Weymouth and Gibbons Road, Weymouth – Safety improvements Weymouth and Gibbons Road, Weymouth – Safety improvements

Proposal status: Closed

Reference number: 20100343

Proposal update

We currently anticipate the changes will be constructed from August 2023, weather and contractor dependent.

Proposal outcome

In July 2022, we proposed changes to improve safety for all roads users at the Gibbons Road, Blanes Road and Weymouth Road intersection. These changes are in response to investigations we have worked on following the intersection’s crash history.

After reviewing all the feedback, we are proceeding with the work as proposed. These works will help support our Vision Zero goal.

What happens next

We anticipate the changes will be constructed between March to June 2023.

We will be in touch with local residents and businesses prior to any construction taking place.

Community feedback

Thank you for helping us make better decisions for your neighbourhood, informed by your local knowledge. Some respondents, including the local board, told us that there have been many near misses at this intersection, and the changes will make the area safer for students walking to Weymouth Primary School.

The following is a summary of the additional comments and queries we received, and our responses to them.

Safety

Concern that the proposed changes would not reduce speeds or reduce accidents.
Roundabouts and raised crossings force drivers to slow down. Lower speeds mean that if a crash does occur, there is a much higher chance that the people involved will be unharmed.
Concern that the zebra crossings are unnecessary because the roads are quiet, people rarely cross, and when they do it is easy to cross here.
We carried out a pedestrian survey to find out how many people cross the road here and found that it was busiest before and after school. The survey showed children walking to and from nearby Weymouth Primary School. The changes will make crossing the road safer for students at Weymouth Primary School and the local community.
Concern that roundabouts create traffic which will lead to road rage.
Weymouth Road, Gibbons Road, and Blanes Road carry relatively low numbers of vehicles. Installing a roundabout at this intersection is not expected to create any major traffic delays.
Concern that people will ignore and drive over the roundabout.
There will be a central raised island in the middle of the roundabout which people will not be able to drive over. Around the central raised island there will be a larger mountable island, only 50mm high, which will allow larger vehicles like buses to navigate the roundabout easily.
Concern that the changes are unnecessary because it isn’t a busy area, and there have been no accidents.
In 2020, there was a fatal crash at this intersection involving a motorcyclist. One of the recommendations from the crash investigation was to investigate safety improvements at this intersection. There have been three other crashes relating to crossing and turning out of side streets on to Weymouth Road. The new roundabout and raised crossings will improve safety for everyone. The changes will slow down drivers as they approach the intersection and will make it safer for all road users.
Concern about the lack of cycle on and off ramps on Blanes Road.
We will investigate installing cycle on and off ramps on Blanes Road during the next stage of design before construction.

Design Changes

Request to remove the raised crossings from the design as they are a waste of money and cause damage to vehicles.
We proposed raised crossings because they will improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists crossing at the intersection. They will also reduce the approach speeds of drivers, making the intersection safer for all road users, particularly school children from the nearby Weymouth Primary School. The raised crossings are relatively low (75 mm) with long off ramps. The low height and extended off ramps mean that if people drive over the bumps at the recommended speed, there will be no damage to their vehicles.
Request to remove the roundabout from the design as there are too many roundabouts nearby already.
The roundabout is an important part of the design because it will improve the safety of the intersection as drivers will slow down and it will make it easier for them to see traffic coming from other directions.
Suggestion to install traffic light controlled pedestrian crossings instead of raised pedestrian crossings because it is difficult for cars to get over speed bumps.
Based on our pedestrian survey, people mostly want to cross the road before and after school. Traffic light controlled pedestrian crossings would increase delays for drivers trying to travel through the intersection. The pedestrian crossings being raised is an important feature to improve safety for all road users.
Suggestion to set the zebra crossings further back from the roundabout as it is like another roundabout which has been observed to have safety issues.
We chose the locations of the pedestrian crossings based on where people most want to cross the road. If we move the crossings further away from the roundabout, pedestrians might not use them and cross the road in more unsafe locations near the roundabout. Additionally, we have chosen locations for the crossings where they will not get in the way of nearby driveways.
Request to improve wayfinding for cyclists as they may not know how to use this type of roundabout and drive into the roundabout rather than use the dual use crossings.
We will investigate what signage we can include to improve wayfinding for cyclists during the next stage of design before construction.
Suggestion to install judder bars on Gibbons Road.
Gibbons Road is a residential road with very low traffic volume. Based on this, judder bars are not warranted at this stage.
Request to minimise the distance the bus stop is moved north.
We proposed moving the bus stop outside number 507 slightly north so that stopped buses do not get in the way of drivers leaving the roundabout. The new location ensures people can drive around stopped buses, while keeping the bus stop close enough for pedestrians to access via the new pedestrian crossings at the intersection.

