Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency will reconsider access for cycling across Auckland's Harbour Bridge at its board meeting next week.
It comes after a campaign group threatened court action if the proposal wasn't revisited.
May 30, 2021, was a controversial day for cyclists. Hundreds forced their way through a police barricade on Auckland Harbour Bridge in a 1000-strong protest demanding a dedicated cycle lane.
"I was a proud participant in the rally last year," said cycling campaigner Christine Rose.
The protest came after long-debated plans for the so-called Skypath were abandoned and a subsequent Government proposal for a $785 million cycle bridge was also canned.
With dedicated paths scrapped, Waka Kotahi also ruled out giving an existing road lane to cyclists.
"That's something that was considered but in our view not practical. It is being ruled out," Waka Kotahi chair Sir Brian Roche said in December.
But six months later, the transport agency's now confirmed it'll "reconsider its decision" at its board meeting next Thursday.
It follows the threat of court action from the cycle advocacy group GetAcross.
"For far too long, 60 years or more, we've been denied the opportunity to walk and cycle on what is Auckland's most important piece of infrastructure - the Harbour Bridge - and that has got to change," said Rose, who is a GetAcross campaigner.
Modelling has suggested taking away a single lane on the Auckland Harbour Bridge would require a reduction of 17,000 vehicles per day.
"It'll mean more people getting across, just fewer cars," Rose said.
Waka Kotahi already has plans to host a series of ticketed events this summer allowing cyclists to travel over the bridge.
It's a plan Transport Minister Michael Wood is on board with.
"I think that's an important step forward," he said.
But Rose disagrees.
"It's a spectacle to divert away from the more fundamental need for us to be able to walk and cycle across the bridge on an everyday basis," she said.
It's a nine-day wait for Rose to find out if Waka Kotahi will meet her campaign's ambitions for a more permanent solution.
