Summary
Further opposition mobilises against Wellington City Council’s plan to install five raised pedestrian crossing along a 1.7 km section of Thorndon Quay.
The Taxpayers’ Union is running a “Save Thorndon Quay” petition for those that support this statement “I call on Wellington City Council to stop wasting money on unwanted, unsafe and unnecessary projects like tearing up Thorndon Quay and focus on fixing the broken pipes.”
https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/petition_thorndon_quay
Chief Executive Dom Kalasih, of the lobby group Transporting New Zealand, was interviewed on Newstalk ZB about the issues.
According to the The Inside Government website, a number of groups have combined to write a letter to Wellington City Mayor Tory Whanau.
These groups included:
- Transporting New Zealand
- Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ)
- The Automobile Association (AA),
- New Zealand Heavy Haulage
- Bus & Coach Association
The letter is report to state that “while safety was a critical concern for all organisations, the problems posed by raised platforms in particular had not been adequately considered.”
Mayor Tory Whanau’s response to the group was to “advised that the Council’s Environment and Infrastructure Committee will reconsider the plan to install the raised platforms, and consider public submissions on 1 August”, according to reports
Specific concerns raised by the group included…
“-Damage to large passenger service vehicles and freight vehicles and increased maintenance costs. Parts that should last the life of a vehicle are being damaged, at considerable expense.”
“-Delays and disruptions for Fire and ambulance services with stations located in the area. Even if operating under lights and sirens, the requirement to slow at five raised crossings could easily add a 50-60 second delay to response times. Bearing in mind that FENZ have an emergency response target of 8 minutes to get to a site, that additional time is substantial.”
“-For the heavy haulage freight sector (with gross weights between 50 – 100T) who have to use this route, each transporter will need to slow to 10 km/h at each raised crossing, which will slow all other traffic. In addition, there will be increased wear on transporters and increased noise as trucks slow down and speed up.”
“-Productivity losses for commercial operators and extended journey times will add to the damaging perception that Wellington City is better avoided where possible.”
Quoted from Transport coalition calls for raised crossings re-think, Inside Government 24 July 2024
Article Details
Headline: Transport coalition calls for raised crossings re-think
Published on: 24 July 2024
Published by: Inside Government
Link:
https://insidegovernment.co.nz/transport-coalition-calls-for-raised-crossings-re-think/
Archived Link:
Headline: Transporting NZ joins calls for concern over Thorndon Quay raised crossings
Published on: 25 July 2024
Published by: NewstalkZB
Link:
Approximately 3 minutes of audio for the interview with Transporting New Zealand Chief Executive Dom Kalasih.
