New pedestrian traffic lights make Hamilton Road safer
Hamilton Road in Cambridge will be safer for all road users after new pedestrian traffic signals replaced the old zebra crossing at the Grey Street intersection last week.
With students returning to school on Wednesday following the Waikato’s move to COVID-19 Alert Level 2, the installation of pedestrian traffic lights close to Cambridge Middle School has been welcomed by the school and authorities.
Waipā District Council Transportation Manager Bryan Hudson said the lights would make crossing the busy road safer as it provides much greater visibility to pedestrians and cyclists at all times of the day.
Through the project Council aims to see more people choosing to travel on foot or bicycles, reducing overall pollution and congestion, Hudson said.
“We want to get more people walking and cycling around our towns so building facilities like this will certainly help to reduce the number of school children being driven to school due to safety concerns. Our aim is to provide a safe pathway that helps parents feel comfortable to allow their children to bike or walk to school.”
Ensuring the traffic signals were located close to Cambridge Middle School was important to attract a high number of potential pedestrians, Hudson said.
The school’s senior leadership team welcomed the traffic lights.
“The introduction of a traffic light crossing could mean an increase in students walking, biking and scootering to school, as families see a permanently controlled option for their children to cross a busy road,” a school spokesperson said.
“It’s beneficial for students (and all of us) to be physically active and something as simple as walking to and from school on a daily basis is a great start to getting up and about and active.”
The operation of the traffic signal coinciding with students returning to school after the “COVID-19 break” was an added bonus, the spokesperson said.
“The timing works out well with the warm fine weather that we usually get in Term 4, and the return of a large number of students after the long stretch of learning from home.”
Hudson said the traffic signals, which cost approximately $100,000 to install and formed part of the first stage of the $1.3 million Hamilton Road Cycleway project, was completed after several construction delays since April.
“We started planning and designing this project last year and construction started in April. It was was only supposed to take two months, but we’ve had lots of delays.
“There were unanticipated delays due to construction issues and then we were further affected by the changing alert level restrictions, because the technical people who were supplying and installing the traffic lights were based in Auckland.”
Meanwhile, Waipā District Council road safety coordinator Megan Jolly appealed to motorists to be more vigilant when driving or parking near schools in the district.
“Children will be excited about being back at school and as such maybe more unpredictable than usual around roads.
“We remind motorists to take special care and slow down around schools. Parents should also be considerate with parking around schools and not park on yellow lines or near entrances as that can limit visibility for children crossing the road.”
More information about the Hamilton Road cycleway project is available on the Council’s website at www.waipadc.govt.nz/hamiltonroadcycleway.