Rawhitiroa Road, Kohimarama - Pedestrian safety improvements Rawhitiroa Road, Kohimarama - Pedestrian safety improvements

Broken Yellow Lines

• Strong concerns from the community that broken yellow lines (BYLs) will further reduce on street parking, especially for households with multiple vehicles. One side of the street is a school 5-minute parking bay and cars from the new townhouses at the top of the street have reduced parking availability. Parking demand is high and there will no space for visitors and service providers outside properties at the top end of the street. We need to make sure people wanting to cross the road are able to see it clearly. BYLs are used so people waiting to cross at the zebra crossing can see the road. A clear view of the crossing also gives enough time for a driver to react, safely slow down and stop for a pedestrian waiting to cross. We understand removing parking can be inconvenient, so we have minimised the removal of parking whilst maintaining clear visibility.
• Multiple suggestions that extending the BYLs west of the crossing is not needed as the road is downhill with clear visibility of the crossing which has a traffic island into the roadway where people wait to cross. Also, cars coming from Kohimarama Road have just turned a corner and will be driving slowly. We have reviewed the visibility distances leading up to the crossing. We will now shorten the BYLs to end on the east side of the driveway at 6 Rawhitiroa Road. This will return one space for on-street parking.
  The crossing is over 100 meters from Kohimarama Road and this enough distance and time for drivers to be at speeds over 30km/h before reaching it.
• Suggestions that cars parked on both sides of the road improve safety as they reduce the road to one lane and slow vehicles down. More BYLs will allow higher speeds as the road is wider with no parked cars. We agree, however in this case the BYLs are used to keep clear visibility at all times for people waiting to cross at the zebra crossing. A clear view of the crossing also gives enough time for a driver to react, safely slow down and stop for a pedestrian waiting to cross. We understand removing parking can be inconvenient, so we have minimised the removal of parking whilst maintaining clear visibility.
• Suggestion that it is not necessary to extend the BYLs to outside 15 Rawhitiroa Road on the south of the street as it is below the crest of the hill. Extra BYLs will not improve visibility for traffic coming up the hill. We have visited Rawhitiroa Road to review the visibility measurements and can confirm that BYLs at this location will improve visibility of the crossing.
• Suggestion that in 15 years there has never been an incident at this crossing so extending the BYLs is not necessary. The Orakei Local Board has identified Rawhitiroa Road as a Community Safety Fund project that aims to improve the safety of pedestrians crossing at this location. BYLs are used to keep clear visibility at all times for people waiting to cross at the zebra crossing. We want to make our roads safe for everyone, people walking and cycling, especially for our kids and senior citizens and people driving. Projects like this one around Rawhitiroa Road are another step towards our goal of achieving no deaths or serious injuries on our roads. We are guided by the Vision Zero approach to transport safety, which prioritises human safety over other measures (like minor time saving).

Parking

• Multiple concerns that parking and congestion is a problem in this area at school pickup and dropoff times. Auckland Transport support and encourage active transport, such as walking or cycling, and use of public transport for the journey to and from school. This is to support both road safety outcomes outside the school gate and reduce congestion on the roads. We have dedicated resources to promote parking and walking from identified locations close to schools, but not immediately in front of the school gate. Kohimarama School has 7 walking school buses available for students to join. Parking time restrictions are used to encourage turnover in areas that experience high parking demand.
  We are currently undertaking a trial at other schools looking at a number of suitable options to provide safety outside schools for all road users, in particular students and their families. We thank you for your patience during the trial period.
• Concerns that the parking bay on the south side of Rawhitiroa is only 5 mins with no signs stating what times the restriction applies. Requests for the time limit to be changed to only apply during peak school hours. We agree that changing the times the P5 parking restriction applies to the parking bay will help ease parking issues at this end of Rawhitiroa Road. We will change the parking restriction times to apply from 8:15am to 9:15am and 2:15 to 3:15pm on school days and install new signs reflecting the change.
• Suggestions to install more parking bays on Rawhitiroa Road to help ease congestion. The Orakei Local Board has identified Rawhitiroa Road as a Community Safety Fund project that aims to improve the safety of pedestrians crossing at this location. Parking bays will not provide a safety benefit for people crossing the road and are not included in the budget for this project.
• Request that BYL parking restrictions only apply during school hours. BYLs are used to keep clear visibility at all times for people waiting to cross at the zebra crossing. A clear view of the crossing also gives enough time for a driver to react, safely slow down and stop for a pedestrian waiting to cross. We understand removing parking can be inconvenient, so we have minimised the removal of parking whilst maintaining clear visibility. To help ease parking issues, the P5 parking restriction for the parking bay on the south side of Rawhitiroa Road will change to apply from 8:15am to 9:15am and 2:15 to 3:15pm on school days.

