Community help sought on SH3 safety improvements

In Uncategorized3 MinutesBy NZ Trucking magazineJune 28, 2017

The NZ Transport Agency wants to talk to the local community about making a further two sections of State Highway 3 safer for everyone who uses the busy road.

Three events will be held in early July to canvas public opinion on the Hamilton to Ohaupo and Te Awamutu to Otorohanga sections of the state highway, and feedback can also be given online on the project pages.

NZTA highways manager Karen Boyt says they want to learn more about these sections of the highway from the people who use them.

“We want to talk to people who live on the road, and who use the road, and discuss their ideas. There are proven ways we can upgrade the road to prevent crashes, but to get it right, we need the community‘s views because it‘s locals who know local roads best.”

Between 2006 and 2015 there have been four deaths and 30 serious injuries on SH3 between Hamilton and Ohaupo, and three deaths and 23 serious injuries between Te Awamutu and Otorohanga. Most of these crashes were head-on collisions or resulted from drivers losing control of their vehicles and hitting trees, power poles or ditches, or crashes at access ways and intersections.

Boyt says people will always make mistakes, but there are things that can be done to make these stretches of road safer. Options include:

  • widening the shoulders to give drivers more room to recover if they lose control of their vehicle

  • installing side safety barriers to stop drivers running off the road

  • adding rumble strips to give distracted drivers a wake-up call before they cross the centreline or run off the road

  • widening the centreline to reduce head-on collisions.

Boyt says the NZTA is also looking at how it can make it safer for people to cross the road in the Ohaupo township.

NZTA has nearly completed adding safety improvements to the section of the highway between Ohaupo and Te Awamutu, and also plans to add safety improvements to the stretch of SH3 between SH37 to Te Kuiti. These projects are part of the Safe Roads and Roadsides programme which aims to prevent people from dying or being seriously injured on rural roads.

The dates for the community events are: sausage sizzle, Ohaupo Rugby Club, 1 July, 10am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm; coffee drop in, Te Awamutu Library, 4 July, 10.30am to 12.30pm; and coffee drop in, Otorohanga Library, 8 July, 10.30am to 12.30pm.

Feedback can also be provided online at www.nzta.govt.nz/sh3-TA-to-Otorohanga or www.nzta.govt.nz/sh3-hamilton-to-ohaupo

 

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