Wairau Road, View Road and Kathleen Street, Glenfield - Safety improvements Wairau Road, View Road and Kathleen Street, Glenfield - Safety improvements

Proposal status: Consultation closed. Construction tentatively scheduled for mid-2025.

About the project

We have heard from people who live near and travel through the Wairau Road, View Road, and Kathleen Street intersection about their safety concerns. We have also discussed the safety concerns with community leaders and stakeholders.

Currently, there are no dedicated crossing points at the intersection, which means people who walk or use a wheelchair or mobility device have to cross three busy lanes of traffic on Wairau Road to access bus stops, shops, and the nearby reserve area. Also because of the high volume of traffic that moves along Wairau Road, drivers have found turning on and off Wairau Road at View Road difficult. Changes to the intersection are needed to improve safety, mitigate traffic congestion, and manage the rapid growth that’s happening in the community.

Between 29 April and 19 May 2024, Auckland Transport (AT) proposed safety upgrades to the Wairau Road, View Road and Kathleen Street intersection in Glenfield.

What the 2024 consultation was about

AT proposed safety upgrades in order to make it safer for people who drive, walk or bike to cross at or travel through the Wairau Road, View Road, and Kathleen Street intersection. Other goals of the upgrades are to enable buses with stops near the intersection to pick up and drop off passengers more efficiently, creating more reliable service, and to prepare the area for future travel demand as AT develops the wider transport network.

Our proposed upgrades included:

new traffic lights at all approaches to the intersection
new signalised crossings for people who walk and cycle
new central island on the western approach to the intersection to give those leaving the properties closest to the intersection a safer environment to turn
slightly moving and making minor improvements to the nearby bus stops and shelters
new cycle ramps to give cyclists another way to cross the road, separate from other traffic
new cycle boxes (marked spaces for cyclists to wait at the front of the line of traffic), allowing them to be more visible to vehicles and giving them a safer place to turn from Wairau Road to adjacent streets
yellow tactile pavers at the crossings to help people who need visual assistance
new road markings and signs
footpath and roadway upgrades to prepare for future growth of the wider transport network
adding ‘no stopping at all times’ markings to all approaches to the intersection.

During the consultation, we received 61 formal submissions – 60 from our online survey and one emailed submission – from the community. Overall feedback from the respondents was mostly positive.

Based on the feedback received, we will be proceeding with the proposed design with one major change. The proposed change to angular parking in front of the businesses on View Road will not go ahead, and instead the existing perpendicular parking will stay as it is to ensure there is no loss in parking in this area.

With this change to our proposal, AT will work to finalise the design and deliver the improvements in mid-2025.

Glenfield: Safe with us

Auckland Transport cares for your safety. 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 Glenfield 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).

Our first consultation in 2020

In November 2020, Auckland Transport consulted the community on proposed changes to improve safety around the Wairau Road, View Road, and Kathleen Street intersection. The original proposed changes included:

Upgrading the existing bus stops on Wairau Road
Installing pedestrian and vehicle traffic lights on all four legs of the intersection
Building new footpaths at the crossings
Installing tactile pavers, which are yellow guidance paving markers, to help visually impaired people find their way to the crossing and safely cross the road
Painting no stopping at all times lines along Wairau Road

What the community said

AT received 16 submissions from the community during our 2020 consultation. Most of the feedback received was positive, described as a ‘welcome change for the neighbourhood,’ and said the proposal would make the area safer. Below is a summary of what the participants told us and our responses to community concerns:

Congestion

Concerns were raised regarding traffic backing up on Wairau Road, congestion outside Southern Cross Hospital from Wairau to Glenfield Road from 3.30 to 6.30pm, and changes being inconvenient traffic during off-peak hours (e.g., delaying traffic at night).

We agreed to ensure the signalling and timing of the traffic lights would consider traffic activity during the peak/off-peak traffic periods to minimise queuing and delays on Wairau Road.

Concerns were raised regarding drivers taking alternative routes to avoid Wairau Road, including Hillside Road, Diana Drive, and Target Road.

We agreed to monitor changes in the traffic activity on neighbouring roads and take appropriate action should the need arise.

There was a concern that entering and exiting the shops on View Road shops parking may become even more difficult due to congestion at the traffic lights on View Road.

