Submitter
Submission id number: 964631
Submitter name:
John Fridd
Organisation
AOK Shark Bell Riders senior biking group
Do you want to speak to Councillors at the hearings?
No
Supporting information
Submission
How are we doing? Is there anything you would like to tell us?
I'm the founder/organiser of the AOK Shark Bell Riders group, designed to keep fit, mobile retired folk active by taking them on bike rides around Greater Dunedin and further afield. I've been organising bike groups in Dunedin since 1999 and know the needs of mountain bikers very well. The No 1 issue at present is the danger of having to ride bikes on public roads, especially busy roads, and I hope the DCC can back any moves towards establishing more shared paths (for biking, walking and running etc). We've heard about the plan to establish a new Taieri Plain trail from Lake Waihola to Dunedin city, the last link in a network of shared paths stretching from Cromwell to Dunedin. This network is destined to become a very popular tourist route as well as providing safe shorter rides for folk living along the route. I hope the DCC will include in its 2023-24 estimates some money for the Taieri Plain shared path.
Captions for the two attached photos:
Truck pic: Everything looks OK in this photo I took on a Shark Bell outing until you look at the position of the big truck on the road. It's crossing the centre line on a corner and you can imagine what would happen if another truck came along in the opposite direction. And I must point out that the cyclist is using the narrow lane on the side of the highway but just around the corner from this spot the lane peters out and cyclists have to ride on the edge of the highway - dangerous.
I took this photo on State Highway 87 just east of the Taieri River bridge near Outram. We've got to get our cyclists off highways!
Historic house pic: AOK riders view Woodside Manor House near Woodside. Our rides often include places of interest and no doubt tourists riding the mooted Taieri Plain shared path would be keen to see places like the 1866 manor.
What other ideas should we be thinking about to include in future plans for our city?