Fix for killer crossroads
A roundabout will replace one of New Zealand’s most dangerous intersections, on the main route between Hamilton and Tauranga.
The $58-million project, announced as part of a government spending package, is welcome news for a couple living on SH1 near the SH29 turnoff, who have heard countless crashes and wondered what they’d find outside.
But what locals really want is a Waikato Expressway extension from Cambridge to Piarere – the AA called that a missed opportunity.
The door’s left open as the Government announcement said the roundabout would be ‘‘on the route that future proofs the extension of the Waikato Expressway from Cambridge to Piarere.’’
But it’s not clear whether it will be on the site of the T intersection or further up SH29, on the Waikato Expressway route mooted by National in 2017.
The roundabout was announced yesterday, as part of a $6.8 billion Government spend on transport infrastructure.
Irwin and Yvonne Hawkes’ home is about 30 metres from the Tauranga turnoff – they hear the crashes and Irwin has dealt with the carnage.
‘‘I just knew that people were going to die this summer, and nobody cared,’’ Yvonne said. ‘‘And I hate being proven right.’’
NZTA said the intersection was one of New Zealand’s most dangerous, with 62 crashes in eight years, and two deaths.
The Hawkes have been battling for change since the expressway extension plan stalled under the current Government.
There’s a huge amount of traffic and people queue on SH29 for about 20 minutes, Irwin said.
‘‘By the time they get to the intersection they’re p .... d off and frustrated and they’ll just go.’’
The Hawkes were happy to hear about a roundabout, provided it was in line with the expressway extension – though Irwin said he wouldn’t believe it until he saw bulldozers.
‘‘To really save lives, the whole [expressway] needs to be done,’’ Yvonne said, ‘‘because there are a number of bad spots between where the expressway ends at Cambridge and where it will end at Piarere.’’
Karyn Outen uses the intersection daily, between home in Matamata and work in Cambridge.
She’s seen traffic back up to The Red Barn, a couple of kilometres up SH29.
‘‘A roundabout’s better than nothing,’’ she said. ‘‘I would say the sooner they do it, the better.’’
It will slow traffic, and stop crashes at the Rotorua turnoff on SH1, she said.
Farmer Andrew Lennox said a new worker had encountered a closed road for crashes about four times in his first 20-or-so days in the job.
Locals would be very pleased with a roundabout, he said, but all want the expressway extended.
The current government seems to think everyone can hop on a train, bus, or bike, he said – ‘‘You can’t do that where we live."
Hamilton East MP David Bennett said Waikato got just $58m in investment while $933m went to the Bay of Plenty.
‘‘[The Government] should have spent money on a full-blown four-laning from Cambridge to an interchange [on SH29],’’ he said.
‘‘Instead all we’re getting is a roundabout.’’ If the roundabout’s not in the right place, it could hamper the expressway extension project, he said.
Hamilton-based Labour list MP Jamie Strange had seen more than one crash at the intersection – and received correspondence from worried residents.
He was pleased to see action to make the area safer. Putting the new roundabout on the future expressway extension route was an important signal, he said, but he couldn’t say when the extension might happen.
The AA called the absence of the Waikato Expressway extension a missed opportunity.
The project is in limbo, AA’s Waikato District Council chair Pip Edwards said, and if the Government isn’t planning to go ahead with it there should have been other safety improvements in the plan.