Council lists roads marked for speed cuts

The full list of Auckland streets where speed limits are proposed to come down has been revealed.

The Auckland Council wants to cut speeds on many streets in the central city from 50km/ h to 30km/h in a bid to make roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists and residents.

The proposed bylaw will be put out for public consultation from Thursday until March 31.

Hundreds of streets are on the list, the majority in or around Auckland’s CBD, including Wynyard Quarter and surrounding areas such as Freemans Bay and St Heliers.

But the proposal also touches on some other suburbs, with Gypsy Moth Pl in Papakura, Haki Wihongi Pl in Oratia, parts of Beach Rd in Torbay, and Orewa streets George Lowe Pl, Florence Ave, Empire Rd and Hillary Sq all set to go to 30km/h.

Several roads in Pukekohe are earmarked to drop to 60km/h.

The cut in speeds, particularly in Franklin and Rodney, is due to a rise in deaths and serious injuries in these areas. This was due to economic and population growth, new demands on the unforgiving high-speed rural road network and more vulnerable road users using the road network, a report on the safer speeds programme said.

The new speed limits bylaw also includes others streets around Auckland where the speed limit has been set at other speeds such as 10km/h, 40km/h and 80km/h. Any speed set outside 50km/h is on the list.

Auckland Transport is dropping the speeds in a bid to curb the sharp rise in the number of people dying or being seriously injured on Auckland’s roads. The agency has a goal of having zero deaths on its roads.

In 2017, 64 people died and 749 were seriously injured in Auckland.

The new speeds, subject to changes made after the public consultation process, will be rolled out from this August.