By Jo Reeder (CityWatch NZ Editor, Hamilton Resident, and Hamilton Ratepayer)
I took a drive out to Callum Brae recently and met with a lovely lady called Bea. She has been a member of the Callum Brae community for 20 years now and she tells me, she loves living there, it is a fabulous community.
Bea was shocked when work began on an in-lane bus stop on Hukanui Road, very near to the main entrance to Callum Brae. She said, ‘I had no notification/documentation from Council, although it is near the entrance and exit to my community and home.’
She has a friend who regularly drives through Pembroke Street and who was aware that the community was fighting back against their in-lane bus stop, but Bea had no idea one was going to be put at the entrance to Callum Brae. She said, ‘Had she known she certainly would have had something to say about it’.
She tells me that the Callum Brae entrance/exit during peak hour traffic is now so backed up that it simply doesn’t work and a lot of residents including herself now have no choice but to drive the long way round. That is either through Rototuna Road, Cate Road, Thomas Road then around the round a-bout and back onto Hukanui Road or Rototuna Road down onto Wairere Drive. To say the least, this is not convenient.
In fact, if Bea picks up her grandchildren from Fairfield Intermediate getting back to Callum Brae via Hukanui Road can now take up to an hour and she has no choice but to go home via Clarkin Road onto River Road.
She said, ‘Hukanui Road used to be a lovely wide functional road, but it is now so congested during rush hour and school traffic, it simply does not work. Council is not concerned for the majority of residents and the disruption to their lives as now exiting and entering Callum Brae from Hukanui Road is dysfunctional and traffic is no longer free flowing. She said it also does not feel safe for her to use Hukanui Road and The Callum Brae entrance/exit as she used to.
I am older now and I have a bad back, there are speed bumps everywhere, I cannot catch a bus and be bounced around in the back of a bus, I need to use my car’.
Bea has another problem connected with the in-lane bus stop which no one is talking about, she is retired now and likes to sleep in till 8.30 – 8.45am. She always leaves her window slightly open and for some time could not work out what the awful smell was in her bedroom. She was shocked when she did realise, she said, ‘When the wind is blowing in a certain direction her room fills up with exhaust fumes’. This never used to happen but with so many cars sitting idling now on Hukanui Road it does. She has spoken with her neighbours who have also noticed the smell.
She thinks a lot of people get up early and are racing around to get to school and work and may not have noticed the smell, but she has, and she worries about the effects on her and other members of Callum Brae’s health.
Bea tells me if this was about Climate Change, Council would not be changing our roads to increase car idling time, increase fuel consumption and increase braking and speeding up at raised platforms which increases very toxic brake dust in the air and on the roads which washes into our water ways. Something is very wrong this is not about safety.
