By Peter de Graaf of RNZ
Warkworth residents are frustrated and disappointed after long-promised improvements to a notorious intersection have been shelved once again.
The Hill St junction, about 60km north of Auckland, is often described as the worst intersection in New Zealand.
It is a clogged tangle of roads where traffic is funnelled between the old State Highway 1, Matakana, east coast towns such as Snells Beach, and Warkworth’s town centre.
One Mahurangi Business Association manager Murray Chapman described it as particularly dangerous.
“If you can imagine an intersection designed by somebody going through emotional turmoil. There’s five roads leading into it. Some people bully their way through. Some people will sit at the give-way signs for what seems like hours because they’re too scared to go anywhere,” he said.
Warkworth Lodge owner Liz Bays said the intersection actually had traffic coming from seven directions.
It combined traffic lights, give-way and stop signs, a clear zone, turning bays and a pedestrian crossing, and was especially intimidating for out-of-towners.
“As a local, you know to look in all directions. Looking right doesn’t apply. It’s like ‘look everywhere and then go’. But people coming in, particularly in the busy season, are not quite aware of the complication of it until they’re in amongst it. And that’s when you get people screeching on brakes,” she said.
Warkworth residents have been lobbying roading authorities to fix the intersection for decades, and plans have been floated since at least 2010.
In 2023, Auckland Transport announced a solution involving two roundabouts had finally been found, and construction would start within 12 months, funding permitting.
However, a rejig of priorities meant the project no longer makes the cut in the Government’s 2024-27 roading funding plan, and it is not clear when it could be built after that.
Chapman said he was gutted by the news.
“We thought we had it over the line. We’d worked with the Auckland Transport design team to make sure the community’s voice was heard and Auckland Transport told us that they had their share of the money ready to go and we were under the impression that the NZTA also had their share of the money … and then to be told that the minister had kiboshed it just gave us a real sinking feeling in the stomach that once again, we’d been pushed off the timetable.”
While traffic volumes had dropped since the Northern Motorway was extended to a point just north of Warkworth, Chapman said that had not necessarily made the intersection safer because cars were now travelling through it at greater speed.
Bays said news the project had again been shelved came out of the blue.
The upgrade would have complemented other new infrastructure around Warkworth, and the twin-roundabout design would have future-proofed the town because it would be able to handle the area’s fast-growing population.
“I’m disappointed and surprised. It doesn’t seem to be logical. Everything had been going very nicely with the new highway and the link roads. This was definitely part of the solution.”
Residents forced to run the Hill St gauntlet most frequently include those who live in Snells Beach, including long-time resident Dave Parker.
Parker said he was “totally disappointed” and urged roading authorities to reconsider their decision.
“I’ve lived here for most of my life, from the time I went to school and biked through it, so I’ve got to know the intersection pretty well. And with the huge increase in population that’s occurring in the town, we’re looking at perhaps another 30,000 people here in the next 10 to 15 years, that intersection’s going to be under real pressure.”
Chapman agreed the time to fix the intersection was now – before the area’s population soared, and while the Government’s share of the cost was a relatively modest $9 million.
“The major concern is that by delaying it, it’s going to be at a time when the intersection is a lot busier, and there’ll be more and more traffic disruption, but also the cost is going to be a lot greater. It’s never going to be cheaper than doing it now.”
NZTA said the Hill St intersection improvements were no longer included in the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme because they did not meet the priorities set by the new Government Policy Statement on Land Transport.
Planning work for the upgrade, however, would continue.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown said Auckland Transport’s design for upgrades of the Hill St intersection included at least five new speed bumps and three sections of cycleway.
That did not align with the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport or his expectation that investment in transport infrastructure would get back to basics.
“If Auckland Transport wish to advance this project, they will need to rework the design for the intersection to better align with the GPS and then re-submit it to NZTA for consideration of co-funding.”
Brown said the Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway extension and the new Matakana Link Road had also significantly reduced pressure on the Hill St intersection.
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