Raft of speed changes proposed for West Coast roads

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:

Almost every urban area on the West Coast is included in a raft of speed reduction proposals - some to as low as 30kph.

Under a newly released draft regional speed management plan for the region entire villages like Blackball and Moana will have their current 50kph limit reduced to 30kph.

The Greymouth CBD is already down to 30kph.

But more of its suburban streets will drop around its school zones.

The draft proposes a wider blanket application of 30kph on more streets in the wider vicinity, rather than straight outside, the Blaketown, Cobden, John Paul II/St Patricks, Grey Main, Gremouth High School and Karoro schools sites.

This is in line with every one of the West Coast's 29 school zones being changed.

Submissions on the draft West Coast Regional Speed Management Plan have opened, with the end date being April 5.

The draft plan under the West Coast Regional Transport Committee (RTC) encompasses about 1900km of local roads controlled by the three district councils.

It also nods to the State highway network administered by the NZ Transport Agency and some roads administered by the Department of Conservation.

The draft identifies high priority local roads and high priority areas across the three districts to be part of the national Speed Management Plan.

However the timing for the draft's proposals is now uncertain following the new Government signalling its intention to change the settings of the Transport Policy Statement, including the mandatory settings for speed management, and the minister of transport having the final say.
In January the RTC decided to press ahead with public submissions anyway.

RTC chairperson Peter Ewen said today the final shape of the Government's signalled new transport policy impacting the draft's proposals is still "a $64,000 question".

However the scrapping of mandatory speed reductions from 100kph to 80kph on some State highways was a fair indication.

Ewen said the changed policy landscape is likely to be a hot topic at an upcoming meeting of South Island regional transport sector group next month.

"We've got to see what happens in the next 100 days."

The draft says 1099 people responded to a regional community transport survey from October December 2022, informing the draft plan.

Nearly 90% of the respondents considered the Road to Zero policy aim for speed reductions to be important or very important.

Respondents considered Road to Zero "as the most crucial strategic direction" compared to the options in the survey of zero carbon and emissions reductions, climate change, natural hazard resilience, and economic development.

High priority roads/areas under the proposal:
- Grey District: Blackball and Moana (30), Sumner Road at Gladstone (30).
- Westland: parts of Kumara, Arahura Pa, Hokitika, Ross and Franz Josef all down to 30.
- Buller: Kohaihai Road in Karamea (60), Little Wanganui (40), Gentle Annie (60/30), Powerhouse Road at Fairfield (60), Westport Palmerston Street (30), Omau at Cape Foulwind (60), Nile/Okari near Charleston (40/60).

It also includes speed reductions from 100kph to 20kph on three Department of Conservation controlled roads in Buller.