A long-running request for a pedestrian crossing outside Taradale's Atawhai retirement village has again been rejected by Napier City Council which has instead agreed to spend $20,000 on safety signage in the area.
Residents first requested a crossing be installed at the Gloucester St location in 2010 but a council investigation concluded the site did not meet the requirements for a crossing and that an alternative option of a median island would not work because the road was not wide enough to accommodate it. A similar conclusion was reached when the issues was raised again in 2012.
It came back onto the council agenda last year and a petition supporting a crossing attracted 1200 signatures. That prompted the council to agree to carry out further consultation. At a council meeting yesterday, councillors considered a staff report which said installing a "pedestrian refuge" in the middle of the road outside the nearby Bellevue Dairy was an option but was not supported by the closest neighbours because it would mean removing roadside parking to widen the road. Councillors at the meeting were split 5-5 on a resolution to leave the road as it is, but for the existing unmarked "crossing point" outside the retirement village to be made "more conspicuous by signage" at an estimated cost of about $20,000. Napier Mayor Bill Dalton used his casting vote to pass the resolution.
