Robyn Dorday, from Accessible Napier, with other protesters on Monday outside Marewa Shopping Centre. Photo / Warren Buckland
Robyn Dorday, from Accessible Napier, with other protesters on Monday outside Marewa Shopping Centre. Photo / Warren Buckland
Frustrations over delays to safety improvements on a high-risk section of road in Napier have boiled over after six years, leading to protest action from a group of advocates.
A group of community advocates dubbing themselves the “Marewa Pedestrian Crossing Action Group” held a protest at the Marewa shopping centreon Monday morning, calling for a pedestrian crossing to access the shops.
About 10 people gathered outside the shops during the protest holding up signs featuring phrases including “Make Marewa Safe” and “Safe Crossing Please”.
Ian Cook, an advocate for Napier residents with disabilities, said it was a matter of safety and Napier City Council (NCC) had a duty of care.
“At present, there are two crossing points, but they are not even courtesy crossings, which would also be hopelessly inadequate,” Cook said.
“We are now totally frustrated with NCC’s lack of care for the safety for all vulnerable - disabled, visually impaired, elderly and children - and feel that drastic action is needed to convince NCC of the importance and necessity of a pedestrian crossings.”
He said his group believes a raised controlled pedestrian crossing is needed near the post shop and Kiwibank branch.
“Waka Kotahi [New Zealand Transport Agency] comprehends the value of pedestrian crossings, recently reconstructing and improving one on SH2 at Clive and two in the township of Waipawa.”
A NCC spokeswoman said the viability of a raised crossing was a question of safety, which was the council’s top priority.
“Pedestrian crossings are known to be unsafe if used at unsuitable locations. There is a tendency for people, especially children, to walk straight out on to the road without checking to make sure that vehicles have stopped,” she said.
The group held up signs calling for a pedestrian crossing outside the shops. Photo / Warren Buckland
“People rely on the zebra crossing, and simply assume vehicles will stop where they often don’t.”
The spokeswoman said traffic volume on Kennedy Rd, which the council currently estimates to comprise about 19,500 vehicles per day, meant the risk would be high for people using a crossing like that.
“The issue is the width of the road being too wide with too many lanes, as on the shop side, there [are] effectively three lanes.”
According to an NCC assessment tool, kerb extensions with a median refuge would be viable for the site.
Other options, like a platform or zebra crossing, are considered not viable without a formal median refuge or due to the number of lanes.
Planning started for the Marewa Shopping Centre Safety Improvements project in October 2018 when NCC developed a concept plan and shared it with residents and businesses in Marewa, who provided feedback.
A revised concept was shared in April 2019 during a street meeting, and NCC claimed on a now-deleted webpage “the vast majority supported this revised concept”.
“A balance needs to be achieved between pedestrian convenience and safety, the levels of parking available for customers and other visitors, and the ability for vehicles to pass through this thoroughfare along Kennedy Road,” the deleted webpage said.
“The safety of pedestrians is always a primary consideration, and the introduction of narrower lanes plus separation of the parking, cycling and through traffic will provide shorter crossing distances and more refuges.”
A spokeswoman for NCC told Hawke’s Bay Today in May this year that the Marewa Shopping Centre Safety Improvements project had been reviewed and would be put forward for inclusion in the Long Term Plan (LTP) 2024-34 and Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP) for funding consideration.
If it was included in the LTP, then stakeholder engagement would be part of the development process.
The NCC spokeswoman said this month, the project had been entered into the draft LTP, but it did not show in the RLTP as it was under the “low-cost, low-risk” category of funding for projects costing less than $2 million.
Both the LTP and RLTP are still in development and have not yet been published as of November.
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. Contact him at james.pocock@nzme.co.nz.