Road safety

• Multiple concerns that vehicles from the new townhouses at the top of the street has introduced more congestion, safety and parking issues and this is not being managed. The road gets very narrow when cars are parked on both sides and cars park all the way up to the intersection. It gets very difficult to turn into and out of Rawhitiroa Road from all directions. The top of Rawhitiroa Road is approximately 8 metres wide. This is usually enough for vehicles to park on both sides of the road and have a two way traffic flow. If cars park too far out from the kerb, only one way traffic may be possible, and congestion may occur. Usually this would only be for short periods during the school peak times. This can help create slower speeds when school children are walking or crossing the road. Outside of these times this is not expected to be an issue.
  If you see illegal parking behaviour, the most effective way to address it is to report the problem when it is happening. Please contact our Parking Compliance Team on (09) 355 3553 if you see an illegal parking issue. We will dispatch a parking warden to the location as we can only take action against an illegally parked vehicle if one of our wardens witnesses the offence.
• Request for traffic management measures at the corner of Rawhitiroa and Kohimarama Roads at school start and finish times as it gets very congested, with poor driver behaviour, traffic backing up to the crossing and children crossing the road in between stationary cars. Multiple requests to have BYLs from the corner of Kohimarama Road to the crossing so cars cannot block the road and reduce access, especially for emergency services vehicles. Auckland Transport support and encourage active transport and use of public transport for the journey to and from school. This is to support both road safety outcomes outside the school gate and reduce congestion on the roads. We have dedicated resources to promote parking and walking from identified locations close to schools, but not immediately in front of the school gate. Parking time restrictions are used to encourage turnover in areas that experience high parking demand. We are currently undertaking a trial looking at a number of suitable options to provide safety outside schools for all road users, in particular students and their families. We thank you for your patience during the trial period.
  If you see illegal parking behaviour, the most effective way to address it is to report the problem when it is happening. Please contact our Parking Compliance Team on (09) 355 3553 if you see an illegal parking issue. We will dispatch a parking warden to the location as we can only take action against an illegally parked vehicle if one of our wardens witnesses the offence.
  When requesting enforcement, specific information such as the registration number of the vehicle and details of the parking offence will assist our officers.
• Suggestion to introduce a new “No left turn” restriction from Kohimarama Road onto Rawhitiroa Road from 8:30am to 9am Monday to Friday. No crashes have been reported at this intersection in the last 5 years which suggests that the intersection is operating relatively safely compared to others in the Auckland region. Therefore, the introduction of a "no left turn" restriction is not necessary.
• Multiple suggestions that all of upper Rawhitiroa Road is made a school or reduced speed (25/30 km/h) zone from Kohimarama Road to the crossing. This would reduce the need for BYLs to improve visibility and safety and would be easier to enforce. The section of Rawhitiroa Road near the school is already a school zone. A 40km/h speed limit applies on school days from 8:20am to 8:55am and 2:55 to 3:15pm. Outside these times the posted speed limit is 50kph. The road is straight and on a slope, so vehicles may travel faster. These factors are considered when deciding the length of BYL parking restrictions.
  A permanent reduction of the speed limit is not being considered. Speed limit reduction is being prioritised for roads with high crash rates, roads where it is already natural to slow down and roads with existing speed calming infrastructure to support a speed limit reduction. Rawhitiroa Road does not fit any of these categories.
• Concerns that extending the BYLs will result in more congestion, illegal parking and poor driver behaviour at school pickup and dropoff times. Drivers often park over driveways at these times of day. We appreciate the concerns raised about this type of parking behaviour. The most effective way to address illegal parking is by reporting the problem when it is happening. Please contact our Parking Compliance Team on (09) 355 3553 if you face an illegal parking issue. We will dispatch a parking warden to the location as we can only take action against an illegally parked vehicle if one of our wardens witnesses the offence.
  When requesting enforcement, specific information such as the registration number of the vehicle and details of the parking offence will assist our officers.
• Concern there is another entrance to the school opposite 6 Rawhitiroa Road that has no crossing or speed reduction measures. We expect people wanting to cross near this location to either use this raised zebra crossing if travelling east bound or to use the existing crossing at the intersection with Kohimarama Road if walking west bound. We do not consider there is a need to install a crossing at this location.
• Suggest that as Rawhitiroa Road is not busy after 8am the safety upgrade is not necessary. The Orakei Local Board has identified Rawhitiroa Road as a Community Safety Fund project that aims to improve the safety of pedestrians crossing at this location. We believe that a raised pedestrian crossing will improve safety for everyone on this road at all times.

