Elderly fear road crossings

Elderly residents are crossing the road in fear as concerns about the volume of traffic in a rural Manawatu town grow.

Cianna Jordan is leading a group of senior citizens with mobility restrictions to have official pedestrian crossings installed at the roundabout intersecting Kimbolton Rd and Aorangi St in Feilding.

Jordan said members of the group were reluctant to use the courtesy crossing at the busy intersection, despite a refuge space in the middle.

The lack of designated crossings made simple chores, such as visiting Countdown and Totally Fresh, a frightening experience, she said.

For more than a decade, Joy Carter has suffered from low vision and relies on sound. She is forced to walk 50 metres past the roundabout before crossing, to avoid the backlog of traffic.

The distance added several minutes to a task most able-bodied people would manage in 30 seconds, she said. And it didn’t alleviate her fear of crossing.

‘‘I rely heavily on the sound of traffic and good will of drivers,’’ Carter said.

‘‘We work around it and some people stop for us, but it’s not a fix,’’ Jordan said.

The Feilding-rangitikei Herald recorded 186 vehicles passing through the roundabout on June 21, traffic at times backing as far as Stafford St.

Manawatu District Council roading operations team leader Brent Holmes said the Kimbolton Rd and Aorangi St intersection would be reviewed during the council’s streetscaping work.

In its 2015/2025 Long Term Plan the council planned for redevelopment of the Central Business District, carried out on Stafford St in 2015, and scheduled for Bowen St in 2018 and Warwick St in 2019.

The plan was to extend that work to Aorangi St and a section of Kimbolton Rd after 2019.

It was ‘‘highly unlikely’’ traffic lights would be considered an option, Holmes said.

Because the two streets made up sections of State Highway 54 and crossed a railway, any work would be in conjunction with the New Zealand Transport Agency and Kiwirail.