FAQs

The Local Active Modes Plan (LAMP) is a planning exercise that Auckland Transport is undertaking in collaboration with the Waitematā Local Board. The Plan will develop a programme of low-cost, small-scale changes to roads and streets in the inner-west suburbs to make them more safe and user-friendly for people walking and cycling.

The types of opportunities we will be considering includes: 

• quiet routes / greenways
• cycle parking
• traffic calming and traffic volume reduction devices in local residential roads
• protected cycle lanes and painted cycle lanes 
• new pedestrian crossings and upgrades to existing ones
• footpath widening including kerb buildouts at intersections
• place-making improvements such as street furniture, landscaping and establishing new pedestrian plazas / shared zones
• new bus shelters
• accessibility improvements such as kerb ramps and tactile paving
• signage and way-finding

For more information on these interventions see the following:

Local Paths Design Guide  - describes the concept of "local paths" and outlines the physical infrastructure required to create them.

Healthy Streets indicators - outlines ten evidence-based indicators that must be prioritised and balanced to improve social, economic and environmental outcomes through how our roads and streets are designed and managed. 

Walking - While AT does continuously invest to maintain and improve the footpath network, this is often done mainly with a safety or maintenance lens. The plan will also think strategically about other ways to improve the walking experience in the area through infrastructure improvements. The focus will be on getting the basics right and doing little things well. 

Cycling - We want to continuously improve the experience of people riding bikes or e-scooters in our city, especially as more and more people are choosing to ride for their day-to-day trips. The area contains and is gaining major cycling infrastructure (Great North Road, Point Chevalier to Westmere, Franklin Road and the Northwestern Cycleway). This project will make it easier for the local community to access these facilities and ensure we make the most of what we already have. 

In creating this plan, we are ensuring that we have a pipeline of small-scale projects that:

• offer best value for money (making the most of existing and forthcoming cycling and walking routes), 
• aligns to current community and Local Board priorities, 
• are best placed to take advantage of current delivery opportunities (leveraging existing programmes and aligning to the current funding environment).

The LAMP will not be considering new major projects. Major projects such as new cycleways along arterial roads can cost a lot of money and are complex to deliver as they significantly alter the road layout and incur trade-offs for other road users. 

While it important that we continue to progress these major projects where we can, we also need to have low-cost, low-risk programmes delivering minor walking and cycling improvements. This ensures we are continuously improving the experience of people riding and walking in our city and that we are leveraging benefits off completed major projects.

In order to keep the project scope appropriately focussed, the LAMP will also not be recommending:

• Interventions outside the Waitemata Local Board area;
• Interventions outside of the LAMP study area;
• Non-infrastructure investment in active travel (e.g. cycle skills trainings)

The LAMP study area shown below:

The LAMP study area is well suited to walking and cycling for transport trips.

The neighbourhoods have been developed in a grid-network with small block sizes. The proximity to the city centre means a lot of amenities and services are close by and many transport trips are short.

The area has received prior investment in cycling infrastructure with more to come. The type of interventions included in the LAMP are small-scale and will have the best impact in areas where there are high quality cycling routes to enhance access to and build off of. 

The LAMP study area has high levels of walking and cycling relative to other parts of the city (see data below).

Here is some transport data for the study area taken from the 2018 Census:

• There are 22,140 people who live in the study area that have to travel to go to work or study.  
• 40% of these people (8,790 people) travel to a location within the study area. 
• A further 31% (6,876 people) travel to a location within the city centre. 
• The Waitematā Local Board area has the third highest walking and cycling mode share to school of all areas in Auckland.

Projects and interventions recommended through the LAMP will be delivered as and when funding becomes available through existing programmes or new funding sources.