Pedestrian refuge installed in dawn surprise

July 10th, 2013
[by David Armstrong]

Motueka's latest traffic safety enhancement appeared out of nowhere on Tuesday morning, the result of a great piece of drop-in engineering that saved ratepayers many thousands of dollars.

The long-awaited pedestrian crossing facility linking New World supermarket and The Warehouse features a wide pedestrian refuge in the centre of the road, and this was put in place sometime between midnight Monday and dawn on Tuesday, much to the surprise of locals expecting a drawn-out, disruptive process.

The crossing - not an official pedestrian crossing but rather a safety device for people crossing the tricky section of SH60 - has been the subject of much agitation and lobbying, particularly from Grey Power, for several years.

Cost had been cited as a major factor against any progress, with the highway's owner NZTA saying it did not have the budget to do the task. This changed when the Motueka Community Board offered to pitch in up to $15,000 to help get it started. (See our earlier story and resulting discussion.)

Work began over a week ago to form the stepping-off paving on each side of the road, but meanwhile the engineers created the centre refuge with protective bars off-site as a stand-alone piece, then dropped it into place from the back of a truck during the night.

This resulted in a reported saving of around $14,000 which would have been required to pay for traffic management facilities had the mid-road refuge been built over several days on the state highway itself. This will mean the Community Board will not need to spend all the money it offered.

The road cones remain mainly to alert motorists to the change in road layout, and for final touching up.

Comment by Cr Martine Bouillir:
[Posted 13 July 2013]

I'm delighted to see the pedestrian refuge at long last! This road and watching people trying to cross there for years has been a nightmare - long overdue but hallelujah for Motueka. And as you say, no fuss - fantastic!

Comment by Mike Tooker:
[Posted 13 July 2013]

I have been so busy weaving my way through the borrowed? cones and being "alert" to the road changes that I was unaware until today of what had been done. Brilliant!

Comment by David Ogilvie:
[Posted 14 July 2013]

It's a pleasing outcome and thanks to the continuing pressure from many members in the community. It's expected that the cost to the Community Board will be approximately $10,000 from its Special Community Projects fund.

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