A Safe Route at Last for Grey Lynn Primary School

A new safe crossing outside Grey Lynn Primary School

Good news - after intense debate and many years of consultation on Tuesday 19 August the local board agreed to support permanent street upgrades to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists between the Grey Lynn shops on Surrey Crescent and the Old Mill Road/Garnet Road intersection.

This will mean a raised crossing outside Grey Lynn School, safe cycle routes to and from the school, a new zebra crossing outside Lollipops early childcare centre and some safety upgrades to the intersections around the Bullock Track. It’s a big win for the local community and beyond because it expands the growing cycle network eventually connecting to the new cycle paths on Great North Road and Point Chevalier Road.

The Waitematā Safe Routes project, as it was at one time called, has been kicking around since a Surrey Crescent street upgrade in 2011 failed to provide an adequate safe crossing outside Grey Lynn Primary School. It is an AT project but one in which the local board has taken a keen interest. But it has been slow going.

While other projects have been delivered around the city, including the North-West cycleway and Te Ara Ki Uta Ki Tai, the joyous Meadowbank to Tamaki shared path,* this one has been on a rotation of consultation, temporary measures and design tweaks for nearly fifteen years, despite strong community support along the way. The below graph shows the high degree of support in 2018. 

Consultation in 2018 showed strong support for the Grey Lynn Safe Routes Project.

This has been frustrating but what has evolved is a plan that is less expensive to deliver, has minimal impact on parking and other road users and which has been designed to meet a broad range of needs, including business.  City Vision took a pragmatic approach to supporting the current design.  There are safety improvements that are on hold, in particular the intersection of Richmond Road and Surrey Crescent. However, overall  the project will deliver a significantly safer street environment for everyone and can proceed quickly without any further delays.

We’ll take it.

While the formal local board endorsement only took place at the August business meeting, the project team has consulted closely with the school community,  individuals and businesses, as well as the local residents’ and business associations, and have been reporting back to us regularly on their progress. And we know the support for the project remains. 

One of the overriding themes has been to get on with it.

“I am a resident of Surrey Crescent in Grey Lynn. I also have two children who attend Grey Lynn Primary School . . . I strongly support the Surrey Crescent and Old Mill Road improvements project.”

“Please go ahead and make progress with these improvements, they’re long overdue. Although this affects me deeply, it’s what the community needs.”

C&R members Sarah Trotman, Greg Moyle and Allan Matson were opposed, suggesting more consultation. Ongoing consultation with people when they have made their views clear and essentially defunding well-designed projects is disheartening, disingenuous and squanders money and good will. Fortunately, the views of Alex Bonham, Anahera Rawiri and Richard Northey of the City Vision team and Chair Gen Sage prevailed. If not now, when?

With Meola Road complete and Great North Road due to be finished by the end of this year, the timing for this project is great. Against the odds in this political environment, Waitematā is joining up its cycle network - and a connected network is worth more than the sum of its parts.

More people, including little ones, can enjoy getting out and about on two feet or two wheels and safer trips to school, reducing congestion and emissions. Work is due to begin in September.  

* Ōrākei has had more money invested in cycleways than any other local board area – and we don’t begrudge them a penny.