Community invited to take stock of speed limits

Speed limits are under review this month as Waikato District Council asks the community to have a say on proposed amendments to its Speed Limits Bylaw.

Rural roads in the northern area of the district will be addressed first as Council follows recommendations in the New Zealand Transport Agency’s Speed Management Guide.

Within that document, speed limits on all roads throughout the country have been reviewed.

The new approach is underpinned by the Government’s Safer Journeys Strategy 2010-2020 which seeks to reduce death and serious injury on New Zealand roads.

A number of roads in the Waikato District have been identified as high risk with their current speed limits in place.

Roads addressed in this round of proposed amendments, which are all speed limit reductions, are in the Awaroa ki Tuakau, Onewhero and Whangamarino Wards.

The list of roads earmarked for speed limit changes is at www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/speedlimitbylaw

Assessment criteria used to determine roads that fall into the high risk category include: alignment; carriageway width; roadside hazards; land use; traffic volume; crash history and the suitability of the existing speed limit.

Initial feedback was sought from the residents who live on those roads with a potential speed limit change that had been identified from the Speed Management Guide maps.

As part of the review, the existing Urban Traffic Areas for Tuakau, Pokeno and Te Kauwhata have also been looked at and where significant areas of residential development are zoned for, the Urban Traffic Areas have been extended to cover these zones.

This is to ensure that any future roading development in these areas will have a default speed limit of 50kmh.

Council is now required to consult on all proposed changes for the northern area of our district through a special consultative procedure.

There are also a couple of roads that have been added from the remainder of the district in this round of consultation – Horotiu Bridge Rd (to improve safety at a school) and Rotokauri Rd ( to align with Hamilton City Council speed limit).

From today, anyone can make a submission about the proposed speed limit amendments on the list of roads at www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/speedlimitbylaw

Copies of the submission documents are also available at Council offices and libraries.

Submissions close on 13 October 2017. Should submitters wish to be heard, the hearing date for submissions is 27 November 2017.

Because of the sheer volume of roads assigned for speed limit amendments, roads in the Huntly, Hukanui-Waerenga and Ngaruawahia Wards will be addressed next year, followed by the Tamahere, Raglan, Eureka and Newcastle Wards the following year.

ENDS

© Scoop Media