The Howick Local Board is asking Auckland Transport (AT) to change the speed limits on a group of busy local roads back to what they were previously.
The board was asked during its recent business meeting to provide formal feedback on the approach for developing Auckland’s Speed Management Plan 2024-2027, ‘Katoa Ka Ora’.
The plan is expected to be publicly consulted on by the middle of this year.
Background information states Auckland Council and AT have adopted the Vision Zero goal of eliminating road transport-related deaths and serious injuries on the city’s road network by 2050.
AT is conducting a phased review of speed limits with three phases completed so far.
As the Times has previously reported, the speed limits on a large number of east Auckland roads have been reduced including on sections of Te Irirangi Drive, Ti Rakau Drive, Botany Road, and Pakuranga Road.
Reductions have also been implemented on roads in Cockle Bay, Dannemora, Flat Bush, and East Tamaki.
Speaking to the item during the board’s business meeting, member David Collings said AT has a speed reduction team that “comes out and looks at where they can reduce speed”.
“The problem is they put the cart before the horse.
“I prefer the approach we used to take, which was if there were issues around certain streets such as blind corners, or there were streets with speeding, or incidents at intersections, the traffic engineers come out and do an assessment and put in provisions to make it safer, so there’s a benefit.
“There is no proven benefit with just a blanket thing that, ‘we’re just going to slow everyone down and we’ll have fewer injuries’.
“There’s no targeted approach. It’s a blanket approach and I fundamentally disagree with it.”
Board member Adele White said she “totally agreed” with Collings.
She said in the past the council was more of a “reactive organisation”, responding to the needs of the community.
“But now they’ve got this blanket approach, like ‘we’re going to lower the speed limit on 47 roads just because we can’.
“I feel that a traffic engineer should be looking seriously at every single road and the implications.
“There are a lot of roads that will probably be reduced to 30kmh and don’t need to be, and there are roads that should be 30kmh or even 20kmh.
“Many of us here have spent many hours giving really good in depth, local knowledge-based feedback, and it’s totally ignored.”
The board voted to request approved changes be implemented at a later stage in the 2024-2027 plan.
It also wants AT to consult with and respond to the board’s and the community’s feedback on “all speed management changes, and provide justification for changes as they occur”.
The board requested AT return the previous speed limits on Te Irirangi Drive, Pakuranga Road, and Ti Rakau Drive, as “there has been no satisfactory justification provided for the reduction”.
