Wellington Cycle Network — Safe System Audits

Overview

WCC asked TTAP to conduct Safe System Audits on a batch of cycle-network improvement designs. The audits assessed feasibility of proposed drawings, identified safety hazards, reviewed crash data on each corridor, confirmed the level of safety risk, identified possible improvement measures, and provided a risk-rating assessment.

What we found

Common issues across the cycle network included dooring exposure on narrow inner-city corridors, cyclists weaving through traffic where dedicated infrastructure was discontinuous, limited passing space, and uneven pavement transitions at intersection treatments. Each audit finding was matched with a specific design or intervention recommendation.

Aerial of the Ghuznee Street audit extent between The Terrace, Willis Street and Victoria Street, with the audited corridor outlined and the Macdonald Crescent and gapfiller sites annotated. — Ghuznee Street — audit extent, with the constrained blocks and gapfiller sites identified.

Outcome

The Safe System Audits gave WCC a defensible safety case for each location’s design decisions, plus an explicit risk register that informed value-engineering decisions during detailed design without compromising the safe-system goals.

Aerial of a Wellington cycle connection with numbered audit findings plotted along the route and severity ratings marked at each location. — Findings plotted along the route and rated in place — so each issue is tied to a location, not a list.

Team

Bob Hu (Managing Director / Principal Traffic Engineer) chaired the audit panel. Simon Cager (Principal Project Engineer) led the on-site audit assessments across each location. Charles Agate (Senior Assets Engineer / Traffic Management Specialist) led the traffic-management and risk-rating workstream.

For Safe System Audits on your cycle network, talk to us.