Project Twinstreams Cycleways

 (Cycle & Walkway Network Waitakere City)

OVERVIEW

Project Twin Streams (PTS) is about restoring stream edge environments, managing stormwater, and cleaning up the streams that run from the Waitakere Ranges through bush, farmland, orchards, suburbs, industrial areas and parks to connect to the Waitemata Harbour. It is a council community partnership, bringing people together to build stronger communities and to reconnect them with the environment.

It also involves the creation of an extensive network of walking and cycle way tracks along the stream edges, to assist people to get around the community and city more easily and safely, while avoiding busy roads. These paths also link with the growing regional cycle networks and other city projects such as double tracking and town centre development. The total cycle way will be 11km long and have an approximate capital value of $7 million.

INNOVATIVE APPROACH

Andrew.Stewart Ltd was bought into the PTS cycle way delivery team, due to our innovative consenting approach and ability to work on collaborative teams. Our role was to assist Waitakere City Council with the development of the overall scheme, including:

• Statutory risk assessment
• Development of a consultation and communication strategy
• Design input and route finding, from a statutory and environmental perspective
• Liaison with internal and external stakeholders (council departments, iwi, property owners, community groups etc)
• Liaison with the project delivery team (engineers, archaeologists, arborists, property acquisition, construction managers etc)
• Assessment of environmental effects, preparing consent applications
• Managing consent processing, including negotiation of notification requirements

 CHALLENGES

While the general location of the routes had been decided there were many challenges to overcome, including balancing the design requirements, different needs of various users and community aspirations against the available land and budgets.
This was successfully overcome by implementing a consultation and communication strategy that ensured community engagement and involvement in the decision making process.

The cycle way also runs through many different District Plan zonings, through both reserve and residential land, through significant flood plains and sites that were contaminated by historical horticultural use.This created a maze of planning infringements that needed to be negotiated, and a series of potential public notification risks to address.

We established a project specific quality assurance framework that provided the Client with the confidence that all aspects of the project were thoroughly investigated. This accurately identified likely obstacles, conveyed the magnitude of implications resulting from design changes, and allowed the project delivery team to deal with any issues as they arose.

COST EFFECTIVE & TIMELY DELIVERY

Andrew.Stewart delivered cost-effective comprehensive resource consent applications covering both District and Regional matters for each build section. Robust communication channels were maintained to ensure the project continued to progress seamlessly.Effective consultation avoided the need for any public hearings or challenges to the decision making process.For more information visit: www.waitakere.govt.nz

SUCCESS

The project was initiated in 2005 and is now complete, with four paths open for use and the last two due for completion early 2010.The network has been judged to be the country's Best Practice Walking Facility at the inaugural Best Practice Walking Awards - run by the New Zealand Transport Agency and Living Streets Aotearoa.It has also recently scooped a Golden Foot Award, signifying excellence and stature as New Zealand's number one walk and cycle way.

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