Trial closure to address intersection safety concerns

15 August 2019

The intersection of Hampden Street (West) and Waimea Road will be closed soon as a 12-month trial to improve safety at the busy intersection.

The Hampden Street/Waimea Road intersection has been identified as a high crash risk intersection, especially with the potential for involving cyclists and pedestrians.

There have been injury crashes resulting from collisions between light vehicles and cyclists at this intersection due to volumes of traffic, queueing traffic, and drivers letting turning vehicles through gaps, against cyclists travelling downhill towards the City Centre on the left side of northbound stationary or slow traffic.

There have been a total of 14 reported crashes between 2012 and 2019 and seven of these crashes involved vulnerable road users.

Works and Infrastructure Committee Chair Stuart Walker says “This is a known trouble spot on our network. The crash rate is unacceptable, and we are willing to try this approach to address that. The Committee is aware that these concerns are shared by the public as a result of past crashes and through submissions to this Council’s Annual Plan.”

Council staff have been in touch with stakeholder groups, local businesses, schools and residents of Hampden Street West and Hampden Terrace to get their feedback on the proposal for the trial closure.

With this balance of the feedback received in support of the proposal, the Committee has agreed to implement the full closure option as a monitored trial.

The trial will see the following changes made to the intersection.

• Use planter boxes to close the road to through traffic and provide a protected pedestrian pathway, including kerb ramps. Install reflectors to make them visible at night.

• Changes will be made to signage and line marking will be made to show the changed traffic conditions clearly.

The public will be notified in advance of the changes being made, but the trial closure is likely to begin in October.

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