13 May 2021
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Speed Limits Review
Enquiry
Given the committee meeting and submissions around the Speed Limit Review on Thursday, I am writing a story about the proposed changes to speed limits outside of rural schools.
- What was the basis on which the 2021 Proposed Speed Limit Bylaw Amendments were made? What factors helped to set these changes?
- Why do some school roads (Ash Pit Road outside Rerewhakaaitu School) have a variable speed limits of 40kph, and others 60kph (the school on Kaharoa Road)?
- There are 56 roads up for review, what factors helped council to choose these roads?
- Who has been involved in putting together the proposed amendments? It seems from reading the council agenda that the amendments were proposed before NZTA gave feedback?
- What would committee members need to hear from submissions in order to change any proposed amendments?
Thank you for your help. I did have a look at the information you provided. However, I would still find it helpful if someone from the council could respond or comment on questions 2,3, and 4 of the list below, particularly with regards to explaining why the 40kph variable speed limit was proposed for some school roads, and not others?
Response
You may be able to find a good number of the answers to your questions via the Let’s talk engagement page for the Speed Review. You can find that at - https://letstalk.rotorualakescouncil.nz/rotorua-speed-limit-review-2021
Take a look at the info on that page, the FAQs should help and then let us know if you have any unanswered questions from there.
From Council’s Group Manager Infrastructure, Stavros Michael:
Why do some school roads (Ash Pit Road outside Rerewhakaaitu School) have a variable speed limits of 40kph, and others 60kph (the school on Kaharoa Road)?
The permanent speed limit on Ash Pit Road is proposed as 50km/hr, with a variable speed of 40km/hr during school start and end times. The permanent speed limit on Kaharoa Road is proposed as 60km/hr. These proposed limits have been calculated on the basis of a range of technical and risk probability criteria as the ‘safe and appropriate’ speeds for these roads and are broadly based on the form, function and use of each road. The difference between these roads is that Ash Pit Road has a higher traffic load with many heavy vehicles using this route. This means that a lower speed regulation is more appropriate to reduce the risk of crash/injuries.
Roads are considered on the basis of One Network Roading classification (as per MegaMaps), road width and length, the geometry, the operating speed, the surrounding use, and roadside hazard severity.
There are 56 roads up for review, what factors helped council to choose these roads?
Council, in the interest of efficiency and ease of process for the community, reviews roading network speed limits typically every three years. If necessary, and for specific reasons, speed reviews of single roads can be undertaken outside this regular review. The roads selected for the 2021 review fall into the following categories:
- roads that require speed limits to be formalised e.g. for legacy reasons have not been formalised yet
- roads with posted 70km/h speeds (70km/h is being phased out nationally by NZTA);
- roads outside rural schools for broad safety reasons;
- roads the public have requested be reviewed since the last Speed Limit Review.
Who has been involved in putting together the proposed amendments? It seems from reading the council agenda that the amendments were proposed before NZTA gave feedback?
Council officers undertake an initial scoping of the network using crash data, observations, community feedback and so on and then one of our technical expert partners, in this case WSP Opus, undertake a full technical speed review as required by guidelines on behalf of Council, and make recommendations for an appropriate speed for each reviewed road.
The review concerns local roads under the jurisdiction of Council and the response from our roading partner Waka Kotahi – NZTA was one of many key stakeholder submissions received by Council during consultation on the 2021 Speed Limit Review.