More changes pondered at clogged intersection
After years of trying to fix a congested intersection, the New Plymouth District Council has come up with a fresh plan for upper Vogeltown.
The plan includes seven changes to surrounds of the intersection of Huatoki and Carrington streets, an area that has long dogged the council and frustrated residents, motorists and business owners.
The saga began in 2019 when the council identified the intersection as needing upgraded footpaths and road pavements.
A round of community consultation highlighted a range of concerns, including speeding traffic and visibility issues at the crossing point near the intersection leading to a number of retailers.
Despite safety improvements being completed in August 2020, the area has remained clogged with traffic while the council spent almost four years formulating a fix-it plan and ordering reports.
Now, after a fortnight of public consultation in March, the proposed changes will go before the council’s strategy and operations committee on Tuesday for a decision.
Included in the proposed changes were an extension to the raised safety platform on Huatoki St, the narrowing of a garden area to the south to give heavy vehicles more space to turn, and the addition of a new garden on the north side of the street to encourage pedestrians to use a new crossing.
The council was also planning on adding an island on the west of Carrington St to sharpen the corner and slow traffic down while introducing new parking restrictions.
The proposals, like others before them, have been met with scepticism from residents and business owners.
A collective group of those business owners submitted to the council and agreed with some of the measures while also voicing their ongoing concerns.
They said the main issues were the speed of traffic travelling down Carrington St and motorists trying to turn right, which repeatedly clogged traffic in the area.
The group asked for speed humps to be introduced near the Vogeltown Pharmacy and for a ban on right-turning motorists.
However, the suggestions were ruled out by council transport and safety engineer David Brown. He said that while the speed of vehicles turning into Huatoki St from the east side of Carrington St was too fast, the council was confident that sharpening the turn would slow drivers down.
“We do not agree that a hump is needed on Carrington St at this time,” he said.
“We have considered a lot of options for this intersection, including prohibiting the right turn out of Huatoki, but have concluded that this option would essentially push traffic out of this area into other local streets that are not designed to accommodate it.”
Brown agreed with submitters that the process to fix the problems had taken too long to resolve but said the council had listened to the views of business owners and residents.
“It would be fair to say that from some of the solutions that you have raised, we simply do not agree,” he said.
If the committee voted to go ahead with the proposed changes, work would begin in mid-July with an estimated budget of $180,000.