Future walking and cycling paths
Over the next 30 or more years urban growth will mean that North Auckland will need a range of new and improved transport choices to help new communities move around.
We’re planning now because it’s important to protect the land needed to build new transport connections over the next two to three decades as urban development occurs.
We’re proposing a future network of 25km of safe, separated walking and cycling paths for North Auckland, including along State Highway 1 (SH1) from Albany to Grand Drive in Ōrewa, and alongside the Rapid Transit Corridor through the Dairy Flat future growth area. These will give people more active, low-carbon transport choices allowing them to take safe, healthy walking or cycling trips to the new rapid transit stations, public transport hubs and future town centres.
We’re also proposing separated walking and cycling paths on various new or improved transport corridors and across new and upgraded state highways to create a safe, high quality walking and cycling network for North Auckland to encourage a shift to walking, cycling and public transport.
These future walking and cycling projects are yet to be prioritised for funding with construction expected around the next
10 – 30+ years.
Why do we need new walking and cycling paths?
Integrated walking and cycling paths that are safe and attractive to use are an important step towards a low-carbon future by encouraging people out of cars and giving more people the choice to travel on foot and by bike.
Most of North Auckland’s future growth is expected to occur in Dairy Flat, Silverdale, Wainui and Ōrewa. As these areas develop and grow, we want to make sure residents have sustainable transport options close to where they live, work and play.
We’re planning now so that we have enough land set aside in the future to build safe, separated walking and cycling paths close to public transport to make it easy for people to make local and longer distance trips..
Benefits:
- Increased access to economic and social opportunities via walking and cycling to public transport hubs and key destinations.
- Safe, separated facilities that connect people with local communities and the wider Auckland public transport network.
- High quality, low-carbon travel alternatives so people don’t need to rely on cars.
What are we proposing?
In the future, a new walking and cycling path will begin at Albany just south of Oteha Valley Road and travel north alongside SH1 to connect with Grand Drive in Ōrewa.
A section of a new walking and cycling path is currently under construction between Constellation Drive to Albany, just south of Oteha Valley Road. This future new cycleway will extend north, staying on the eastern side of SH1 to around Bawden Road where it will cross to the western side and continue to the Silverdale interchange. At the Silverdale interchange it will cross to the eastern side enabling connections to the local network into Silverdale and continue north to Grand Drive in Ōrewa.
This will provide a seamless dedicated walking and cycling link between Ōrewa and Albany, which will connect with existing local paths and the future growth areas to extend Auckland’s walking and cycling network.
Key features:
- Dedicated walking and cycling path for commuters and recreation that is safe and separated from general traffic.
- A direct and attractive route for people to travel between Albany and Grand Drive, connecting with other strategic corridors and future growth areas.
- Safe motorway crossings to improve connections between existing and future communities on both sides of SH1.
The new walking and cycling path will travel through urban and rural areas. These sections could look like this with people on foot and on bikes or scooters as examples of the ways people could travel along the corridor::
Urban strategic active mode corridor
(Cross section is indicative only)
Rural strategic active mode corridor
(Cross section is indicative only)
Travelling alongside the future rapid transit corridor, through the future urban growth area of Dairy Flat, a dedicated shared walking and cycling path will join with the SH1 walking and cycling path around Bawden Road in the south and around the Silverdale interchange in the north. It will also connect to strategic and local walking and cycling paths to provide safe access for people traveling on foot and by bike to local destinations, rapid transit stations and future town centres.
Key features:
- Safe walking and cycling facilities on one side of the rapid transit corridor – these will be separate from motor traffic to protect people walking and on bikes.
- High quality facilities will support longer distance trips to connect Dairy Flat, Silverdale West, Milldale and Millwater and connect with the SH1 cycleway, so people can access key destinations and public transport hubs.
The walking and cycling corridor could look like this:
Cross section is indicative only
Other strategic walking and cycling connections will be included as part of new or upgraded two or four lane road corridors. These new walking and cycling connections will be safe and separated from general traffic and connect to local walking and cycling facilities.
We’re investigating preferred options to create these new walking and cycling facilities:
A new connection along the Dairy Stream through Dairy Flat
A high-quality walking and cycling connection through the growth area of Dairy Flat. This will link the new SH1 cycleway to a future Dairy Flat centre and on to Green Park. This connection will provide a direct and safe east-west connection through the future urban area.
A new connection from Highgate Parkway to the SH1 cycleway
This link will improve connections between people in Milldale, Highgate, Millwater and the Silverdale area improving access to jobs, amenities and homes using high-quality walking and cycling connections.
A new SH1 crossing at Dairy Stream
A new bridge is proposed across SH1 around Dairy Stream for all modes of transport. This will include walking and cycling facilities and will allow people to travel on foot and by bike across SH1 between the area of Top Road and East Coast Road, helping to connect future growth areas on both sides of SH1.
