Red light to green light - the story of pedestrian lights at Ōtaika: Dr Shane Reti

Whangārei MP Dr Shane Reti has been advocating for traffic lights at the Ōtaika crossing for years.

Sometimes what appears to be a straightforward problem ends up taking a whole lot of time and effort to fix.

The recent announcement that pedestrian lights will finally be installed at the Ōtaika shops is a good news story contributed to by many advocates.

Looking back over my correspondence, I am able to fill in some of the gaps in this story.

The Ōtaika crossing came to my attention as local MP in late 2016 when I raised it with the regional head of NZTA.

They explained to me that there were no specific plans to add signals to the crossing but that it was part of the proposed four-lane corridor plan.

A few months later, Raera, a Raumanga resident, came to my office to further champion lights on the Ōtaika crossing.

On her behalf I raised questions with NZTA who stated that progress had been made and that pedestrian lights were now on the NZTA plan.

Later in 2017, Raera again made contact and NZTA advised that they had now made significant safety upgrades to the crossing including kerb extensions, skid resistance surfacing and a pedestrian fence – but still no lights.

Across 2018 and 2019 Raera would check in and I would advocate for and report on further progress. For my office she became a familiar face.

Progress was slow though, and there always seemed a reason things couldn’t be done quicker.

In 2022 I asked Parliamentary questions about the number of pedestrian incidents that were occurring in relation to the crossing.

Jumping forward to June this year, and with increasing visible community support, I again wrote to NZTA who replied that they were working with Whangarei District Council signal engineers to explore possible interventions.

In October I wrote to my colleague Hon Chris Bishop, the Minister of Transport, describing the long history to this point. In reply he noted the extensive public advocacy and the regular meetings between NZTA and with the district council.

Everything finally seemed in order to start the design and planning, which I indicated to former mayor Vince Cocurullo and councillor Carol Peters a few weeks ago given they had been strong advocates to me on this matter.

Last week I visited Raera at her home to tell her the good news. She was not aware of progress and was absolutely thrilled.

It had been eight years since she first came to my office with energy and a persuasive argument that she then followed up.

I look at both of the SH1 entrances to Whangarei city and I am particularly pleased that remedying the notorious hairpin bend at Salesyard Rd at Kauri and now the pedestrian crossing at Otaika may just save lives.

Thank you to all the advocates throughout this process. It shouldn’t have taken so long to get to this point, but our voices were heard, and we got there in the end.

I believe we have made a real difference that will make our community safer for all.

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