Chch’s pedestrian priorities
A busy central Christchurch street crossed daily by hundreds of students – and described by one as a ‘‘gamble’’ – is high on the city council’s wish list for pedestrian safety upgrades.
The council maintains an active list of places it hopes to upgrade for pedestrian safety. Staff said none of the projects on the list were scheduled yet.
Top priority is a new crossing on Akaroa’s Rue Lavaud at Rue Balguerie. The council had planned an upgrade earlier this year as part of a town-wide improvement programme, but it was dropped after outcry over how it would affect the intersection’s heritage value.
Number two is a crossing with stop lights outside Ara Institute on Madras St, where hundreds of students cross every day to get to the food options across the road from campus. A council traffic count last September recorded average daily traffic of 13,418 vehicles, peaking at 1402 in the hour from 8am.
Ara Institute chief executive Tony Gray said a crossing outside the campus was something students had asked for, and something the institute supported. He said it had been discussed with the council over the years.
Dozens of students crossed the road in the hour The Press was outside the campus this week, many either running or looking at cellphones. The nearest traffic light with a crossing was about 150 metres from where most students were crossing.
Outdoor education student Kate Morgan said she crossed there every day and thought a crossing with lights would be helpful.
‘‘It’s kind of a gamble, you try not to get hit by a car. Sometimes there’s a spot that you could get through but otherwise its just run for your life.’’
She said she saw near misses there ‘‘all the time’’, and recently witnessed someone nearly get taken out by a car when they stepped past a bus into the street.
A footpath extension along Beach Rd to the Akaroa Lighthouse was number three on the list. Fourth priority was reinstatement of a footpath around Moa Bone Point in Redcliffs.