Waikanae Bridge plan labelled a ‘death trap’
Plans to narrow a Ka¯piti Coast bridge to build a cycleway have been labelled a ‘‘death trap’’.
Ka¯piti Coast councillor Michael Scott said the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) briefed elected council members last week on plans to narrow Waikanae Bridge to build a cycleway.
It was the first time he and other officials had heard of the plan and Scott had demanded it be halted. ‘‘If this goes through, I’ll be calling for NZTA resignations after the first death or injury accident.’’
The work is part of the revocation process where about 13.5km of SH1 on the Ka¯ piti Coast will be a local road managed by Kapiti Coast District Council.
That section of road became obsolete when the nearby Ka¯ piti Expressway opened in early 2017.
About $22 million will be spent on the revocation project; part of which would see a cycleway along most of the route.
NZTA senior manager Chris Hunt said the agency was continuing to discuss the MacKays to Peka Peka revocation project with the Ka¯piti Coast District
Council.
Scott said the two-lane bridge would become a death trap if narrowed and the preferred option for a cycleway was to use clip-ons to widen it.
‘‘It’s absolutely asinine that you would possibly consider putting cars and trucks even closer than they are. Cyclists claim it’s the most dangerous point on the Ka¯ piti Coast.’’
At the briefing he had called for NZTA to halt the work while it was discussed with council members and the community.
‘‘I’m assuring Waikanae people there’s no way I’m going to countenance this sort of stupidity.
‘‘It seems, yet again, our community is not being considered in this headlong rush to hand back a substandard road to council.’’
Waikanae Community Board member Jocelyn Prvanov attended the briefing and felt the bridge plan had been sprung on elected members. Like Scott, she believed the community had not been informed of NZTA’s plan. ‘‘We’ve asked them to pause, we need to sit around the table and see where it goes from there. It’s just not good enough.’’