A safer Otahuhu Town Centre for everyone

22/08/2020 04:30 am

Today 21 August, a new permanent 30km/h speed limit has been unveiled in Ōtāhuhu Town Centre - making it a safer place to shop, study, live and work.

The aim of this speed limit reduction is to make this busy area safer for everyone, especially as more people walk and shop in a town centre environment.

The roads partially changing to this lower speed are Great South Road, Hall Avenue, Mason Avenue, Station Road, Gordon Road, King Street, Avenue Road and Criterion Street.

Auckland Transport’s (AT’s) executive general manager of safety, Bryan Sherritt, says the changes will make this busy area much safer for children and the elderly.

“Ōtāhuhu Town Centre is an area that has had death and serious injury crashes and Auckland Transport is addressing this problem. It is unacceptable that so many people are killed or seriously injured on our roads. In 2019, 40 people died and 567 people were seriously injured on our Auckland roads where speed was identified as a key factor. Setting lower speeds is one of the fastest and most cost effective ways of reducing deaths and serious injuries on our roads.”

“Mangere-Otahuhu Local Board road deaths and serious injuries (DSi) increased 44% from 2014 to 2018 and made up 5% of Auckland’s total DSi in 2018.”

Mr Sherritt says at 30km/h, the risk of death or serious injury on the road is reduced.

“If someone makes a mistake on the road at 30km/h then they are likely to walk away from a crash, but at speeds greater than this the outcome is more severe.”

“AT and our partners embrace Vision Zero principles where we are putting safety at the heart of our business to make our road network safe for all users. As town centres become increasingly busy we will provide more people-focused streets where families feel safer.”

This town centre speed change has the support of the Māngere - Ōtāhuhu Local Board and Ōtāhuhu Business Association.

Richette Rodger, Ōtāhuhu town manager, says the decision to lower the speed limit is a great one.

“We have a very busy town centre with many cars and people - including our youth walking to and from school. Having a permanent 30km/h speed limit will hopefully help people slow down and make it safe for our community to move around our amazing town centre.”

Ōtāhuhu Town Centre roads (Māngere Ōtāhuhu Local Board) that have changed from 50km/h to 30km/h today:

Great South Road - between 20 metres south of Princes Street and 20 metres north of Park Avenue.
Hall Avenue - between Great South Road and 30 metres west of Great South Road.
Mason Avenue - between Great South Road and 230 metres west of Great South Road.
Station Road - between Great South Road and 250 metres west of Great South Road.
Gordon Road - between Great South Road and 140 metres east of Great South Road.
King Street - between Great South Road and 95 metres east of Great South Road.
Avenue Road - between Great South Road and 20 metres west of Atkinson Avenue.
Criterion Street - between Great South Road and 20 metres west of Atkinson Avenue.

More about Auckland Transport’s Safe Speeds programme:

AT’s Safe Speeds programme, partly funded by the Regional Fuel Tax, reduces speeds using bylaws and builds around $700 million of infrastructure.
AT consulted with Aucklanders in 2019 on the bylaw, to set new safe speed limits on the top 10% of high-risk roads in the region, including town centres. 11,722 consultation feedback submissions were analysed, including 13 from local boards.
After public consultation last year, the Auckland Transport Board passed a bylaw in October 2019 to set new safe and appropriate speed limits on roads.