Rotorua council committee considers speed limit changes

NZTA's Niclas Johansson presents the agency's case to the Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

Rotorua Lakes Council's speed limits review has been affected by NZTA's plans to phase out 70km/h zones.

At a meeting on November 23, 2017 the Rotorua Lakes Council resolved to put a draft Speed Limit Bylaw out for public consultation.

There were 24 local roads with proposed changes.

Among the proposed changes are proposals to reduce the speed limit on four roads to 70km/h. They are Hamurana Rd, Kaska Rd, Turner Rd and Te Waerenga Rd.

Feedback was open for six weeks and 101 submissions were received.

The Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee heard the oral submissions at a hearing yesterdaywhere six submitters spoke.

NZTA's Niclas Johansson presents the agency's case to the Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

NZTA staff member Niclas Johansson spoke about what the agency thought of the proposals.

"We very much support the move to appropriate speeds. It's the most effective tool to reduce road trauma, there's no two ways about it," he said.

"The NZTA long-term plan is to phase out all the 70s and at some point we need to put a stake in the ground and say no more new 70s and start to phase out the old ones.

"In terms of this proposal we agree with a lot of the changes. In four sections we struggle with the proposal to go to 70km/h ... we'd support 60 or 80."

NZTA's Setting of Speed Limits 2017 document introduced a requirement for agency approval for any new 70km/h speed limits.

"It reflects the goal of the Safer Journeys road safety strategy to, over time, reduce the number of different speed limits applying at higher speeds to 60km/h, 80km/h, 100km/h, and 110km/h," the document said.

If a 70km/h stretch was introduced, it would be an interim speed.

"We don't see a reason right now, you couldn't go to 60 or 80," Johansson told the committee.

"Why would you spend the efforts doing that [introducing 70km/h] if you can go to 60 and the right answer straight away.

"It's not that we are against changes, it's just that we are against the 70km/h."

These roads went out for consultation in February. PHOTO/FILE

A handful of residents also spoke at the hearing in support of speed reductions on Vaughan Rd, Tarawera Rd and Hamurana Rd, as well as Pongokawa Valley Rd and Manawahe Rd.

It is proposed the limit on Vaughan Rd, from Puketawhero Park to Duggan Drive be reduced from 70km/h to 50km/h.

Jamie and Jen Bridson spoke in support of the change but suggested it be extended to include the whole of Vaughan Rd.

They said the road was regularly used by school students and the elderly as well as those walking or biking to the nearby shopping centre.

"All of this activity takes place alongside a constant flow of traffic travelling at 70km/h and at times faster," they said.

"Lowering the speed limit would immediately improve safety for, and begin to meet the current needs of the residents living on Vaughan Rd and its surrounds."

Councillor Karen Hunt said when roadworks began on Te Ngae Rd, Vaughan Rd would become a bypass.

Samantha White spoke in support of a reduction of speed along Hamurana Rd, again citing the safety of locals, including children.

"Traffic has definitely increased over the 10-year period I've known Mourea and the three years I've lived there," she said.

"I'd ask council to consider lowering the speed limit in settlements."

Geoffrey Shekell spoke to the reduced speed along Tarawera Rd, and Tony Lipanovic supported changes on Manawahe and Pongakawa Valley Rds.

Lipanovic asked the committee to also consider a 50km/h speed limit past Lake Rotoma School and Waitangi Soda Springs, and the same limit along Pongakawa Valley Rd from Kennedy Bay to Otautu Bay.

After the hearing the committee will deliberate on which speed limits to adopt on which roads before putting that recommendation before the full council on May 31.