2492 days ago

Changes to State Highway 2 at Belmont

Simon from Belmont

Anyone else narked by the NZ Transport Agency's plans for SH2 between the Pomare/Wairere Rds intersection and Belmont lights (advert on pg 44 of yesterday's Hutt News)? From May 19, the intention is to close off to all traffic except cyclists the inside lane northbound into Belmont, except for a 40m stretch for vehicles entering SH2 from Pomare/Wairere, and 80m before the turnoff into Grounsell Cres at the Belmont lights.
The two main SH2 lanes at this point are already clogged with traffic in the evening rush hour. Now the many hundreds of drivers who intend turning off at Belmont, and those who use the Belmont lights/Grounsell to turn back south, will have to queue with SH2 through traffic, and add to the general congestion. The given reason is because some drivers queue jump heading north by taking the Grounsell on and off-ramps.
Hot on the heels of dropping the bombshell news that a Melling interchange is off the books until at least 2028, never mind all the congestion that's coming our way with Transmission Gully and SH58 with the Petone-Grenada route kicked to touch, NZTA seems to want to add to the northbound congestion in the afternoons and evenings. So we're all held to ransom by a few rat-runners who abuse the Grounsell Cres turn-offs, who are described as posing a safety risk. Yet when another daft idea was proposed more than a year ago to close off Grounsell's northern highway off ramp (thankfully dropped), investigations showed Grounsell actually had quite a reasonable safety record.
I'd like to know what others think?

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More messages from your neighbours
8 hours ago

πŸŽ‰ Riddle me this, legends! πŸŽ‰

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9 days ago

Some Choice News!

Kia pai from Sharing the Good Stuff

DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.

Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.

For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.

Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature β€” and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?

We hope this brings a smile!

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2 days ago

Poll: If we want to reduce speeding, what do you think actually changes driver behaviour? πŸ›»πŸš¨πŸš“

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

In the Post's article on speeding penalties, the question is asked whether speeding fines are truly about road safety, or are they just a way to boost revenue for the Crown?

What do you think? Should speeding motorists receive speeding fines or demerit points?

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If we want to reduce speeding, what do you think actually changes driver behaviour? πŸ›»πŸš¨πŸš“
  • 37.6% The sting of a fine (Money talks!)
    37.6% Complete
  • 62.4% The threat of demerit points (Nobody wants to lose their license!)
    62.4% Complete
519 votes