Several weeks ago your publication carried an article featuring Dawn Kiddie, Steve Morris and Iain Bibby riding bicycles between the traffic on Totara Street, Mount Maunganui.

The article was designed to justify the Tauranga City Council and LTSA's stupid idea of creating a cycle lane on the road carriageway of Totara Street.

As a regular user of this road I am appalled at the dishonesty of the picture shown in the featured article. There was no need for them to be on the road at all.

Your reporter would have seen the wide footpath on the eastern side of Totara Street running its full length. Cyclists, pedestrians and mobility scooters use it daily.

If it is not wide enough as stated by Dawn Kiddie, it would be very simple to triple the path width as there is enough room to do this at a much lesser cost.

There are fewer 60 tonne trucks turning into the eastern side away from the wharf and its many business entrances. One-third of the road is parks and council owned and roads leading in can be controlled by lights.

The footpath across the Harbour Bridge is multi use as is the path running from Otumoetai Road to Maxwells Road Rail Bridge and both function very well.

Totara Street needs traffic to flow safely and any reduction to the road width would push traffic back all the way over the bridge daily and gridlock Hewletts Road. The exercise appears to want to satisfy a group of people who like to ride on Sunday for fitness.

Maybe your reporter could investigate the abandoned rail corridor that runs from Hewletts Road opposite Gull Service Station through to Triton Avenue which could become a cycle way with some pathing and fencing removing the cycles from the busiest section of Totara street altogether.

Rick Greig, Otumoetai