A new roundabout will be built at the Gordonton and Puketaha Rds intersection in Rototuna and create a new connection into St James Drive. Photo / Supplied
A new roundabout will be built at the Gordonton and Puketaha Rds intersection in Rototuna and create a new connection into St James Drive. Photo / Supplied
Crash data shows a person hit by a car travelling at 50km/h has an 80 per cent chance of being seriously injured or killed. If the car is doing 30km/h, the chance of serious injury or death drops to 10 per cent.
This fact is the main driving force behind a string of ongoing projects across Hamilton to add raised safety platforms at the approach to a roundabout or build new roundabouts with similar safety features to slow traffic.
“We have started using raised safety platforms at busy intersections and in areas where there is a lot of walking and biking activity, particularly near schools,” says Hamilton City Council city transport unit director Gordon Naidoo.
He says speeds need to be safe for everyone, not just for the people behind the wheel.
“Every change we make is now done with everyone’s safety in mind, no matter how they choose to travel,” says Naidoo.
The council has a massive programme of work coming up in 2023. Work started last week on several projects in Rototuna, beginning with a new roundabout at the Gordonton Rd-Darjon Drive intersection.
The Church Rd-Te Rapa Rd intersection in Hamilton's north will have raised safety platforms installed on all the legs of the roundabout to make it more accessible to people on bikes. Image / Supplied
In a few months’ time, the work will move a few hundred metres north to the Gordonton and Puketaha Rds intersection to get started on a new roundabout and create a new connection into St James Drive.
A 12-week project has also started at the Church Rd-Te Rapa Rd roundabout in the city’s north. Work will include installing raised safety platforms on all the legs of the roundabout, making the intersection more accessible to people on bikes, and removing some vegetation to improve visibility for road users.
The council’s transport programme delivery lead, Dharmen Singh, said improving road safety across key areas of the city gives people greater choices to get where they need to go safely and efficiently.
He says when it comes to roundabout upgrades, one question he is asked a lot is how many people have died or been seriously injured at a particular intersection.
The Church Rd-Te Rapa Rd roundabout will also have some vegetation removed to improve visibility for road users. Photo / Supplied
“For the Church Rd-Te Rapa Rd roundabout, the answer is none, but there have been too many near-misses. This is about taking a proactive approach. We don’t want to wait until someone is killed or seriously hurt before we implement changes.”
The number of people walking, biking and scootering through the Church Rd-Te Rapa Rd roundabout is expected to increase as work progresses on the Te Awa Lakes residential development in Hamilton’s north. This roundabout upgrade is expected to cost about $1.1 million, with 51 per cent of the cost funded by Waka Kotahi.
Naidoo says the Rototuna work ties in with similar projects in the area that have resulted in immediate improvements — including the Gordonton and Thomas Rds traffic signals and raised safety platform intersection improvements installed in 2019.
“From 2017 to 2019, there were 33 recorded crashes at the Thomas Rd intersection, including one death. Paired with lowering the speed limit on Gordonton Rd to 60km/h, this intersection upgrade has seen significant improvements with only one crash recorded between 2020 and 2022,” he says.
Although the Darjon Rd intersection has fewer recorded crashes than the Gordon-Thomas intersection, these tend to be more serious and usually result in someone getting injured.
“The number of crashes makes no difference, whether it’s one or 30 — our goal is zero, and that’s what we’re aiming for,” said Naidoo.
“Every change we make is now done with everyone’s safety in mind, no matter how they choose to travel.”
For the Gordonton Rd-Darjon Drive roundabout work, traffic management is expected to be in place for a minimum of 10 weeks. This includes closing the access to Darjon Drive from Gordonton Rd to rebuild the road at the intersection. A detour will be in place to Darjon Drive from Huntington Drive. A temporary traffic light system will be put in place along Gordonton Rd to help manage traffic flows while works take place. However, drivers should still expect some delays.
The project falls under the council’s Vision Zero intersection improvements programme, and is 49 per cent funded by its Long-Term Plan 21-31, with Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s National Land Transport Plan 21-31, providing the additional 51 per cent of funding.
It also aligns with the council’s Access Hamilton Strategy —Ara Kootuitui Kirikiriroa — aiming to help people connect to places in safe, accessible, and smart ways.
