Hamilton City Council recently  (5th of March 2024) voted for a plan to install a large raised platform on Wairere Drive in Te Rapa.

If you use Wairere Drive in Hamilton City and oppose raised platforms, get in contact with your City Councillors, local MPs, and the Minister of Transport. Share your concerns and object to the project.

Details of the current plan can be found on pages 18-34 of Hamilton City Council’s Infrastructure and Transport Committee Agenda 5 March 2024

If you want to view the debate and see most Councillors vote to approve the project, it starts around the 4 hour 15 minute mark in this video.

Councillor Andrew Bidder has also written an opinion piece on the issue.

OPINION: Speed bumps coming to Wairere Drive

 

Here are the email addresses for politicians:

…and Hamiltion City Councillors:

Mayor

paula.southgate@council.hcc.govt.nz

Deputy Mayor

angela.oleary@council.hcc.govt.nz

Councillors

Melaina.Huaki@council.hcc.govt.nz

Moko.Tauariki@council.hcc.govt.nz

Andrew.Bydder@council.hcc.govt.nz

Anna.Casey-Cox@council.hcc.govt.nz

mark.donovan@council.hcc.govt.nz

kesh.naidoo-rauf@council.hcc.govt.nz

maxine.vanoosten@council.hcc.govt.nz

Louise.Hutt@council.hcc.govt.nz

Emma.Pike@council.hcc.govt.nz

geoff.taylor@council.hcc.govt.nz

sarah.thomson@council.hcc.govt.nz

ewan.wilson@council.hcc.govt.nz

tim.macindoe@council.hcc.govt.nz

 

An example objection letter is copied below and a template file can be downloaded here.

 

 

OBJECTION TO INSTALLING RAISED PLATFORM(S) ON WAIRERE DRIVE

To Hamilton City Councillors, Members of Parliament for Hamilton, and the Minister of Transport,

I write this letter concerning the project to build either a large raised platform or multiple raised crossings on the Karewa Place turnoff on Wairere Drive.

Wairere Drive is one of Hamilton’s main transport corridors and Hamilton City Council’s plan is to reduce the posted speed to 60 km/h (from 80 km/h) and install these raised “traffic calming” features across multiple lanes of traffic. We already have too many raised platforms and raised crossings on major roads in Hamilton, with those existing installations causing problems and negative impacts.

This plan (see pages 18-34 of Infrastructure and Transport Committee Agenda 5 March 2024) was approved by Hamilton City Council, despite most Councillors being aware that a reduced speed limit and additional raised features are unpopular and threaten to cause problems with Hamilton’s ring-road system.

I strongly object to this plan and recommend that no more raised “traffic calming” obstacles be installed on Wairere Drive in Hamilton City.

The excuse that the installation of a raised platform is needed for the construction of a new supermarket does not make sense. This is an arbitrary condition that the City Council applied to the supermarket project, and therefore a condition that the City Council could change/remove.  It was possible for decades to build supermarkets in New Zealand without installing raised crossings. Pedestrian crossings also do not need to be raised crossings.

 

Sincerely,

[name]