Ōmokoroa Point School students making commute safer with raised pedestrian platform

Ashley Hall, Sam Prendergast, Sandra Portegys and students Maia Groucott and Karli Steenberg at the Hamurana Rd and Tralee St intersection.

A busy intersection near Ōmokoroa Point School will be made safer for children walking, scootering and biking to school, after a couple of concerned Year 8 students worked with Western Bay of Plenty District Council to come up with a solution.

Student leaders Karli Steenberg and Maia Groucott gave a presentation to the council, asking for a pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Hamurana Rd and Tralee St, due to increasing road and foot traffic in the area.

Following the meeting, council project engineer transportation Sam Prendergast and road safety engineer Ashley Hall met on site with the students and principal Sandra Portegys to discuss what improvements could be made.

Because of visibility issues, a designated pedestrian crossing wasn’t considered suitable for the location; however, council decided instead to install a raised pedestrian platform to help slow traffic, and a refuge island wide enough for pedestrians and cyclists as they cross Tralee St. The students were also asked to create signs to help spread the road safety message.

“Unfortunately, due to the existing geometry of the intersection, it was difficult to place a designated pedestrian crossing across Tralee St at a location where it would be utilised efficiently,” says Ashley.

“We believe that the raised table and the central refuge will go a long way towards enhancing road user safety in the area.”

Karli, the school’s Feet First co-ordinator, says “it’s not the easiest spot to put a crossing, but the council has some good ideas of how to slow down traffic”.

Maia says educating students about how to cross the road safely is also important.

“We need to let all the kids know to go slower and give way to cars. I think it’s time for a new way to cross for the kids at our school and the community.”

Ashley thanked Karli and Maia for their research and bringing this safety issue to council’s attention.

“You thought out all the issues really well and together we came up with some great solutions that we can implement to create a safer environment for crossing the road.”

Work on the pedestrian platform and refuge island are expected to start this school term, coinciding with scheduled resealing of the intersection.