Walkers’ safety concerns prompt Dannevirke bridge work

The walkway along Victoria Ave. Concerns over pedestrian safety were raised, prompting a risk assessment and ideas on improving safety on the bridge.

Concerns over the safety of pedestrians using the Dannevirke walkway has prompted a look at the Victoria Ave bridge.

Tararua Alliance network manager Andrew Desmond spoke to Dannevirke Community Board on the plans around improving safety on the bridge at this month’s meeting.

His report noted that a priority give-way traffic management plan with a dedicated walking/cycle lane was in place to deal with the safety risk to people walking across the bridge but it has had some negative feedback.

A few scenarios had been looked at to resolve the problem.

The width from kerb to kerb was 6.2 metres and he explained the minimum road width for a 50km/h area was 5.5m, leaving 0.7m for a footpath.

If the bridge was kept to two lanes, with a white line, pedestrians would only have a narrow space.

“The current set-up as a two-lane bridge is untenable due to the safety risk,” Desmond said.

A proposal had been made to the council to reduce the bridge to one lane and create a pedestrian path.

A pedestrian bridge had also been considered but there was no funding for it.

Desmond said a risk assessment found a narrow footpath left minimum room for error.

“One pedestrian can pass it at a time and it’s very much reliant on that pedestrian staying in this lane and the two cars staying in their own lanes.”

He said with the bridge down to a single lane, the risk was minimised.

Desmond said that given a walkway had been constructed to the bridge, encouraging pedestrians to walk that way, “we’ve got a duty to do something about it”.

Board member Ernie Christison said originally the walkway, completed last year, was going to go down Cole St and in the past, walkers were using the roads, regardless of whether there was a walkway or not.

He asked if it wouldn’t be cheaper to have a narrow path, with a handrail fitted to the bridge.

Desmond saida handrail would come at more cost and while they could create a narrow path, the assessment looked at whether people could be trusted to stay in the lane.

He said with the width of the sealed carriageway, the numbers didn’t “stack up” for adding the narrow pathway.

Board member Ron Wallace noted that the maintenance on the walkway hadn’t been done and there were often puddles on the surface.

“People said to me the other day, ‘the walkway’s a waste of time’.

“The maintenance is non-existent and if you walk it every day, you’ll see the mess it’s in.”

Wallace said he wasn’t blaming anyone, but there was no money for maintenance.

“So why create all these nice-to-haves?”

Leanne Warr has been editor of the Bush Telegraph since May 2023 and a journalist since 1996. She re-joined NZME in June 2021.