A new road layout on State Highway 29 in the lower Kaimais is expected to improve the road's safety after 25 crashes on the highway in the last five years.
A passing lane between Redwood Lane and Gargan Road has been removed by NZ Transport Agency and a new right turn bay has now been installed at the Gargan Road intersection.
Road works near Gargan Road are completed.
NZTA spokesperson acting state highways manager Andrew Scott says road users will now benefit from safer travels along the highway.
'The passing lane was removed to reduce the risk of further crashes from vehicles attempting to turn right into or out of Gargan Road.
'The merge where the passing lane ended was near the Gargan Road intersection, cars overtaking had limited visibility of cars turning right into or out of Gargan Road.”
Andrew says in April there was a minor injury crash where a truck waiting to turn right into Gargan Road from the overtaking lane was rear-ended by three vehicles that were merging from the passing lane.
He says there have been a number of serious crashes in recent years, in particular 25 crashes in the last five years with common issues being the passing lane.
'By removing the passing lane we have also been able to extend the shoulder width and install a wide centre-line, this will allow greater separation for traffic going in the opposite direction.”
Andrew says one crash in particular involved a vehicle losing control while attempting to overtake another and crossing the centreline.
'Now there is opportunity for vehicles that cross the centre-line to regain control and travel back into their correct lane.”
He says the two wide centrelines in the middle of the road may be new to drivers.
'These are trial wide centrelines and give greater separation between vehicles and reduce the risk of head-on crashes.
'The dashed white lines mean that drivers are permitted to pass; however a solid yellow line means overtaking is not allowed. The standard dashed yellow lines provide advance warning to drivers that a no-passing area is ahead.”
He says the same lines are also used further up the highway at the Omanawa Road and Belk Road.
The installation of rumble strips which will be applied in four weeks' time will also further reduce the risk of drivers crossing the centre line, says Andrew.
11 comments
Danger
Posted on 30-05-2013 09:08 | By booya
If they didnt want people passing on this section of road why put these stupid lines, just make them solid yellows. I think there will be more accidents with this setup!
Passing Lane
Posted on 30-05-2013 09:33 | By YOGI BEAR
Actually it is because there are not enough passing lanes that there is a problem, numerous trucks crawling along seem to slow up the traffic flow and so better to have more, in fact the road should be 4-laned all the way to be realistic with all the traffic on it.
Lower the speed limit!!
Posted on 30-05-2013 10:38 | By jed
The speed limit over the kaimais is ridiculous. It should be lowered to 80kph on the tauranga side.
Yay
Posted on 30-05-2013 11:58 | By Jimmy
Even more opportunities to be stuck in extremely slow traffic over the Kaimai's.... Trucks I can deal with, but cars that think they need to do 70k on the open road really get on my nerves, especially when they just sit there oblivious to the amounts of traffic they are holding up and refuse to use the "slow lanes".
What a nong!
Posted on 30-05-2013 13:39 | By What?
How does adding to driver frustration improve road safety?? Removing passing lanes and lowering speed limits is just dumb! Forcing people to sit behind trucks doing 30K needlessly just incites them to do dumb things when they get off that piece of road. Want to reduce the road toll? Start by improving the roads, and stop the drivel about "drivers should be more patient" - patience died with the technological revolution.
WHY?
Posted on 30-05-2013 14:32 | By enough
I cannot believe that this passing lane has been removed. If there was a problem with Gargan road, maybe it could have been shortened or a right turn lane, merge done instead. I travel on this road every day and now on this section you cannot pass those trucks going extremely slowly, which happens often.
sack
Posted on 30-05-2013 21:56 | By Capt_Kaveman
the idiot who thought this is the way out
Better than before
Posted on 30-05-2013 23:01 | By local
Good grief people. The layout was changed for safety reasons. I drive that section of highway nearly every day, it's working fine. There is plenty of room for slower vehicles to stay left, leaving enough room to pass safely.
And remember
Posted on 31-05-2013 00:09 | By tibs
This will only get worse as it is the authorities' intention to re-route Auckland bound traffic from Tauranga over the Kaimais to Cambridge to join the road to Auckland. So how many more impediments to travel will we be greeted with when they do that. The road struggles to cope with current levels of traffic imagine what it will be like with added load. I have to wonder whether these people have "at risk" sections in their salaries and they get monetary rewards for these "improvements" in the name of safety. @Jed, you're dreaming mate! @Jimmy ever seen the Police stop a "slow" driver?
Logic?
Posted on 31-05-2013 08:47 | By Ohauiti
Wouldn't it have been more logical to shorten the passing lane. That way both risks are addressed. I was stuck in the new road layout doing 30km/hr behind 2 trucks with trafic backed up and unable to pass. Get realistic consultants and NZTA.
@tibs
Posted on 31-05-2013 15:36 | By Jimmy
Have you read the road code regarding slow drivers? The ones that are considerate are fine. It's the ones that hold up the rest of the traffic that cause issues, and push drivers to risk their lives and others to get around them.
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