An exciting project to kick-start a national cycling and walking network gets underway...

Hi Rail Trails & Pathways People,

CAN is working with Living Streets Aotearoa (CAN's equivalent for walking) and the Hikurangi Foundation (a trust funded by the Tindall and Todd Foundations) on a project to kick-start a national cycling and walking network.

The project is provisionally called Freeway 0.

Funding for a year has been secured from the Hikurangi Foundation. It'll pay for a full-time project manager and some small individual pieces of work.

Until we've got the business case and sales pitch sorted we won't be making a public announcement about the project. However, rail trails wil be a very useful part of the network, and I thought it'd be good to let you know about the project now so you're aware of what's going on.

The outcomes from the first year are intended to be:

• establishment of a board to oversee the project
• establishment of a wider reference group
• appointment of a project manager
• an outline of the network (this will require consultation with a wide range of people & organisations such as regional and local councils, Rotary, Te Araroa, rail trail trusts etc.)
• a draft set of design standards (including signage)
• a business case
• a sales pitch
• lobbying & promotion using the above
• some runs on the board (probably linking 2-3 infrastructure projects already underway into the Freeway 0 project
• funding for continuing the project

The longer-term goal is to establish a nationwide network of cycling routes (with some being suitable for walking) which can be used for recreation, transport and tourism.

We recognise that we don't have the network of minor roads that exists in the UK, so our network will have a distinctly Kiwi flavour. We are unlikely to be able to achieve the single consistent design standard of the UK network (where all routes are supposed to be suitable for an unaccompanied 12 year old), so will probably need to have a range of route
types with signage being used to achieve predictability.

The project is in its early stages. We're hoping to have the board established by the end of February and the wider reference group set up soon after.

Cheers,

Robert