Roundabout rubbish quandary riles residents
Residents near the main roundabout in Ha¯ wera say new traffic islands have impeded their rubbish collections, taken away their car parking and made it difficult for them to get to their driveways.
Len Collett and Leilana Colban and their families live on State Highway 3 close to the roundabout, which was extensively upgraded by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) last year after 18 crashes since 2014 – two in which cyclists were seriously injured.
Two pink concrete islands were installed outside their homes and a gap in an existing central island was closed, preventing them from turning into their driveways from the north.
Because of the islands, the rubbish truck arm can’t reach their bins on the grass berm.
Len Collett said he and the two neighbours down a right-of-way were pensioners with health issues.
‘‘We’re not going to lift the bins out on to the concrete,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve always been told to put our bins on the grass berm.’’
The South Taranaki District Council was working with the
NZTA to find a permanent solution for the rubbish bin issue, network team leader David Rei Miller said.
In the meantime, contractor Enviroway is sending a staff member to move the residents’ bins from the berm to the island on rubbish day, so the collection trucks could reach them.
‘‘The residents are meeting the contractor half way by bringing in the empty bins at the end of the day,’’ Rei Miller said.
But Collett said he and fellow residents were not consulted about the changes before the project went ahead, and have waited weeks for solutions.
They want the NZTA to remove the two smaller concrete islands and reinstate access through the centre island so they don’t have to drive around the block or do U-turns on the main road to get home.
Colban, who is pregnant, has started parking on the concrete island outside her house.
She had been leaving the car across the road further down after losing the space outside her home.
Last week, she found a sticker on it advising her it had been reported as an abandoned car, and would be towed away.
‘‘I was worried about it getting stolen so now I am parking it on top of the island.
‘‘It’s an eyesore but it was perfectly all right parked there before they put the island in,’’ she said.
The NZTA acknowledges more comprehensive consultation could have been done with the affected residents during the design stage of the project.
A statement attributed to regional transport system manager Ross I’Anson said a likely solution would be to install slot crossings from the kerb to the concrete island to help residents place their rubbish bins on the island for collection.
The agency was ‘‘committed to working with these residents to address their concerns while ensuring the safety of everyone who uses the roundabout’’ and its representative Downer was in regular contact with them, he said.
The new traffic islands were placed to slow traffic and improve visibility to make it safer for everyone, especially cyclists and motorcyclists.
Reducing the speed also reduced the severity of crashes if they did occur.