Waka Kotahi - NZ Transport Agency has listened to pleas from the community and has included a roundabout at the Mill Road intersection in its draft plans for State Highway 30.

A team from Waka Kotahi, headed by Bay of Plenty director of regional relationships David Speirs, spent two days last week listening to the concerns and ideas from the public about proposed safety improvements to the highway between Awakeri and Whakatāne.

Halfway through the second day of the engagement sessions, David said they had already spoken to upwards of 150 people and received more than 300 pieces of feedback.

"One of the things I've been most happy with is that we've had a really good cross-section of people. Everything from agricultural contractors to heavy vehicle users, motorcyclists and road cyclists, to mum and dad picking the kids up at school at 3pm. We've had quite a few visits from emergency services; Fire and Emergency New Zealand, ambulance, and such.

'In that cross-section of people, we have also had a cross-section of opinion from ‘I will never believe in this', to ‘I am actually open minded'.”

Large-scale laminated maps spread out during the two day sessions displayed the proposed safety measures the agency hopes to have funding confirmed for early next year.

The engagement team encouraged people to place sticky notes on specific areas they wanted to give feedback on.

The maps were covered with notes, some containing detailed descriptions of people's issues, and hand drawn diagrams of what they thought particular intersections should look like - others with terse statements such as 'this won't work” or 'not needed”.

David says an addition to the original plan of a roundabout at Mill Road received the most positive feedback.

This had come about through previous engagement meetings with Whakatāne District Council, road user groups and businesses and residents adjacent to the highway.

'What we'd been hearing from people was that [Mill Road] was a significant cause of concern. It was a place where there were not so many actual crashes, but a lot of near misses that could go very badly. [It is] also an area of focus for a lot of businesses who are growing.

'It has addressed a concern that a lot of people have, but also, it's demonstrated to people that when they tell us about an issue we are going away and having a rethink.”

He says Waka Kotahi will also be open to the Shaw Road intersection connecting to the proposed Mill Road roundabout.

However, that will be something the district council will need to consult with the community about as it will require some local investment, including a new crossing over the Kopeopeo Canal.

'That's not a concrete proposal at the moment, but it's an idea.”

David says the most polarising aspect of the safety measures is the median barrier. Concerns included dairy farmers needing to cross the road with stock, farm vehicles not being able to pull over to allow vehicles to pass, and emergency vehicles not being able to reach people with life-threatening conditions in time.

'We had area commander Stuart Nightingale from New Zealand Police there, so we've been able to have really good, detailed conversations with them about how we could manage an environment with what's been designed and where their specific design concerns are."

David says the area commander's feedback has been constructive, showing areas where the police would require road-widening.

A number of people have provided positive feedback about the installation of median barriers.

These were mostly people who had experienced near-miss incidents in the past with vehicles crossing the centre line.

He says the most useful part of the engagement days was that the team received a lot of very specific feedback.

'People were able to identify individual stretches where they've got a concern about this particular driveway, or this particular piece of road or this bridge or whatever. So, we're able to have a really constructive conversation with those people.

'Our purpose here for these two days is to listen to people. We are going to hear what their specific issues are, and we're going to go away and see what we can do to address those.”

Waka Kotahi Bay of Plenty director of regional relationships David Speirs has plenty of suggestions to consider for the State Highway 30 safety improvements. Photo Diane McCarthy.

Waka Kotahi – NZ Transport Agency's State Highway 30 Awakeri to Whakatāne Safety Improvements proposal is going through a consultation and community engagement process.

Bay of Plenty director of regional relationships David Speirs says this stretch of highway has been identified by Waka Kōtahi as a high-risk rural road.

'Between 2017 and 2021, four people have died and 16 seriously injured in crashes and almost half of those were head on crashes.

'As part of New Zealand's Road to Zero programme, Waka Kotahi is trying to reduce the frequency and likelihood that a crash happens.

'We do this by managing impairment, managing speed, managing the quality of the vehicles that are available to New Zealanders, managing the road surface. This year we've had a big increase in the maintenance and operations focus. Unfortunately, the weather's been challenging.

'Then, accepting that people make mistakes, and that people drive tired, or they drive impaired or they have a momentary lapse of judgement, because they're human, we try and make the road environment as forgiving as possible. One of the most effective things we can do is a median barrier.”

As well as median barriers between The Hub and White Pine Bush Road, the safety improvements include roundabouts at the intersections of Thornton Road, Te Rahu Road and White Pine Bush Road and no right turn intersections at all other intersections.

A separate speed review is also in progress and an outcome is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

A detailed design is expected to be completed by the middle of this year so funding from the 2024-2027 National Land Transport Programme can be applied for. Subject to funding being confirmed early next year, construction on safety improvements is expected to begin mid-2024.

-Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.