SkyPath v1.0

Introduction:

A few weeks back the SkyPath submitted its application for a resource consent and we all had our chance to put in a submission on the current plans. It will be sometime before we know what the outcome of the submission and in all likelihood we will never know the actual details as these are for the person who submitted the application and not the general public.

CAA.ORG.NZ

When it comes to submissions on these sorts of things your normally get about 50 or so from a various locals who are being disrupted, however every now and then a marketing machine will get behind it resulting from people from all over the world making submissions. We saw this with the SkyPath where Generation Zero created a easy submission form that brought in about 11,000 submissions including my one.

The idea of the Generation Zero form was to get people to submit in approval of the project and therefore they gave 5 reasons as to why the project should go ahead as follows:

1. The Skypath will provide much needed transport choices by providing a long overdue walking and cycling link between the North Shore and the City.
2. The Skypath will be a great way to encourage cycling. It will connect the two sides of the harbour allowing people to commute or for a Sunday ride.
3. It will be easily accessible with great work done by Auckland Transport to accommodate all stakeholders.
4. The best thing about it though is that it'll be amazing iconic attraction for Auckland.
5. There's one thing we think that should be changed and that's it's opening hours. We think it should be open till midnight rather than closing at 10PM. If you support this make sure to tick the box to add it to your submission.

Of the 5 reasons I think two of them are key, being:

1. The Skypath will provide much needed transport choices by providing a long overdue walking and cycling link between the North Shore and the City.
2. The best thing about it though is that it'll be amazing iconic attraction for Auckland.

The Existing Path:

So there we have it, the SkyPath is needed both as a important transport link and as an iconic attraction. But what would you say if I told you we already had a SkyPath right here in Auckland? All lies I'm sure you'll say but it just so happens we have one just down the road over the Mangere Inlet as part of the Mangere Bridge opened in 1983.

Magere Bridge - 2015

Being built in the early 80's when lowest cost was the primary driver it's not exactly the best pedestrian/cycle bridge in much the same way its not the best motorway bridge either. However what it does that the existing harbour bridge doesn't is provide an pedestrian and cycle connection over the harbour.

Being a nice sunny Saturday I biked my way down here in the weekend to give this thing a go and see what it was all about. The first thing you will notice about it is that it's had quite a few years of the wrong type of love with no shorted of depictions of self expression. However riding over it was actually a rather nice experience and the grade wasn't an issue. 

Magere Cycle Path - 2015

One thing I wasn't expecting to find were two observation platforms located approximately a 3rd of the way along from each end. Although a little on the small side each one of these had a seat and rather nice view out across the harbour. Given there was a bit of a concert going on in the reserve by the south bridge abutment a few people were making use of the elevated position the bridge gave to get a better view.

Magere Bridge - 2015

The new SkyPath intends to have a few of these widenings along the route, which originally they were going to charge extra for, and generally the feel of the route will be somewhat similar to the Mangere Bridge.

CAA.ORG.NZ

The main negative to the Mangere Bridge crossing from what I could see is the inadequate security which has resulted in years of vandalism and neglect. The other downside it has is that it needs to be a long narrow route with only one way in and one way out meaning it pretty much fails when it comes to CPTED. This means that the only way people can feel safe using it is when it's busy or if it has visible and active security.

The SkyPath will be in exactly the same situation as the Mangere Bridge and will need to have extensive security measures to make sure people feel safe and to prevent any vandalism.

The other obvious thing any cycle or pedestrian crossing needs to access to and from the crossing. The Mangere Bridge has been pretty well connected since it was built back in the 80's however there have been a few recent upgrades at the northern end including a new bridge over Onehunga Harbour Road and a new board walk.

Mangere Bridge North Abutment Boardwalk - 2015

Findings:

Before actually testing the bridge out myself I wasn't expecting much as I had heard various people talk it down along with hearing stories about homeless people living there and lighting fires. But after giving it a go I think the crossing is actually pretty good and if I lived in Mangere and wanted to commute to work in Onehunga I would probably give it a go. During my brief ride across, with a few short photo stops, I saw about 15 other people using it and so it wasn't a complete ghost bridge.

When relating it to the SkyPath, the Mangere Birdge is 650m in length whereas the SkyPath is about 1.3km. The Mangere Bridge is at about 3% in grade whereas the Skypath will be about 5%. Both of these grades are pretty easy to climb but the safety issue arises when it comes to cyclist heading downhill where they like to go as fast as they can which doesn't mix all that well with children randomly stopping and darting side to side.

Users:

When it comes to the SkyPath one of the biggest issues I see is that in order for it to feature as part of your daily commute you will need to be cycling quite some distance. Assuming you live Northcote Point you will be looking at 5-6km to get to the city depending on where you live. If you relate that to people on the CBD side of the harbour it would be like cycling in from Waterview, Mt Roskill, Ellersle or Meadowbank. Physically all these trips are pretty manageable, however what portion of people are actually willing to bike 10km or more to and from work each day.

In Auckland the average commute is just over 5km and about 70% of all commutes are <10km, therefore anyone wanting to cycle over the harbour bridge would be cycling more than the average commute distance and by the time you get to Glenfield this cyclist would be up in the 85%ile of longest commutes. The point being is that the SkyPath will only provide for a very small portion of all commuting cyclists and in all likelihood zero pedestrian commuters.

Auckland - 2015

And so this is why I think the main use for the SkyPath will be for recreational and tourist users, in the weekends you can expect to get a few cyclists who are up for doing 30km or so and you will also get quite a few families driving down to Westhaven and walking up the bridge. In effect I think the SkyPath will be sort of like the Sky Tower as a tourist attraction but I don't see it being an overly important transport link.