NZTA not interested in High Street traffic problems

April 6th, 2011
[by David Armstrong]

Community Board chairman David Ogilvie has expressed disappointment that the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) remains apparently uninterested in Motueka's problems with High Street traffic and will not put the issue on its planning agenda.

At the six-monthly meeting held last week between the NZTA managers, an Opus representative, two TDC staff, four Tasman District Councillors and two Community Board members, it became evident that NZTA, which controls the use of all state highways including High Street, is not overly concerned about the congestion and safety issues which Motueka people are increasingly concerned about.

David had been optimistic that the meeting could be a great opportunity to impress on NZTA how important safety issues are to local residents (see our story here), but told Motueka Online that none of the top improvements requested by Motuekans "seemed to engage them - it's not on their agenda.

The four suggestions, as determined from the 2010 Motueka Transportation Plan and the Community Board-initiated survey, were traffic signals at the Pah Street, Greenwood Street, High Street intersection, roundabouts at the clock tower and Whakarewa Street intersections, and a pedestrian crossing between The Warehouse and New World.

David said it was good to be able to meet NZTA managers and discuss these issues with them, but he had perhaps been over-optimistic that Motueka's key concerns would be acted upon.

"Their emphasis is on traffic flow, getting traffic from A to B reasonably freely," he said. "That's their role. Our interest is mainly in safety in the town along the main street, allowing local traffic to move across from one side of town to the other. The conflict between these two main priorities is getting worse each year."

He said Motueka people know the problems around having lots of people living east of High Street but many of the services - schools, library and so on - on the west side. It's simply not safe enough for people to cross sometimes. That's why more parents are driving their kids to school, making things even worse.

"Safety doesn't seem to be as important to them (NZTA) as it is to us."

But the meeting was still worthwhile, David said. He appreciated actually meeting them and hearing their perspective, and acknowledged that the roading agency is involved in projects planned for the area, including the Riwaka-Kaiteriteri Road corner, resealing High Street between Whakarewa Street and the clocktower, and widening the causeway to Tasman.

David said he may do a cycling survey to establish why fewer people are cycling in what should be an ideal environment for it. "I suspect it's because they have to cross High Street and it's too dangerous for some."

Despite his disappointment he is not giving up. "I'm even more determined. I have to get these issues on a programme somewhere, sometime. The need is getting greater every day."

Comment by Phil:
[Posted 11 April 2011]

All power to you David. Cycling and walking around the Motueka area really needs to encouraged and be done at the planning stages and these self powered modes of transport need to be adopted for the future and are relatively easy. Tackle your local MP. He will be listening intently for the next 6 months.

Comment by Phil:
[Posted 18 April 2011]

Just decide to block the High Street at regular intervals. That will get NZTA their attention and the start of fruitful discussions. NZTA are supposed to represent our concerns! This is not good enough.

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