New park feature helps children pedal their way to road safety success
Environment Canterbury media release: 5th August 2024
A mini road system in McLeans Forest will allow children to learn the road rules on their cycles.
Our parks and forests team is pleased to announce the completion of a mini road system in the Waimakariri River Regional Park. The system features a roundabout, pedestrian crossing, T-intersection, and underpass, as well as some bumps and corners along the way.
“The aim is to build confidence in a controlled environment to start a young person’s journey to learn safe road cycling skills,” said parks and forest operations officer Karen Elliott.
“The mini road system is targeted towards young children on balance bikes and primary school students, but older children and adults are welcome to give it a go. They may have to duck to get through the underpass, though!”
The mini road system was completed as part of stage three of upgrades to McLeans Forest. Previous stages have included building a pump track and skills course for mountain bike riders. A food and rongoā forest full of fruit and nut trees has also been planted in the McLeans Forest area as part of upgrades and will officially open later in 2024.
“The pump track has recently been resealed and is looking brilliant,” Karen said. “We still need to do some landscaping in the area over the next few weeks, but this will not impact park users.
“We’re very pleased with the finished product and how McLeans Forest is now a destination for cyclists of all ages to improve their mountain biking skills and enjoy the 17km of cycle tracks in the area.”
Find out more about McLeans Forest in the Waimakariri River Regional Park.