Hill Road and Charles Prevost Drive, The Gardens - Intersection improvements Hill Road and Charles Prevost Drive, The Gardens - Intersection improvements

Proposal status: closed 19 April 2019

Reference number: NOP1819-007

We've proposed changes in your area

We proposed changes to the Hill Road and Charles Prevost Drive intersection in The Gardens. The changes included:

  • A dedicated left turn only lane from Hill Rd to Charles Prevost Drive.
  • Relocation of existing signalised crossing of Hill Road west, to a more desired location between the shops and retirement village.
  • Removal of existing refuge island close to the new crossing location.
  • Widening of the footpath on the northern side of Hill Road.
  • Broken yellow lines around the two corners of Charles Prevost Drive.

Download the proposal drawing for Hill Road and Charles Prevost Drive (PDF1MB)

Why the changes are needed

These changes are needed to improve traffic flow and walking amenities on Hill Road. Currently, this intersection experiences congestion and delays in the eastbound direction during afternoon peaks.

There are also opportunities for improving pedestrian provisions in relation to the redevelopment of Elmwood Retirement Village.

Proposal outcome

This project will proceed without changes to the next stage of detailed planning. Thank you to everyone who submitted feedback. A summary of this feedback and answers to community questions and concerns is below.

Feedback received

This proposal received positive responses from community members and stakeholders who supported improvements to traffic flow and congestion at this busy intersection.

  • Suggestion that the congestion here will pass once Mill Road and Southern Motorway works are over. Hill Road has consistently been one of the worst performing roads in Auckland in terms of vehicle speeds. We acknowledge this congestion has been exacerbated by the nearby works, but this is not the sole cause. This proposal will continue to benefit the traffic flow on Hill Road once works are complete.
  • Concern about the increase in traffic and related noise/car pollution as well as the road coming even closer to properties. The proposals will widen the road so that the edge will be 1.9 metres closer to the property boundary. This is needed to create room for the left turn lane. The new through-lane, which contains most of the traffic will, however, be moved about 1.7 metres away from the property boundary. During the PM peak hour, when eastbound traffic is the heaviest, the new left turn only lane will carry just 25% of the traffic that is using the existing traffic lane (which has both left turning and through turning traffic on it). With the exception of two buses, there were no heavy vehicles turning left in our traffic survey during the PM peak hour. In contrast, the through traffic lane which is moved further away from the property will carry the majority of vehicles (75% of traffic on the approach), including approximately 30 heavy vehicles. We are not expecting this project to lead to an increase in traffic, and the proposal will move the majority of traffic further away from the property rather than closer. As such, we consider it highly unlikely that there would be any discernible difference in noise as a result of the proposal.
  • Concern regarding an incident where a car swerved into the fence of one of the neighbours. All reported crashes that occurred near the intersection in the past 5 years have been examined as a part of the design process. There was one crash recorded of the type referenced, but there is no pattern indicating there is an issue with loss of control at this location. Although the proposed measures would not prevent such a crash occurring again, the proposal would not increase the risk either.
  • Suggestion that the frequency of heavy trucks and trailers using Hill Road and Stratford Road leads to damage to the road. It’d be best to put speed tables in. We appreciate your concerns over the road damage issues due to heavy vehicles. However, this road is classified as an arterial road and it is expected that heavy vehicles would use the route, particularly as it provides a connection to the southern motorway. When we install a speed table, we do this to address speed related safety issues, not to discourage the use of a particular road for a certain type of vehicle.
  • Suggestion to extend broken yellow lines down the length of the island from Hill Road down Charles Prevost Drive. Cars parking near to the island obstruct the buses travelling north to south. We will investigate this. Minor changes might be made to the detailed design if our investigations demonstrate it is appropriate and warranted to do so.
  • Trucks park outside the Mobil station and sit in the middle of the road. Will the pedestrian crossing hinder this? Trucks are not supposed to park on these markings, or on the flush median. The proposed crossing will deter trucks from parking on the flush median outside the service station. If you see a vehicle parking in a restricted area, please contact parking enforcement on 09 355 3553.
  • I would like to see Hill Road widened, so through traffic going to Manurewa is not held up by all the traffic waiting to go on the motorway. The bridge structure over the motorway is a major constraint to road widening, from both a constructability and cost perspective. Unfortunately this suggestion is not deemed feasible at this stage.
  • Request to extend the turn lane back to Mobil petrol station. This will enable people access to shopping centre, as well as coming out of shopping centre to be able to go into left turn lane. The length of the new left turn lane is justified by the left turn demand from Hill Road to Charles Prevost Drive, further extension is not being considered at this stage.
  • Concern the location of the crossing so close to the other lights is not ideal; it would be better to have the crossing and vehicle turning lights at the Botanical Gardens entrance instead. The signal crossing will replace the pedestrian refuge. It’s new position provides better access to and from the shopping centre, particularly for residents at the Elmwood Village which is being redeveloped. The new crossing would be linked to the existing traffic signal intersection at Charles Prevost Drive. This allows us to operate both signal crossings in harmony with one another. The intersection with Botanic Gardens falls outside the reach of this project. Should you wish to formally lodge this request, please do so here.
  • Suggestion that the traffic lights shouldn’t be moved from the intersection to further along, as this will make it less safe to exit Charles Prevost Drive. The relocation of the crossing should not make it more difficult to turn out of Charles Prevost Drive than the current intersection operation.
  • It is not uncommon to see all sorts of vehicles ignore traffic signals. Request to install speed cameras. Auckland Transport and NZ Police strongly support the use of red light cameras as a safety tool in the management of red light running at high-risk intersections. These high-risk sites have been assessed using Ministry of Transport and NZ Transport Agency criteria as benefiting most from automated safety camera enforcement. They are generally large urban intersections with significant traffic volumes, where significant safety issues are evident and the severity of crashes is unusually high. The intersection of Hill Road/Charles Prevost Drive is not high-risk when compared to other intersections across the Auckland region. As such, the installation of a fixed red light camera at this intersection is not being prioritised at this time. Instead, we have referred your concerns to the Auckland Police District Road Policing Manager, to consider mobile red light running enforcement at this location.

Next steps

This work will happen before the end of 2020, but we will let you know if there are further changes or delays.

Our contractors will send notices to affected residents 48-hours prior to construction starting.