How emergency services are coping with Whanganui’s roadworks and speed bumps

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi holds quarterly meetings for first responders in Manawatū-Whanganui and Taranaki. Photo/ Bevan Conley

Whanganui Fire Brigade redirected an arterial route to accommodate the installation of four pedestrian platforms on the Guyton St.

Reporter Eva de Jong asks what the impact of roadworks and traffic calming is on Whanganui’s emergency services.

Roadworks, inner-city speed bumps and damage to rural roads can force Whanganui emergency services to redirect their routes for a faster response time to callouts.

Whanganui Fire Brigade station officer Gerad Packard said at times faults on the roads were unavoidable, and it slowed down the response time of fire services.

“If there’s plenty of those roadworks it adds more to our response time,” Packard said.

He said after Whanganui District Council installed pedestrain platform along Guyton St - “we now avoid it.

“To be fair it’s not a major, but it still is a consideration, and one or two is all right [arterial routes] but if it’s happening regularly it’s an issue.”

Whanganui District Council began consulting with local emergency services, particularly the fire service, at the early stage of the Streets for People project in late 2022.

“Emergency services representatives indicated that they would have the ability to adapt their routes if necessary – with Ingestre Street cited as a suitable alternative route,” a council statement said.

Packard said the biggest issue for fire services was road works and speed bumps.

Fire services are governed by law which means that when approaching roadworks they must slow down to 30km/h.

It was difficult to keep on top of notifications about roadworks due to the quantity of them, Packard said.

“It adds a certain amount of pressure to our response time, but it’s sort of the world we live in.”

Whanganui Police area commander Neil Forlong said police had to drive to the road conditions, and staff would be left to make individual choices about difficult sections of road during urgent calls.

“I’m sure individual cops would say the speed bumps are a pain in the neck,” Forlong said.

“But at the end of the day, it’s not our place to comment.”

Forlong said most jobs were less than 5-6km away so having to reduce speed for roadworks would not impact police arrival time at incidents.

“If I know there are big roadworks up St John’s Hill like there is now, you’d go a different way to Great North Rd.”

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi Manawatū-Whanganui and Taranaki journey manager Mike Dickson said emergency services needed access to a safe and efficient network of state highways to quickly connect them to other roads in their respective regions.

It held quarterly meetings for first responders, in Manawatū-Whanganui and Taranaki and other parts of the country, to update them on details of scheduled maintenance and operations programmes

“Having a close working relationship with the likes of emergency services is key to ensuring road users know what they can expect on the network.”

Hato Hone St John Central South District Whanganui/Ruapehu area operations manager Liz Garmey said St John accepted that working around roadworks, speed bumps and potholes would often factor into everyday operations – not just in Whanganui, but all across New Zealand.

“We plan in advance and look for alternative routes when necessary – and when feasible - to ensure we reach patients and emergency departments as quickly as possible.”

Packard said road issues were factored into all planning for emergency services.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.