Slow road to improvements
Cycling along Old West Rd on the back road to Massey University’s Palmerston North campus has been made a little safer.
But some cyclists who have been waiting six years for the NZ Transport Agency to create space for them on the shoulder of State Highway 57 are not that impressed.
City councillor Duncan Mccann, who demonstrated the dangers of the ride among trucks and cars on the high-speed road in 2013, said safety problems remained.
The cycling surface was quite rough and there was the pinch point of a narrow bridge with no room for cyclists at all if there was traffic in both directions.
‘‘It’s a poor job. And it’s taken them as long as it took us to build the He Ara Kotahi bridge.’’
Mccann said the city council would be taking a refreshed look at its cycling master plan for the city next week, when some known trouble spots such as access to recreation areas around Turitea could be reviewed.
Agency regional transport systems manager Mark Owen said two kilometres of road shoulder had been widened and sealed as part of its safety boost programme. ‘‘This road is popular with cyclists travelling to Massey, but they haven’t always felt safe on this section because of the narrow road shoulder.
‘‘This will give them and other vehicles more space to share the road,’’ he said.
‘‘This also makes it a safer road for drivers. We know that wide road shoulders can reduce serious crashes by up to 35 per cent.’’
The safety boost programme aimed to help prevent deaths and serious injuries on regional state highways by making safety improvements such as rumble strips, wider road shoulders, road side barriers and road signs.
As well as widening SH57, the programme is installing rumble strips and, at high-risk locations, barriers on four other sections of highway in Manawatuwhanganui.