A new short but sweet cycleway in Wellington's Oriental Bay's is winning plenty of praise.

Wellington's second-most controversial cycleway has opened to acclaim.

The first stage of a cycleway around Oriental Bay – a $900,000 section between Freyberg Pool and Herd St – opened on Tuesday, and it appears Wellington City Council has found a solution where few were disgruntled.

Motorists have been given more car parks and cyclists now have their own space on the footpath, where enough space has been left for pedestrians and the like.

ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF Keen cyclist Alex Dyer rides Wellington's newest cycleway in Oriental Bay.

Paul Barker, the council's network improvements manager, said the proposal to put a cycleway around Oriental Bay was greeted with a level of controversy only beaten by the Island Bay cycleway.

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But once people saw what was eventually planned and the work started, opposition all-but fell away.

ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter and Transport Minister Phil Twyford officially open Wellington's Oriental Bay cycleway.

Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter was at the opening and believed the council had done a "great job" accommodating and separating all the different forms of transport.

As separated cycleways became common throughout the city, more people would see the benefits.

"Wellingtonians want the freedom to cycle around their city. Quality, separated cycle paths like this will help more people feel safe and confident getting about by bike," she said.

ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF A skateboarder gets a tow on the new cycleway.

"More people travelling by foot and by bike means less traffic and congestion on the road, and that benefits everyone."

The new Oriental Bay cycleway runs between the road and pedestrian area of the footpath from Herd St to Freyberg pool. A line of trees separates cycles and pedestrians.

From Freyberg to most of the way around Oriental Bay, the existing footpath is wide enough to accommodate both foot and cycle traffic.

In the new year, the council would be building a separate cycleway from the bottom of Carlton Gore Rd to Greta Point, and eventually beyond.