Hundreds of streets may have speed limits dropped under new council plan

Brian from New Lynn

The full list of streets in central Auckland where speed limits are proposed to come down has been revealed on the website. Auckland Council is proposing to drop the speed limit of many of the streets in central Auckland from 50km/h to 30km/h as it attempts to make the roads safer for the growing number of pedestrians, cyclists and residents. The proposed bylaw will be put out for public consultation from Thursday until 31 March.
Hundreds of streets are on the list and the majority are in or around Auckland's CBD including Wynyard Quarter and surrounding areas such as Freeman's Bay and St Heliers. However the proposal also touches on some other suburbs with Gypsy Moth Pl, Haki Wihongi Pl in Oratia, parts of Beach Rd in Torbay. George Lowe Pl, Florence Ave, Empire Rd and Hillary Sq in Orewa all set to be cut to 30km/h. Meanwhile, a number of roads in Pukekohe have dropped to 60km/h. The decrease in speeds particularly in Franklin and Rodney is due to a rise in deaths
and serious injuries in these areas. This was due to economic and population growth, new demands on the unforgiving high-speed rural road network and more vulnerable road users using the road network, a report on the safer speeds programme said. The new speed limits bylaw also includes others streets around Auckland where he speed limit has been set at other speeds such as 10km/h, 40km/h and 80km/h. Any speed set outside 50km/h is on the list. AT is dropping the speeds in an attempt to try and curb the sharp rise in the number the number of people dying or being seriously injured on Auckland's roads. The agency has a goal of having zero deaths on its roads. In 2017, 64 people died and 749 were seriously injured on Auckland. The new speeds, subject to changes made following the public consultation process, will be rolled out from August 2019.
===========================================================