NZTA grilled over intersection
The New Zealand Transport Agency has been slammed at a Waikato District Council meeting for inaction over a busy intersection between State Highways 23 and 39 in Whatawhata.
At a recent policy and regulatory meeting, councillors and a resident told NZTA representatives the intersection had been in the agency’s hands for years with no action taken.
The agency is proposing to drop the speed limit at the intersection from 80kmh to 60kmh, as part of a review of highway speeds in west Waikato.
But Whatawhata Residents and Ratepayers Association president Glenn Mclennan said lowering the speed was not enough. ‘‘60kmh is going to reduce harm, there is no doubt about that.’’ But what the intersection really needed was a roundabout, Mclennan told NZTA. Whatawhata residents spoke to
about the intersection in 2017, recalling traumatic accidents they had seen and saying there were nearmisses daily. Mclennan said the road was poorly designed and could not be fixed by speed reduction alone.
‘‘Because you have got a series of T intersections, the drivers’ doors are exposed in crashes.’’
One of the issues was the turnoff from Horotiu Rd on to SH23, Mclennan said. Cars travelling in the pocket of onward vehicles towards Hamilton did not have good visibility of the turning cars at Horotiu Rd, and left-turning vehicles there could not see through the right-turning cars, he said. Trucks travelling west from Hamilton and turning right on to the road could be backed up for miles while they waited for a break in the traffic, he said.
Locals would duck and dive down back roads simply to avoid the intersection, he said.
‘‘As a community we are absolutely petrified of this intersection,’’ Mclennan said.
‘‘All we spend our time doing is waiting for a beep, screech and we hope like hell there is no bang.’’
NZTA research presented in council documents showed 2009-2018 there were four serious injuries at the intersection and a total of 34 crashes within the stretch of 750 metres.
Newcastle ward councillor Noel Smith said it appeared there needed to be a death for the community to get a roundabout.
‘‘We are trying to do proactive management of our roads as opposed to NZTA responding to statistics and after the event.
‘‘It is not going to be several million dollars to build a roundabout, so can you tell me why there won’t be one?’’
The NZTA manager for the Waikato Safe Network Programme, Junine Stewart, said the agency noted
Whatawhata Residents and Ratepayers Association
the concern.
NZTA was developing a a predictive algorithm to look at high-risk intersections across New Zealand, working up possible solutions and rating them, she said.
‘‘We would have to go through the process of checking – we are doing this nationally – we would sit with local area managers, the local engineers, we would look at what that intersection is showing us, the crash history, then look at a possible intervention.
NZTA community engagement manager Craig McKibbin said a meeting would be held at Whatawhata School on Monday March 2 2pm-7pm, for the community to discuss the lower speed limits.
But Waikato mayor Allan Sanson had the final word in the meeting, hitting back at the agency’s response to the issue. ‘‘You are using a sticking plaster to solve a problem that needs stitches. I will say the agency is poor in what it does in dealing with real hard issues,’’ Sanson said.
‘‘All we spend our time doing is waiting for a beep, screech and hope like hell there is no bang.’’