Safety drives roading spruce-up

Road improvements at Raumati Village are planned to improve safety, particularly around intersections and crossing points used to access schools and shops.

Councillor and transportation portfolio holder James Cootes said about 2300 children of all ages spill out onto the footpaths each day and safety improvements are welcomed.

“When you mix that in with motorists doing pickups and driving around to shops and the beach it’s not hard to see that there is the potential for things to go wrong.

“It’s great to see the council has a programme of traffic improvements rolling out to improve the safety of vulnerable users — in particular our older and younger residents.

“We’ve been steadily working with the Paraparaumu/Raumati Community Board over the past five years on a strategic programme of work to upgrade safety in Raumati Rd and in the village, with more work planned.”

Access and transport manager Glen O’Connor said safety improvements for the next year include installing raised tables to lower speed and improving crossing points for pedestrians near the Rosetta Rd/Victor Rd intersection and at the Matatua Rd/Alexander Rd intersection.

“We’ve also got some other improvements in the pipeline and we’ll be working towards securing funding from NZTA and council for those.

“These projects involve some significant changes, so we’ll be engaging with the community as well to understand all the issues and make sure we address them, and will work to ensure minimal disruption to businesses,” he said.

The work that’s subject to funding includes a roundabout at Raumati Rd, Matatua Rd and Rosetta Rd intersection (planned for 2021/2022) and improvements at the intersection of Raumati Rd, Margaret Rd.

And in 2022/23 the possibility of converting Margaret Rd to one way once its seen how the changes at the intersection are working (subject to community feedback and funding).