Trial of new Grey Street, Kahutia Street road layout to go ahead

Tairawhiti Adventure Trust representatives (from left) Haimona Ngata and Amy Spence and district council road safety coordinator Lauriel Edwards display the new Grey Street road plans to public roadshow visitors Brenda Hailey, Carmen West and Mitch Kuhn. Picture by Liam Clayton

A trial of major road layout changes for Grey and Kahutia streets will press on next month following the conclusion of a series of public information roadshows.

After a full week of public presentations about the project, Tairawhiti Adventure Trust (TAT) chairman Haimona Ngata said there had been varied feedback.

While it had mostly been positive, all feedback — “good and bad” — would be available on the Gisborne District Council website, he said.

Installation of the new layout will start on January 15 and take two weeks to complete.

The changes will comprise a courtesy crossing just before the Childers Road roundabout and just before the Kahutia Street intersection, pavement art, a new pedestrian crossing and a chicane intended as another safe crossing point on Grey Street, but also to act as a traffic-calming device.

A raised table pedestrian crossing at the roundabout will provide a safe place for people to cross the road.

A dual direction cycleway, separated from the road by concrete spacers, will run the length of the road to the Childers Road roundabout.

The biggest changes are planned for the Kahutia Street intersection, which  will be converted into a left hand turn-only intersection with the installation of bespoke concrete planters to separate the thoroughfare.

TAT chairman Haimona Ngata said it was one of the more dangerous intersections on Grey Street due to the line of sight up and down the street.

“It’s pretty sketchy. There was some really good feedback around that junction.

“There were a few people against it but it is just a trial.”

The trial period will last for six months but Mr Ngata expects there will be a further assessment after three months to canvass feedback about its performance or potential changes.

Mr Ngata pointed out that Grey Street would not be closed off.

“We are just slowing it down.”

Mr Ngata said data was collected about traffic volumes, pedestrian and cycle movement in January.

“This data informed the design aspect of the project . . .  from this roadshow data and the data we are going to collect in the first three to six months of the project, we can compare it to this year’s data to see if it makes a difference.”

Any increase in traffic volumes on surrounding streets will also be noted

“We counted traffic movements and after three months we are going to count it again, so we can take those measurements and then ask those same kind of questions again.”

The $365,880 project is a collaboration between the district council and TAT.

NZ Transport Agency will fund 90 percent of the project, with GDC responsible for the remainder, including any overspend.