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Concerns have been raised about the installation of median barriers on State Highway 1 in rural areas where contractors need to drive slow-moving farm vehicles and cross the highway.
There are fears driver angst will only worsen as kilometres of wire rope barriers are installed on a stretch of SH1 between Foxton and Levin used extensively by the rural sector.
NZ Transport Authority Waka Kotahi (NZTA) says median barriers save lives but residents argue the median barriers are not fit for purpose in a busy rural area built around a historic road.
Rural Contractors chief executive Andrew Olsen said abuse of contractors was a nationwide issue and the organisation would make a written submission to Transport Minister Simeon Brown on the provision for slow-moving machinery in roading networks.
Olsen said it had to be treated as a health and safety issue for people going about their business.
“They are in their workplace. They cannot drive any faster. The problem is there are insufficient pull-over areas or passing lanes.”
Olsen said the irony was median barriers made roads unsafe as drivers of rural vehicles were confronted with impatient and abusive motorists.
“There are unintended consequences caused by congestion.”
He called for changes to road plans to include more designated pull-over areas for rural contractors in all work-in-progress and retrospectively fitted to other roads as a way of meeting the needs of all road users.
“With careful design, it could be instantly recognisable around the world and the standard to aspire to,” he said.
“We are certainly not saying we don’t support the agency’s view on road safety. It is important to emphasise that safety is paramount. It’s also important to stress that there is an ability to reach compromise and the objective that is being sought, and that is safe carriageways for all.”
Foxton farmer Grant Barber was one of 10 rural property owners in the Newth Rd area using rural vehicles that crossed the road daily. He calculated farmers in that immediate area alone accounted for almost 14,000 vehicle movements on SH1 annually.
Barber said a request for a gap in the median barrier opposite Newth Rd was ignored, as was an offer from neighbouring property owners to fund a carriageway on private land parallel to the road.
To access farm property directly across the road now requires a 10km round trip. The nearest turnaround now is at the southern end of the Manawatu Bridge.
“For most of that journey, there is no ability for anyone to pass us. It’s now a health and safety issue,” he said.
He anticipated the abuse he and other drivers of rural vehicles experience would get worse now they were forced to drive for longer stretches.
“It can be a mixed bag. The majority give you a friendly wave, but about 20% have zero tolerance. They have a short fuse and fire up straight away. It’s only getting worse.”
Koputaroa contractor Gary Davis, who has a fleet of 10 tractors working during peak season between September and April, said his employees cop abuse from impatient motorists. Drivers had had bottles thrown at them. Rude finger gestures were common.
“We are legally allowed to use the road and do what we can when we can to allow people to pass.
“Now there is not going to be these places to pull over.”
It was hard to find anyone happy with the road plans. A Poroutawhao community group made up of residents and business owners raised concerns as early as 2017 as the rural community regularly crossed the road by car, truck, tractor, bus and bicycle.
Group coordinator Heather Heron-Speirs said the wire median barriers were not fit for purpose and questioned their efficacy on historic roads servicing rural communities.
She said median barriers were effective on new roads, but not rural roads built around rural businesses, Marae, schools and communities directly connected to the highway.
Heron-Speirs said it was not a case of complaining without suggesting solutions. An option would be to widen the median strip and widen the road, and/or lower the speed limit to 80km.
NZTA said it arrived at the Foxton to north of Levin roading plan after lengthy public consultation with road user safety at the forefront of decision-making.
Regional manager of infrastructure delivery Rob Partridge said flexible median barriers put a barrier between vehicles travelling in opposite directions.
“This means that if someone loses control or drifts across the centreline, the result isn’t a deadly head-on crash.
“Flexible median barriers significantly reduce the number of crashes on roads.”
Before the safety improvements now underway, SH1 from Foxton to the Manawatū River Bridge had a medium-high collective risk rating while the remainder of the corridor from the Manawatū River Bridge to Levin had a high collective risk rating.
Partridge said between 2018 and 2022, seven out of the 15 crashes that resulted in death or serious injury on SH1 between Levin and Foxton were head-on crashes.
“These risk ratings are based on the number of crashes that have resulted in death and serious injuries (DSI) that have occurred on the route,” he said.
“We know that this stretch of SH1 is used by a wide variety of people including local farmers and residents, families transporting children to and from school, emergency and freight vehicles, as well as the thousands of other travellers that use this stretch of SH1 each year.
“We have designed the improvements, including the flexible median barrier, with the needs of these different groups of people in mind and with the goal of making sure everyone who uses the road gets to their destination safely.
“We listened to a range of views expressed during the consultation process, which included concerns about the extra travel time perceived as a result of installing median barriers and roundabouts.”
“All feedback is important to us and helped inform the shape of the designs and next steps for this section of SH1. We’re continuing to engage with residents and businesses along the route as construction continues.”
“There are no plans to install flexible median barriers outside marae or schools as part of this project.”
While wide centrelines improved safety by providing people extra time to correct before crossing into the opposing lane, they were not as effective as flexible median barriers at preventing head-on collisions, he said.
“These life-saving changes have been designed in consultation with all major users of the network including emergency services. In the event of a crash, flexible safety barriers can also be pulled out of the road to allow access for emergency service vehicles and clean-up operations.
“We are including safe spaces along the road where vehicles can pull over to allow others to pass.”
Partridge said three turnaround facilities were included in the plans: one at the southern entrance to Foxton for people heading south, another at the Oturoa Road intersection, and the third on the eastern side of SH1 at the Koputaroa Road intersection.
The turnaround facilities at the southern entrance to Foxton and Oturoa Road were already operational, while a large turnaround also existed underneath the Manawatū River Bridge on Matakarapa and Whirokino Roads, he said.
When planning the turnaround facilities he said NZTA took into account the number of driveways for residents or businesses on the road, and the practicality for people using turnaround facilities daily, the likelihood of unsafe behaviour, the types of vehicles that travel on the road and the frequency they will need to turn, the length of clear roadway visible to a driver when exiting the turnaround facility and the $40 million project has been broken into four stages and is underway with the first stage almost complete.
Stage 1 – Foxton to the Manawatū River Bridge
Flexible median barriers will be installed along this stretch with a turnaround facility constructed at the southern entrance to Foxton. Construction on Stage 1 of improvements began on January 9 and is due to be completed by mid-2024.
Stage 2 – Manawatū River Bridge to the Koputaroa intersection
Flexible medians will be installed along this stretch with a gap at the entrance to Mitchpine Mill and turnaround facilities at Oturoa and Koputaroa roads.
Sections of the road will be widened to make room for the median barrier. A small section of side barrier will also be installed on the southbound lane south of the Oturoa Road intersection to prevent vehicles driving into a ditch.
Construction on Stage 2 of improvements began on February 26 and is due to be completed by the end of the year.
Stage 3 – Koputaroa Rd to Kawiu Rd
A roundabout will be constructed at the Waitārere Beach Road intersection with small stretches of flexible median barrier installed at the northern and southern roundabout entries. A small section of side barrier will be installed on the southbound lane north of the roundabout to prevent vehicles driving into a concrete brick wall. A right turn bay will also be installed outside Poroutawhao School and the entrance to Lewis Farms.
Stage 4 – Kawiu Rd to Levin
The road will be widened to allow a wide centreline to be installed. Side barriers will be installed along most of the southbound lane, with two smaller stretches also installed on the northbound lane to prevent vehicles driving into roadside ditches.
