Town:

•†††††††† Signs on paths to say ‘keep left when passing’

•†††††††† Barriers big enough for cycle trailers to fit

•†††††††† Cycle lane along lakefront

•†††††††† Wider cobble path along Lake Terrace

•†††††††† Bridge linking Nukuhau and Town Centre

•†††††††† Path along Tongariro Domain, following river

•†††††††† Path along Riverbank recreation and scenic reserve from Control Gate Bridge to Country Avenue

•†††††††† Extend path up control gate hill to Huka Falls Road

•†††††††† Underpass SH1/5 at near Spa Road roundabout

•†††††††† Cycle lane up Kaimanawa Street

•†††††††† Cycle lane Spa Road

•†††††††† Not all paths need to be sealed/ concrete, keep some pumice tracks

•†††††††† Link facilities to create routes

•†††††††† Mere Road cycle lane

•†††††††† Cut down traffic, create one way system, more car parks

•†††††††† Widen path along lakeshore, especially at car park near scout, to provide for overhanging cars

•†††††††† Increase awareness of Velodrome - signage

Group 2 - Rural:

•†††††††† Widening along Poihipi Road

•†††††††† Extend path from Wairakei resort into town (off road - concrete/ pumice)

•†††††††† ETA - crossings/ bridge/ underpasses for cyclists

•†††††††† Provision for cyclists on second bridge crossing

•†††††††† Transfer station out of town