Patteson Ave, Mission Bay - a true blunder. Watch out, pedestrians. Photo / Desley Simpson
"Some days I'm simply lost for words," wrote Auckland councillor Desley Simpson when she posted this photo on social media this week.
Spot what's wrong?
Yes, that's right, a power pole appears to have been planted in the middle of a footpath.
Just, how?
Simpson said the wooden pole was on a popular section of footpath in Mission Bay.
It is in the middle of a residential area on the main thoroughfare, near 105 Patteson Ave between near the Atkin Ave/Palmer Cres intersection near Patteson Reserve.
"Sometimes, there are no words," one commenter told her.
She replied: "Or if there were, they wouldn't be ladylike. I want it moved. It's not as if it's a brand new concrete thing. All the other power poles around that one are concrete and this one is wood, so what makes this different?"
She is unsure how long the potentially dangerous obstruction has been there but she was this week putting questions to Auckland Transport which has footpath responsibility, lines business Vector as well as Chorus.
"That footpath has recently been renewed by Auckland Transport and quite often they are making footpaths wider because there's a new standard and it may be a policy issue. As a result of widening footpath, they bang into a power pole?" Simpson asked.
Steve Pettigrew, Chorus spokesman, said it was more likely to be footpath changes rather than power pole "planting" that caused the obstacle problem.
But it was not a Chorus pole but owned by Vector, Pettigrew stressed.
"We did some work looking at the pole and looking at Google maps. In 2008, the Chorus pole appeared beside the footpath, not in the middle of it.
"We've got a guy going to put cones around it today. He'll start working out what we can do about it. That's the other side of this story. Something needs to be done.
"It appears that somehow the footpath has been widened."
Simpson said: "The question to ask is what processes does AT have when they upgrade or create a new footpath that takes into consideration where any existing poles might be?"
Auckland Transport acknowledged it had indeed widened the footpath but blamed the pole and its original positioning, as well as trees.
"The pole was in this location before we did our works. The conclusion we arrived at during construction was that going around the pole was not a practical option," a spokesperson said today.
The footpath in that section is in the drip line of protected street trees. The roots were shallow and pressing on the existing footpath creating a trip hazard, AT explained.
So it created another trip hazard by putting the footpath around the giant wooden power pole?
"We managed to trim some minor roots under the existing footpath and installed a trip stop in the concrete. Widening the footpath or moving it over would require cutting through tree roots in the berm that were very close to the surface. Doing so may affect tree health," AT said.
But it also regretted part of its actions, saying it should have engaged with the pole's owner "to investigate the feasibility of relocating the pole during the footpath renewal."
AT says it supports walking as a mode of transport and encourages people to use the footpaths it is responsible for.
Health and leisure benefits are cited as well as sustaining local communities.
"This is all part of making Auckland one of the world's most liveable cities," AT says.
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