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Safety improvements on Dairy Flat Highway, at a total cost of $622,000, include the addition of a wire rope median barrier at the current southbound passing lanes between Durey Road and Potter Road.
A right-turning bay at the intersection of the highway and Potter Road is also being added.
Auckland Transport (AT) says the location was chosen because it has a history of high severity, head on crashes. Installation was expected to begin around now.
The project is strongly supported by the Rodney Local Board, and safety commentators, although the cost has drawn criticism on social media.
An AT spokesperson says that the barrier costs $292,000 for 425m. That price includes tree trimming, road markings and stormwater work associated with the barrier. “The cost of wire rope median barriers is less than other barrier installations,” the spokesperson says.
The total cost of the safety works is $622,000, including the new turning bay.
It is to be paid for by the Regional Fuel Tax, with a contribution from the NZ Transport Agency.
AT’s network management group manager, Randhir Karma, says this is the first time that a wire median rope has been used on Auckland’s local road network.
Rodney Local Board member Louise Johnson, who represents Dairy Flat, says structural changes like the barrier and intersection upgrade are needed to create a lower speed environment. “The intersection of Dairy Flat Highway and Potter’s Road is badly designed and the realignment will be a welcome safety improvement,” she says. “Crashes will still occur but the barrier will make them more survivable.”
The Automobile Association’s spokesperson Dylan Thomsen says his organisation would like to see a lot more barriers being added to high-risk stretches of road like Dairy Flat Highway as they mean less horrific crashes.
He says wire rope has better safety benefits than other barriers and offers better value for money because it can be used on roads that would otherwise need to be widened to create a barrier.
“If a median barrier can be added without increasing a road’s width, the cost is likely to be somewhere around $750,000 per kilometre,” he says. “If the road has to be widened however, the costs can jump into millions per kilometre.”
