Highway handover held up

Silverdale business owners and residents hoping for improvements to traffic safety in the town centre have again had their hopes dashed with a further delay to the handover of Hibiscus Coast Highway.

The Silverdale Commercial Ratepayers Assocaiation is keen to see ownership of the road pass from the NZ Transport Agency to Auckland Council so that Council can progress the slowing of traffic and signalisation of the intersection of Hibiscus Coast Highway and Silverdale Street.

Association president Lorraine Sampson says that the NZ Transport Agency’s Auckland/Northland regional director Stephen Town assured her that the handover would happen before the New Year. However, earlier this month NZTA Auckland/Northland state highways manager Tommy Parker said that it is unlikely to happen before next June.

“The highway will be transferred to Auckland Council as the landowner and to Auckland Transport for management and maintenance,”Mr Parker says. “The exact date of the handover has not yet been confirmed, but is likely to coincide with the start of the next financial year on July 1.”

The road was to have been handed over once the Northern Gateway toll road was opened, in January 2009. Two years of negotiations between NZTA and the former Rodney District Council over the transfer of the road failed to bear fruit before the change in governance.

However whether the traffic improvements sought by the Commercial Ratepayers Association will happen once the road changes hands is a moot point. The Transport CCO has all but rejected signalising the intersection, saying the cost would be $3 million, which would have to be borne by the Transport CCO and/or Auckland Council.

However, Mrs Sampson says this remains an issue that the Association will pursue.

“We are keen for the Curley Ave extension to go ahead, however, safety issues and connectivity for Silverdale does not end there and it will take the slowing of traffic on the highway and a signalised intersection to achieve that.”