For 2008, we have in mind getting involved with the following:

· Have a stall at the Taranaki Sustainable Living Fair at Inglewood High School, 5th April.

· Bike safety checks at schools during the year along with the Health Promotions Unit at Taranaki Base Hospital.

· Endeavour to participate with the Road Safe Taranaki committee to have input on how future road revisions may affect cyclists.

· Develop a relationship with the Taranaki Road Safety Co-ordinator based in Hawera at the South Taranaki District Council.

· Review the NPDC’s proposed on-road cycling infrastructure packages that will go to Land Transport NZ for funding approval to implement the changes needed to comply with the NPDC Cycle Strategy.

· Participate in promoting BikeWise week and its associated activities.

· Follow up on the Waiwhakaiho River Bridge, Mangorei Rd/Northgate intersection, Mangorei and Devon Street audits, SH3 south motorway uplifting and the Mangaone Hill/Bell Block by-pass changes.

· Work in conjunction with the NPDC Sustainable Transport co-ordinator to run a 1.5m gap to cyclists advertising and signage campaign.

· Work with the CAN Digital Strategy project team to integrate our website with those developed as part of the project.

· Anything else that comes along!

NTCA Committee Report for 2007

Here is what we have been doing since the beginning of 2007:

· The Mayoral Challenge was held mid February. Members assisted with the start, marshalling along the route and at the finish plus handed out CAN/NTCA info at the finish area.

· Submitted to the Taranaki Regional Council re their Walkway and Cycleways Strategy late in February.

· The Cycling Advocates Network (CAN) membership was shifted to being an Affiliated Group to take advantage of the benefits this membership brings in the way of an income and assistance from the CAN employees etc.

· A cycle audit of Mangorei Road was undertaken by one of our committee members on 18th March. This was reviewed by the committee and the final version was sent to the Community Assets Manager of the NPDC on 13th April.

· An online submission was made on the 30th April to the NPDC on the proposed budget for 2007/2008. This was aimed to promote spending on cycling safety related issues. Three members of the committee went to the public session to speak to the submission on the 29th May. The verbal submission was aimed at promoting the spending on cycling safety issues and that these shouldn’t be held up until the new cycling strategy was adopted. Questions were also raised during the discussions regarding cycling access over the Waiwhakaiho River Bridge.

· The Daily News newspaper picked up on the comments made during the public submission and asked for comments regarding these. An article on the issue of cyclist’s safety on the bridge appeared in the Daily News on Monday 4th June.

· Following a committee meeting on the 12th May, letters were sent to Transit NZ and the NPDC on 15th May regarding improving the safety for cyclists crossing the Waiwhakaiho River Bridge. The letters indicated that an improvement would be to allow the footpaths to become shared pathways with appropriate signs and transitions to the cycle lanes either side. NPDC replied on 29th May in a positive fashion along with the added idea of putting hand railing on the road side of the shared pathways. Transit NZ acknowledged the letter on 7th June and further on 16th June indicated that they had been in discussion with NZ Police re the shared pathway suggestion for the footpaths. The police’s roading manager was supportive of the idea of a shared pathway.

· NPDC Cycling Strategy. A preliminary copy of the draft Cycling Strategy was received from the NPDC on 20th May. This draft was reviewed and comments passed back on 14th June. The draft strategy was released for public comment on 25th June. A submission on the draft was given to the NPDC on 13th July.

· Following a request from one of our wider group of those interested in cycling issues, a letter was sent to Transit NZ on 25th May regarding the lifting of the motorway status on the southern exit to New Plymouth along SH3. Transit NZ responded on 6th June outlining that the process was underway but progressing slowly as this was the first time it had to do the “undoing” of a motorway.

· The public submission to the Taranaki Regional Council on their Walkway and Cycleways Strategy was undertaken Thursday, 14th June. The TRC officer’s report on our submission was generally favourable in regard to our points and many of them were incorporated into the final version.

· Received a request from NPDC in July to review the proposed changes to the cycle path up the Mangaone Hill between Waiwhakaiho Valley and the New Plymouth Golf Club. This will be part of the SH3 upgrade and the Bell Block By-pass. A group of interested cyclists met with the council in early August. Feedback was given to keep the separate cycle path up the hill.

