Cycle lanes, like this proposal for Island Bay, could soon be popping up all over Wellington after the city council agreed to invest $101 million.

After plenty of big talk about changing the face of cycling in Wellington, the council has written a big cheque to match.

The Wellington City Council has agreed to spend $101 million on new cycle lanes across the capital over the next 20 years, with $30m being spent in the first three years to really get the programme going.

Wellington's 'Master Plan' for cycling, which was approved by the council's transport and urban development committee on Wednesday, identifies the CBD, eastern suburbs and the route between the railway station and Ngauranga as the first areas for development.

A $1.7 million cycleway through Island Bay received sign-off earlier this year.

The creation of a city-wide master plan was a necessary step before the council could tap into the Government's special $100m fund for urban cycleways.

As a result, the taxpayer will likely front two-thirds of the cash spent on the capital's cycle network over the next three years.

The next step will be to consult with affected communities and begin deciding exactly where the cycle lanes will go.

But transport and urban development committee chairman Andy Foster said some streets were already obvious contenders.

Hutt Rd was the only real option for reaching Ngauranga, while Kent and Cambridge terraces, Tory St, Taranaki St, Victoria St, Cuba St, Karo Drive, Willis St and the waterfront would all feature in the CBD conversation, he said.

While it was a 20-year programme at this stage, it could be delivered faster if councillors were determined enough when it came to deciding the Long-Term Plan, he said.

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City councillors had eight options for cycleway budgets in front of them on Wednesday, ranging from an absolute "do-minimum" package of $29m, right up to a "gold-plated" package costing $156m.

Councillor David Lee said that in an ideal world, where money was no option, the council would be looking at the "Rolls Royce option" of $156m.

But Paul Barker, the council's safe and sustainable transport manager, said it was questionable whether the council would see enough benefit from the extra spend.

Adoption of the cycling master plan passed the council vote unanimously. But some councillors were quick to say they did not want a repeat of the drawn-out disagreements between business owners and cycling advocates that marred the Island Bay cycleway.

Councillor Ray Ahipene-Mercer said the council's reputation for planning cycleways had been scarred by Island Bay and it should not rush any future decisions to keep cyclists happy.

"We saw what happens when some people thump the table and try to jump-start the process," he said. "All that tub-thumping will have no effect on my decision making whatsoever."

Cycle Aware Wellington spokesman James Burgess welcomed the master plan and said the cycling community was keen to see some visible progress.

"I think there is an expectation to see things happening on the street sooner rather than later."

CYCLING IN WELLINGTON

Council studies indicate there could be a three-fold increase in cycling once there was a safe, connected cycleway network in place in Wellington.

The city currently suffers from poorly designed or maintained cycling infrastructure. In 2014 there were 69 reported traffic crashes involving cyclists, with one fatality and nine serious injuries.