Heritage Walkway's slippery surface: solutions sought

Western Bay of Plenty District council's road engineer (east) Stuart Harvey next to one of the three walkway areas that have been treated to gauge the community's views, the other two treated areas ar

Western Bay of Plenty District Council is trying to get a grip on a slippery problem.

The surface treatment of the Heritage Walkway between Jellicoe St and Commerce Lane has come in for criticism for its lack of grip.

Last year Maketū's Carolyn Symmans slipped and fell on the wet walkway surface, breaking her wrist.

And she is not the only one, with the district council having been notified of 11 incidents of people slipping on the walkway in the past 18 months.

The council's roading engineer (east) Stuart Harvey says finding a solution is a balance between public safety and maintenance and cleaning costs.

Three small areas of the walkway have had different treatments applied, and the community is being asked to express a preference on the most suitable for the whole walkway.

A grinder has been used on one panel, the closest to Commerce Lane, to give a rough surface and no surface treatment has been added. Stuart says it is the section with the most slip resistant surface, but, because it is untreated it will be the quickest to attract dirt and will require cleaning more often.

The panel furthest from Commerce Lane has had a full level treatment that makes it more grippy than the existing surface, but is also lower maintenance and will require cleaning less often.

The middle panel has a part treatment and falls between the grip resistance and maintenance requirements of the other two.

Te Puke Community Board member Kassie Ellis says the community board wants to see changes to the surface to make it ''more manageable to walk on in all weather conditions, because obviously it's too slippery and it's unsafe right now - so we are coming from a health and safety perspective''.

She is encouraging the community to have their say and hopes the issue can be resolved quickly.

Anyone wanting to make comment on the three options can email Stuart on
Stuart.harvey@westernbay.govt.nz or call him on 579 6601.
Comments should be made no later than the close of business on February 14. After that a report will be prepared for the community board's consideration.
Once a decision has been made on the preferred treatment, Stuart says options such as patterns could be explored.