I recently submitted feedback to Council on the proposed options for addressing and improving the safety of the Harewood/Gardiners/Breens Road intersection.
In the interests of transparency in light of my Papanui Ward candidacy in the 2019 local government elections, my submission follows:
Please indicate your order of preference (1 being most preferred through to 3):
Option 1: left in/out with signalised pedestrian crossing: 2
Option 2: Traffic signals: 3
Leave the intersection as is: 3
Comments – Please provide any feedback:
My preferred option (preference 1) is ‘none of the above’. A better option than either of those proposed would be to convert the entire length of Harewood Road from two lanes to one lane in each direction. This would improve safety at the Harewood/Gardiners/Breens intersection as well as having benefits down the entire length of the corridor at potentially less cost – certainly a lower cost that Option 2 – and I would expect it could attract central Government funding.
One-laning Harewood Road in both directions as an initial step would:
- make it safer/easier for road users on Gardiners/Breens to drive across, or turn right onto, Harewood Road,
- maintain all turns and through traffic as per the existing configuration,
- be safer for pedestrians crossing Harewood Rd (safer than status quo, potentially safer than Option 2),
- be compatible with the future Wheels to Wings cycleway,
- address the key concern raised in the Harewood Road Corridor Study – high vehicle speeds on Harewood Road due to the road having double the vehicle capacity than what is required, and
- retain the option to implement traffic lights or the median barrier & left in/out configuration at Harewood/Gardiners/Breens, should such options still need to be considered following the one-laning of the road.
Simon Britten 