$30 million birthday for Haywards Hill

Haywards Hill Road is in line for $30 million safety upgrade aimed at reducing deaths and serious injuries on the route.

The announcement last Thursday was generally welcomed, but some said it was not enough.

Crashes since October last year have resulted in two deaths and two more people seriously injured.

Planned measures include straightening tight bends, permanently lowering speed limits, installing wire rope barriers and building a new roundabout at Moonshine Rd.

Upper Hutt regional councillor Paul Swain said any improvements to State Highway 58 were very welcome, but what was proposed was ‘‘short-sighted’’.

Swain wants a major upgrade to SH58, enlarging it to four lanes in preference to a new road between Petone and Grenada.

‘‘It should be the major connection between SH2 and SH1,’’ he said.

However, ‘‘any improvement that can be made to that highway, which is a real death trap, is welcome’’.

Porirua mayor Nick Leggett disagreed.

The Porirua council’s focus was on safety for both residents and drivers on SH58.

‘‘Anything that enhances it, we are supportive of,’’ Leggett said.

He had initially supported enlarging the Haywards route to four lanes, but had changed his mind.

‘‘I have to say, given that Petoneto-Grenada has the best cost-benefit ratio of any road in the country, that road has got to do more towards assisting connections between Tawa, Porirua and the Hutt Valley, and easing congestion in the Hutt Valley,’’ he said.

The Porirua and and Hutt City councils, and NZ Transport Agency, will hold an information day at Pauatahanui School on Saturday, November 22, from 10am until 4pm.

A $ 2.5m upgrade will happen immediately and the agency will consult the public on the $30m package of improvements in coming months.

Haywards Hill road has a temporary 50kmh speed limit in force between Harris and Mt Cecil roads and the transport agency wants to move quickly to make it permanent.

Porirua City Council is proposing to reduce the speed limit – from 100kmh to 70kmh – on rural roads Bradey Rd, Belmont Rd, Flightys Rd, Murphys Rd, Mulhern Rd and Moonshine Rd.

It is also proposing to reduce the speed limit on Coroglen Rise (off Airlie Rd) from 100kmh to 60kmh.