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Our street, Fordyce Ave in Sunnyhills, has for the past three years been subjected to the most horrendously divisive and costly pilot project for safer school streets one could ever imagine.
The rationale for this pilot programme was/is to increase safety outside the school, reduce the number of vehicles during peak times and encourage walking and cycling to and from school.
All worthy goals. No one wants to see children injured or worse.
It was made clear to Auckland Transport [AT] at the start of this trial that never in 40 years has there been an accident in what is a pretty quiet street and that any perceived traffic issues, such as illegal parking, and three point turns at morning and afternoon school pickups could be sorted out by heavy fines and general traffic rule enforcement as required.
Despite letters from and meetings with immediate neighbours who were overwhelmingly in favour of just leaving our street in its peaceful and pretty state, AT ploughed ahead with this hugely expensive trial.
So now after three long years, it appears to be completed with two raised speed bumps, one raised crossing, yellow road markings galore, raised concrete no-parking barriers, redesigned side street entries and signage to beat the band.
I have enquired of AT that as this is a pilot scheme, it would be interesting to know what KPIs were used to measure and judge the success or otherwise of it, as the results will no doubt be used to determine where to from here with other schools.
In summary, in terms of safety, it is known there has never been an accident on this street.
The above “safety improvements” have caused cars to now park further away from and out of view of the school where three-point turns occur and children don’t use the school crossing to cross the street.
This is a 50km/h area whereas the school zone is 30 km/h.
The locals have had three years of unnecessary upheaval.
The street was made to look like a road cone factory for three years.
I am told but can’t confirm that the cost of this project stands at $1.4 million that could be far better spent on a whole lot more deserving projects/issues than this white elephant.
Suffice it to say, to date I have received no response from AT.
Perhaps they are grappling with how, in these times of drastic budget cuts and austerity measures, they can justify an outlay of $1.4m to make an already-safe street safer for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon, five days a week.
Bary Williams, Sunnyhills
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