Miscellaneous

Concern that the proposed changes, especially the cycle facilities, are a waste of money
The changes are necessary to improve safety at the intersection. Weymouth Road has been identified as a Connector cycle route for the Weymouth peninsula, on Tāmaki Makaurau’s Future Connect network. Providing safe cycling facilities through the intersection improves the safety of existing cyclists, but it also encourages people to consider cycling as an alternative way of getting around.
Prefer to the see the money for this project go towards fixing potholes, uneven roads, and carparks in Clendon and beyond.
The focus of this project is on improving safety for all road users at the Gibbons Road, Blanes Road, and Weymouth Road intersection. Other changes are outside the scope of this project.

We're proposing improvements in your area

As part of our work to improve road safety, we are proposing changes at the Weymouth Road, Gibbons Road and Blanes Road intersection.

We are proposing to:

Install a mountable roundabout at the Weymouth Road, Blanes Road and Gibbons Road intersection. This is a roundabout that allows drivers, especially of large vehicles like buses and emergency service vehicles, to drive over the edges easily.
Install four raised pedestrian crossings at each leg of the roundabout. These are zebra crossings on wide, flat speed bumps with pedestrian islands in the middle to break up the journey.
Paint cycle lane surfacing on the raised pedestrian crossings and paint shared pedestrian and cyclist paths so that cyclists can also cross the road and join up with the existing cycleway.
Install a new bus shelter at 507 Weymouth Road and move the bus stop slightly further north.
Paint new markings to allow pedestrians to cross the cycleway by the relocated bus stop and shelter.
Install accompanying signage and paint road markings to support the new roundabout and raised pedestrian crossings.
Install tactile pavers at all crossing points. These are yellow guidance paving markers to help visually impaired people to find their way to crossings and safely across roads.
Paint broken yellow lines on the approach to the intersection to improve visibility.

Download the proposal drawing for Weymouth and Gibbons Road (PDF 2.34MB).

How this will benefit your neighbourhood

The proposed roundabout and raised pedestrian crossings will lower speeds, making the intersection safer for all road users.

The proposed crossings would be raised to the height of the footpath. This ensures they are comfortable for everyone, including people with prams or wheelchairs, to cross the road. Raised crossings also improve safety by making crossing pedestrians more visible to drivers.

These improvements would remove 12 on-street parking spaces near the intersection to improve visibility. We acknowledge this can be inconvenient, so we have minimised the removal of parking as much as possible.

What happens next

We’ll consider all the feedback we receive, and then decide the best way to move forward.
We’ll post the outcome of this proposal and a summary of community feedback on this webpage.
We can email you the proposal outcome as soon as it’s ready – just select that option when you fill in the survey.

More information

This proposal is supported with funding from the Auckland regional fuel tax.

Weymouth: Safe with us

Auckland Transport cares for your safety. We want to make our roads safe for everyone. For people walking, cycling, and driving, and especially for our kids and senior citizens. Projects like this one at the Blanes Road, Gibbons Road and Weymouth Road intersection 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).