Action wanted on Gordonton Rd trouble spot
“We urge all road users to take extra care in this area, and as at all our city intersections, we ask drivers to slow down, drive to the conditions and look twice for other vehicles.”
Hamilton City Council’s City Infrastructure general manager Chris Allen was talking about the Thomas Rd/Gordonton Rd intersection, now one of the most dangerous driving spots in Hamilton.
Funding to fix the trouble spot will be discussed at Hamilton City Council ‘s growth and infrastructure committee meeting on Tuesday 24 October.
There have been 12 crashes in the first nine months of 2017, three causing serious injury.
In July councillors Dave Macpherson, James Casson and Mark Bunting put up their own warning sign to slow drivers down, but more needs to be done, Cr Macpherson said last month.
“Drivers are entering the 80km/h Gordonton Rd from a lower-speed, largely residential Thomas Rd and an error in judgement can have serious, and potentially tragic consequences. We’ve already done safety work at this intersection before new 60km/h electronic variable speed limit signs are installed in mid-October but we need to do more.”
A long-term permanent solution is urgent, council staff told the Waikato Times last week.
The cost is estimated at $6 million, a report from network operations team leader Robyn Denton said, but NZ Transport Agency subsidies are likely.
Staff would like $400,000 to get started and councillors will decide on the funding at Tuesday’s growth and infrastructure committee meeting.
Cr Macpherson said staff were pulling out all the stops to get action – and traffic lights were possibly favoured as the slope at the intersection would make roundabout construction difficult.
“Either [a roundabout] or their developed thinking on traffic signals is the way to go, because it’s got to be one of those – that’s a physical stop or barrier.”
Cr Mark Bunting told the Times growth in the area caught council on the hop – “I just want this thing to happen, and happen tomorrow, if it could …” and Cr James Casson said he would be estatic if either a roundabout or traffic lights were approved.
“If we do nothing, people will go back to normal behaviour and there are going to be crashes.”
Read the full story in the Waikato Times here. And do slow down when driving anywhere near this intersection.