We recognised queues would be expected at signalised intersections during the red light. However, vehicles will regularly clear during the green light phase on View Road, providing gaps for drivers entering and exiting shop parking. The signal phasing times will vary depending on the time of day to consider the varying traffic activity in the peak/inter-peak/off-peak times.

There was a concern that the new location of the bus stop would increase congestion as the bus would no longer stop in the existing pull-in bay.

Indented bus bays are no longer standard practice as bus drivers may suffer from poor sight lines of oncoming vehicles. This compromises safety when bus drivers try to re-enter the traffic flow, increasing journey times. Traffic will be held up for a short period while passengers board/alight.

Parking

A concern was raised that car owners will be tempted to park on the grass on both sides of Wairau since it will now be painted with broken yellow lines, but ideally, this should not be an issue since Kathleen Street is not a busy road.

We investigated this further, and the residential dwellings in the area appear to have off-street parking. However, we have pledged to monitor the situation and take further action for enforcement should this be the case.

A concern was raised that parking space loss will mean local businesses will lose customers. Request for more parking for businesses.

The proposed project location and the affected catchment are mostly residential. The main businesses at the end of View Road will lose two parking spaces.

A concern was raised about cars parked along the bend of Wairau Road after the Kathleen/View Road intersection, making it difficult for residents to exit driveways. Additionally, a large tree at the side of the road and traffic merging into one lane also blocks visibility. Request further broken yellow lines around the bend (around #325) to improve safety when pulling out into traffic from these properties.

Parked vehicles on the side of the road help lower speeds in the area by giving drivers the impression of a narrower road, encouraging greater care when driving. Additionally, having too many ‘no stopping at all times’ lines will increase speeds in the area, increasing the risk of severe injury if a crash occurs. It is illegal for any vehicles to be parked within 1m of a driveway, which may cause difficulties for drivers when entering and exiting. Should this be the case, please report illegally parked cars to AT Enforcement on 09 355 3553.

Additional requests

A request was made for traffic lights at Albany Highway/Unsworth Drive, as it is challenging to get to Albany Primary School.

We explored this option. However, the intersection at Albany Highway/Unsworth Drive does not accommodate pedestrians. Therefore, this type of intervention is not suitable for this location.

We received requests to widen the road to two lanes up to past Hogans Road as the main issue is that for a section of road (from Tristram Ave to Glenfield Road), the lane goes from 2 lanes to 1 lane, back to 2 lanes, back to 1 lane and back to 2 lanes again.

Unfortunately, there is not enough width along this section of road, which would make a worthwhile difference to the congestion issue that mainly occurs during the afternoon peak traffic period. Therefore, it is not a priority for congestion management. There have been no reported crashes in the last five years at this location related to the lack of visibility due to the tree or when pulling out of the driveway. We would not be able to justify further ‘no stopping at all times’ lines at this stage.

A suggestion was made for traffic lights at Ellice and Wairau Road intersection.

AT has proposed and consulted on a project to upgrade the intersection of Ellice Road and Wairau Road. Unfortunately, the project has been put on hold due to funding challenges until further notice. More information is available at: at.govt.nz/about-us/have-your-say/north-auckland-consultations/ellice-road-and-wairau-road-glenfield-intersection-improvement/

We also received some feedback that was out of this project's scope

A request for no stopping in the small left-hand turn lane into Hogans Road.
A request for broken yellow lines from Kathleen Road to Hogans Road heading west due to multiple cars parking in the slipway and preventing it from functioning as intended. This would also allow more traffic to flow through before the road tapers to one lane later.
A suggestion for broken yellow lines to be extended from the corner of View Road all the way up to Hogans Road, as this would encourage cars driving up to Glenfield to stay on the right lane and allow cars to drive on the left lane that will turn left at Hogans Road.
A concern that more people are crossing the section a few hundred metres up Wairau Road opposite Ellice Road, as there are bus stops on both sides of the road. This location is nearly right on the intersection, and the bend in the road makes visibility of traffic difficult. Suggestion for a signalised pedestrian crossing further down Wairau Road (around #238) that would be in use as required by pedestrians.

We want to thank everyone who participated in the 2020 consultation for their feedback.