My Account
Rodney Local Board has made a plea for consistency in setting speed limits on local roads as Auckland Transport (AT) develops a new Speed Management Plan for 2023 to 2026.
Members want to see uniform speed limit settings across the region for all types of roads, including those that are unsealed, outside schools and where feeder roads meet main roads.
The proposed AT plan is designed to meet government policy requirements to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by cutting speeds, and will form a framework for setting new limits and influencing plans for safety infrastructure across Auckland.
AT has already cut speeds on 11% of its road network and changes to a further 27% are in the pipeline, under the first three phases of its Safe Speeds Programme.
Last month’s Local Board meeting heard that the proposed 2023-26 speed management plan was an interim one, ahead of a 10-year plan that is expected to be in place from 2024 to 2034.
AT said the interim plan would continue its “process of expanding Auckland’s network of safer roads”.
While most board members were supportive of the general aims of the plan, not all were convinced that blanket speed cuts led to safer roads. Wellsford member Colin Smith claimed that road deaths in NZ had dropped when the open road speed limit was raised to 100km/h in 1985.
“At 80km/h on an open road, people lose concentration and get frustrated,” he said.
AT senior transport engineer Xinghao Chen said she was happy to check historical figures, but said changes introduced in the first phase of the safe speeds programme had reduced deaths and serious injuries on Auckland roads.
Dairy Flat member Louise Johnston asked if rural schools were being considered in the interim plan, as they tended to have faster speed limits and more infrastructure around them. Chen admitted they weren’t.
“Our focus is on urban schools for the next three years,” she said. “We haven’t targeted rural schools yet, but it’s likely we will cover them in the next plan.”
Members voted to request the following for Rodney in AT’s interim plan:
• a limit of 60km/h outside all schools, with lower limits at pick-up and drop-off times;
• consistent limits for unsealed roads; non-exit roads without centre lines; individual roads; and between main and feeder roads;
• a review of speed limits for rural roads and intersections surrounding new Rodney urban areas;
• that all road users were considered when accessing appropriate speed limits;
• that where side roads intersected with main roads with limits of 80 km/h or above, these be reviewed for installation of turning bays and merging lanes for right-turning traffic.
Board members also provided a list of Rodney roads that should be reviewed by AT when developing the proposed plan, which included just two in Mahurangi – Anderson Road and Wrights Road, both in Matakana, and both of which were “unsealed, contributing to dust health issues”.
Colin Smith voted against the feedback.
