ViaStrada May 2010 Newsletter

ViaStrada began trading in May 2007 and thus we are now three years old! We're proud of our accomplishments in our eight areas of expertise. With 19 staff we have a critical mass of dedicated and highly competent staff. We enjoy working together and with our many progressive clients. And we love the opportunities we are increasingly being given to work on integrating land use and transport planning. These types of projects improve urban design outcomes street by street, development by development, for a better New Zealand.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1480

ViaStrada is proud to support the 2010 Golden Foot (walking) awards and Cycle Friendly Awards. Best practice (organisations and facilities) should be celebrated and emulated! Nominations for the walking awards close soon...

The 2010 conference of the New Zealand Planning Institute was held in Christchurch during April. ViaStrada supported the conference by offering guided cycle tours for conference attendees. The tours focused on the integration of land use and transport planning points of interest along a scenic circuit including Hagley Park, Mona Vale and the Cultural Precinct. Some 60 conference attendees took up the offer, and four groups enjoyed an outing during best autumn weather.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1475

The 2010 Transportation Conference was held in Christchurch from 14 to 17 March. It was a great event, including a tug boat ride on Lyttelton Harbour, a fabulous conference dinner, a good networking opportunity and excellent continuing professional development opportunities.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1467

Sue McAuley of our Nelson office accepted a full time position at Nelson City Council as their Senior Transport Engineer.

The Nelson office will continue to provide the full range of traffic services, and we have appointed Christchurch-based staff member Rhys Chesterman to provide traffic engineering services for the top of the south region operating between the Nelson and Christchurch offices as required.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1448

ViaStrada recently obtained non-notified land use consent approval for its client AMP Capital Palms Pty Ltd for an expansion to The Palms Shopping Centre in north-east Christchurch. The Palms is located 4 km from the city's CBD and currently consists of approximately 110 retail tenancies, including the first Reading Cinemas multiplex in Christchurch.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1492

Resource consent has been granted for a complex application at Nelson’s Gardens of the World, involving a crematorium, memorial gardens and kiosk.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/957

Westwood shopping centre, a large format retail complex on the southern outskirts of Blenheim, has been granted consent by the Environment Court. Staff from our Nelson office have been providing expert RMA and planning advice to Marlborough District Council on this application over the course of three years.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1482

ViaStrada is the engineering advisor to the New Zealand Cycle Trail (NZCT).  We have developed a comprehensive design guide (over 80 pages) for trail designers and project funding applicants. The design guide is available from the Ministry of Tourism website and can also be downloaded from the ViaStrada website.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1443

The Melbourne office of SKM engaged ViaStrada to peer review its draft report Green Lights for Bikes, a report on how road authorities can use a range of techniques to provide for bike riders at traffic lights. SKM's client for the report was Bicycle Victoria. ViaStrada provided several additional examples of techniques for this report. The majority of the techniques described will be relevant to urban road controlling authorities in New Zealand.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1463

Our Nelson office has been busy advising on several policy projects. These include reporting on a plan change relating to the use and operation of frost fans on the Wairau Plains (Marlborough) and providing expert evidence on a retail variation to the Wairau Awatere Resource Management Plan.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1484

Our Nelson office reports a slow pick up in the level of activity involving private developments in the top of the south. The Nelson office is currently working on a number of private projects in Blenheim, Nelson and Tasman with a number of potential development projects in the pipeline.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1487

On behalf of NZTA, ViaStrada has developed an Advanced Cycling Planning and Design Course to expand on the Fundamentals of Planning and Design for Cycling course.

The next course is planned for Auckland on 14 and 15 July 2010. For a registration form and further information, visit our Advanced Training page.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1228

District Plans have an important role to play in the integration of land use and transport planning. ViaStrada engineers and planners have recently undertaken a review of the Selwyn District Plan and have prepared a plan change updating the Plan's transport provisions. Jeanette Ward, Lisa Williams and Kathryn Stapleton were the key ViaStrada team members. At the IPENZ Transportation Conference held in Christchurch March 2010, Jeanette presented a paper prepared by herself, Kathryn and Andrew Mazey of the Selwyn District Council.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1453

How wide should paths shared between pedestrians and cyclists be? Whilst these are common, very little guidance is available internationally. VicRoads wanted to know and engaged ViaStrada and SKM to undertake the research. Megan Fowler and Warren Lloyd (both ViaStrada) and Cameron Munro (SKM Melbourne) wrote a technical paper on this topic. This was presented as a poster at the IPENZ Transportation Conference in Christchurch in March 2010.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1455

What happens when petrol prices go up, or buses go down? Following the 2008 petrol price rises and the 2009 Auckland bus driver industrial dispute, Andrew Macbeth and John Lieswyn (both ViaStrada) and Brian Horspool (Auckland Regional Transport Authority) wrote a technical note on this topic. This was presented as a poster at the IPENZ Transportation Conference in Christchurch in March 2010.

Read more: http://viastrada.co.nz/node/1454