Pedestrian crossing design

• Concern that there will be additional noise from cars slowing then accelerating over the raised crossing. Questions asked about how the noise will be reduced and what materials will be used? We will install a speed table made from concrete and with a low shape. We expect that any noise generated by the changes in speed will be relatively low, similar to a driver slowing at an intersection.
• Concerns that any handrails installed will add unnecessary hard landscaping and, if installed, they are not ugly “plumbers’ pipes”. Suggestions that they are not necessary as the drop from the footpath and crossing is not steep. The handrails have been designed to comply with current safety standards and will be installed on the southern side of the crossing to aid people of all abilities using the steps or ramp. The handrails will be made from galvanised steel.
• Request that any minor retaining next to the ramp or stairs uses bluestone and foliage similar to the landscaped wall running alongside the adjacent school boundary. The retaining work at this location is minor and we will use concrete. Additional planting is not included in the budget for this project.
• Various suggestions to align the crossing more to the school entrance gate, angle the stairs/ramp the other way and that access to the footpath looks blocked, to improve the design. The layout has been designed to comply with current safety standards and to ensure there is no conflict with any existing trees or power poles.
• Suggestion that the crossing is not dangerous and is already safe as there has not been any accidents and most children are delivered to school by their parents. Concern that raised crossings are uncomfortable for drivers. This project has been identified by the Orakei Local Board as a Community Safety Fund project. The aim is to improve the safety of people crossing the road at this location. The speed table is to help slow vehicles to a speed where if a car were to hit a pedestrian, the chances of death or serious injury are very low. They are designed to reduce speeds to a safe level and provide a smooth ride for vehicles and passengers.
• Request that the grass berm and footpath on the north side will remain looking the same as they are now, but with a new concrete footpath as the current footpath is in poor condition. The footpath outside 12 Rawhitiroa Road has been visually inspected and appears to be in reasonable condition with no noticeable safety issues. If funds are available at the time of the works for a change to concrete, we will consider it then. The south side of Rawhitiroa Road will look similar to now, except with a new concrete path leading to the crossing.

Other requests

• Concerns about the high speed of vehicles in this residential area and that through traffic from the waterfront speeds up the hill from Baddley Road. Suggestions for speed bumps at around 40-50 Rawhitiroa Road to slow traffic coming up the hill. The focus of this proposal is to provide a safe crossing facility on Rawhitiroa Road. More speed bumps on this section of the road is not in the scope of the project. Auckland Transport has a plan to reduce unsafe speeds on Auckland’s roads. It targets areas prioritised by the level of safety risk and aims to reduce the incidence and impact of crashes. The initial roll out of speed reduction focuses on approximately 10 per cent of our road network, including residential areas. The plan will support drivers to travel at the appropriate speed and to the road conditions. Prioritisation and delivery are based on several factors, including the number of crashes, safety risk, traffic speed, land use and concerns raised by local residents and their elected representatives.
  While we do appreciate your concerns, Rawhitiroa Road has not been identified in the first group of areas within our Residential Speed Management programme as other areas in the region experience higher speeds and safety risk. More information, including the residential areas that will be prioritised for further investigation can be found on the Residential Speed Management Programme project page.
• A micro mobility user requests repairs to the surrounding footpaths, especially on the north side of the crossing, and missing tactile pavers at the corner of Kohimarama Road. We suggest you use the Report a Problem page on the AT website or call our contact centre on 09 355 3553 to register any concerns you may have about safety for micro mobility users at this location.
  The footpath outside 12 Rawhitiroa Road has been visually inspected and appears to be in reasonable condition with no noticeable safety issues. If funds are available at the time of the works for a change to concrete, we will consider it then.
  New yellow tactile pavers at the Kohimarama Road intersection will be included as part of this project.
• Request for the protection of existing trees during works and suggestion that this is an opportunity to increase the number of trees on the street. Any construction works within the circumference of existing trees will be monitored by an arborist. Additional planting is not included in the budget for this project.