· NTCA featured in the September/October issue of Endurance Sport magazine and in August’s issue of CAN’s Chainlinks magazine.

· As part of Kidsafe Week, one of our members and his children featured in an article in the Midweek paper re cycling families.

· One of our members has volunteered to be on the NPDC Cycle Strategy Steering Group – an over-seeing committee responsible for monitoring NPDC’s progress in implementing their cycle strategy. The committee consists of people from Venture Taranaki, Sport Taranaki, Taranaki Regional Council, NTCA, Transit NZ, Land Transport NZ and NPDC.

· A cycle audit of Devon St West was undertaken by another of our committee members on 8th September. This was reviewed by the committee and the final version was sent to the Community Assets Manager of the NPDC on 19th November. The NPDC have forwarded the audit to Transit NZ for their consideration also as most of the audit covered SH45 which is their jurisdiction.

· One of our members went to the NZ Cycling Conference and the following CAN annual advocates get together in Napier at the beginning of November.

· Letters were written to Transit NZ regarding the Waiwhakaiho River Bridge and the dangers for commuting cyclists and changes that could be made to improve the safety for cyclists at the bridge.

· Letters were written to NPDC and Transit NZ regarding the changes to the intersection of Mangorei Road and Northgate.

· Applied to CAN for a grant to fund a stall site at the 2008 Taranaki Sustainability Fair. CAN’s grant of $100 was deposited into the NTCA account mid December.

· Have met regularly with the NPDC Cycle Strategy Implementation Team in the later part of the year.

· Provided to NPDC a list of sites within New Plymouth that would benefit from coloured cycle lane markings.

· Registered an .org domain name and created a website; www.ntca.org.nz.

· Met with Robert Ibell, the chair of CAN and with Anne Gummer, the CAN project officer for the Upper North Island.

· Members of the committee attended the presentation by St John Bosco on their cycle related research findings funded by the LTNZ Community Partnership Programme, jointly administered by CAN and Living Streets Aoteoroa.

· The committee had fourteen meetings throughout the year.

· Work has been progressing on designing a logo so that standard CAN documentation can be developed.

· A bank account was opened @ the TSB Bank.

Devon St cycle audit

The second of the cycle audits for streets within the New Plymouth District has been sent to the New Plymouth District Council. This audit covered Devon St West from Pioneer Rd down to Robe St and return.

This route is shown in the NPDC's Cycle Strategy document as either an existing cycleway or a proposed cycleway. There is a significant variation in road markings along the route that either indicate the cycle lane or are guides for traffic stopping at intersections prior to crossing or moving onto Devon St. Plus there are opportunities for providing a safer dilineage between the cyclist's space and that for vehicles.

A copy of the audit as submitted can be downloaded from the link below:

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/Rocket_Engineer/PublicFolder/Devon%20St%20West%20Cycle%20Audit%208%20Sept%2007%20Final.pdf

Minutes of Meeting Archive

You can download the last two sets of minutes of the NTCA committee from here:

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/rocket_engineer/publicfolder/MOM%20NTCA%20-%20October%2017%202007.pdf

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/rocket_engineer/publicfolder/MOM%20NTCA%20-%20November%2014%202007.pdf

Mangorei Road Audit

An audit was conducted on the cycle route following Mangorei Road, New Plymouth by members of the North Taranaki Cycling Advocates. This was the first in a planned series of audits looking at the current state of the cycle route network in New Plymouth.

Main shortcomings of the cycle route included lack of continuity at junctions, cycling past parked cars and glass on the cycle lane. A number of very dangerous junctions exist along this cycle route, notably Mangorei Rd-Awanui Str and Mangorei Rd-North Gate. These junctions and the amount of car traffic along Mangorei Rd over the northern half make it quite uncomfortable for beginning cyclists and dangerous for children.

Some suggestions were made how these two junctions can be made safer for cyclists.

Findings were shared with the NP District Council and a follow up meeting was held on the 6th November to identify what could be improved in the short term on this cycle route.

The NPDC does not want to change anything significant until a long term plan is drafted to cover all cycle routes within the town, something that could take a few years to achieve.