Huge impact from lane closure

As many of us come back to normal post-holiday life and get ready for students’ return to school and college, traffic around Paraparaumu and Waikanae is anything but normal.

The southbound closure of the Waikanae Bridge is already causing delays and frustration for travellers, with long queues of drivers on the expressway trying to get on to Kā piti Road and extended travel times for people trying to get around the district. This situation will only get worse once the school term starts.

Elected members became aware of the plan at a briefing in December, where we warned New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) that the proposed traffic management plan was going to cause major problems for residents and businesses. I wrote a letter to the chief executive of NZTA outlining our concerns about the plan and the way it’s been communicated.

Of particular concern was the situation for those who live and work just south of the bridge, who had been sent a letter which arrived on December 23 informing them of the closure. Former Waikanae Community Board member Jill Griggs has been advocating on behalf of those residents and organised a meeting on December 30, which I attended along with councillors Jocelyn Prvanov and Nigel Wilson.

At that meeting, we heard first hand about the huge impact the closure would have. A family with five children, wondering how they would get to school, daycare and college. A caregiver who needs to get to her 90-year-old client, and take her to appointments. A business which needs to get its truck across the bridge. A business owner who’s worried about people getting to their appointments. These are just some of the many examples we heard.

I decided these residents were the most urgent priority, so Jill pulled together a collection of particular examples and I sent them to NZTA, along with another letter expressing our deep concern. The result was that those people can apply for exemptions and access their appointments, businesses and work.

So, that’s one battle successfully fought, but we have more to do. The lack of pedestrian access is a huge barrier to people who don’t have a car and rely on it, and we’ve had reports of children walking across the railway bridge to get to the river. We have expressed our concerns around this, and NZTA is looking into it and will respond in the coming days.

The frustration the wider community is feeling was evident at a protest held on Friday. Be assured elected members and staff are working as hard as we can to push NZTA for further work on the traffic management plan and a faster delivery of this project.