New signage and a pedestrian refuge are being proposed in a bid to stop cars and trucks speeding along Matakana Valley Road in both directions. A Rodney Local Board workshop heard that 85 per cent of vehicles travelling into Matakana were doing 67.5km/h when they passed from the 80km/h zone into the 50km/h area, while those driving out of town hit more than 72km/h when they still should have been doing no more than 50.
Auckland Transport (AT) wants to repaint the red ‘carpet’ that covers the road at the town sign and start of the 50km zone 100 metres north west of Awanui Crescent and install two illuminated ‘slow down’ speed indication signs along the road. A pedestrian refuge crossing between the main Diamond Jubilee Park entrance and diagonal carparks is also being proposed, all of which would cost around $230,000. Colin Smith asked why, when part of the issue was large full-trailer trucks travelling to or from Whangaripo quarries via the village, AT didn’t consider bypassing Matakana altogether, such as utilising a paper road, between Matakana Valley and Wrights Roads.
While recognising that was beyond the remit of the board and the particular AT project team, Michelle Carmichael agreed in principle, asking at what point did AT look at the bigger picture of solving traffic problems. “A lot of money is being spent on patches, instead of the root cause,” she said. “Systemic change needs to happen to get those parties looking at this on a bigger picture scale,.