The crossing is planned for Deans Avenue in Christchurch. Photo: Google Maps / Screenshot
A proposed pedestrian crossing to get people across a busy Christchurch road and into Hagley Park has become "a bit of a joke", after two community boards voted for different plans at a joint meeting.
The result meant a new $500,000 crossing for Deans Avenue, near Al Noor Mosque, would have speed bumps on a narrowed southbound lane but none on the single lane heading north.
The decision was made at a joint meeting of the Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton and Waipapa Papanui-Innes-Central community boards last Thursday.
Both were involved in the decision making as the Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton board's area covers the west side of Deans Ave, while the Waipapa Papanui-Innes-Central Community Board's area covers the east side of the road.
Waipapa Papanui-Innes-Central community board member Ali Jones, who was seeking a council seat at October's election, called the situation "Monty Python-esque".
She said it was "insane" to have a single piece of road with a decision made for one side, and a different decision for the other.
"A bit of a shemozzle might be the way to describe it," she said.
Jones voted against the crossing because she did not share others' safety concerns, having been told there was one incident between a pedestrian and a vehicle in the last decade.
"That's not great of course, it's terrible but we have to look at things in degrees of reasonableness here," she said.
"You've got to look at what the problem is you're trying to solve, you've got to look at spending $500,000-plus on something and you've just got to apply some common sense.
Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board chairperson Marie Pollisco said there had been discussion at the joint meeting around the need for speed humps to be installed in association with the pedestrian refuge.
The board had approved a pedestrian refuge without a speed hump on the west side of Deans Ave and requested staff review the crossing and associated safety improvements after a year.
Christchurch City Council transport planning and delivery manager Jacob Bradbury confirmed that the crossing would go ahead.
"We are planning to complete the works in conjunction with planned maintenance works along Deans Avenue in April," he said in a statement.
"The resolutions also included a provision for the northbound lane to be reviewed by the board after the crossing has been in operation, with budget being held to install the northbound hump until after this review."
'A bit of a joke'
Riccarton Bush-Kilmarnock Residents' Association chairperson Tony Simons, who was also running for council, said no-one disputed a safe crossing was needed, but having two boards make different decisions on the same stretch of road was "dumb".
He said council staff advised there should be speed bumps on both sides, or none at all.
Simons said the Waipapa Papanui-Innes-Central Community Board voted to accept the recommendation in full - having pre-empted bi-partisan agreement - before leaving the meeting.
The Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board later voted for another option that included the same build-outs but without the speed humps on its side of the road.
"It's great that residents will be getting a safer crossing but sometimes local government is a bit of a joke," he wrote on social media.
Pedestrian safety improvements
In 2022, the Waipuna Halswell-Hornby Riccarton and Waimāero Fendalton-Waimairi-Harewood Community Boards jointly approved a number of projects, including a package of pedestrian improvements such as build-outs and refuge islands.
The boards requested that the council build a pedestrian crossing linking the mosque and Hagley Park as a priority.
Staff recommended installing a staggered pedestrian crossing in the central median island and kerb build-outs to minimise the crossing distance, with speed humps on both approaches to slow vehicles down.
According to NZTA data, there were six crashes in the five-year period between 2019 and 2023 in the area on Deans Ave. No-one was injured in four of the crashes and two people suffered minor injuries in the others.
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