Orewa Town Centre safety improvements Orewa Town Centre safety improvements
Auckland Transport (AT) in partnership with Hibiscus and Bays Local Board want to make changes to Orewa Town Centre to improve safety and accessibility for all road users.
- Read about the project details.
- Read about the public feedback.
- Read about the Orewa Boulevard improvements.
Project status: Construction - completed mid-November 2020. New speed limits came into effect on 30 November 2020.
Project zone: Central
Project overview
We will be making improvements to roads around Orewa Town Centre in order to improve safety and accessibility for all road users, especially vulnerable road users. Vulnerable road users include children, senior citizens, people on motorbikes, people walking and cycling.
The changes will make it safer to walk, bike, or scooter around Orewa Town Centre.
80% of all road deaths and serious injuries occur on 50km/h local urban roads. Nearly half of those deaths and injuries involve vulnerable road users. We are committed to making the roads safer for all road users and these changes will help achieve this.
We have worked closely with Hibiscus and Bays Local Board and Destination Orewa Beach to look at these initiatives in partnership with the local community.
The project is partly funded by the regional fuel tax.
Project details
The improvements include:
- Three new raised pedestrian crossings – located on Florence Avenue, Moana Avenue, Tamariki Avenue.
- One new zebra crossing on Tamariki Avenue.
- One new pram crossing with kerb build outs on George Lowe Place.
- New speed bumps on Moana Avenue, Tamariki Avenue, and Moenui Avenue.
- New ‘gateway treatments’ on entrance to the town centre which consists of side islands and painted ‘30’ markings on six roads. This encourages people to slow down on entrance to the town centre.
- Removal of three car parking spaces at the Centreway Road intersection to enable these changes and adding five carparks on Hibiscus Coast Highway in front of McDonalds (net gain of two spaces).
During construction there will be some road closures and detours for people to follow while we carry out this important work. These road closures are being done so we can complete the work as safely and quickly as possible. We recognise that roads closing can be an inconvenience for some people, and we apologise for this.
Throughout the project, we encourage you to keep an eye on this webpage as all our updates will be posted here.
Auckland Transport believes town centres should be destinations rather than thoroughfares. We also believe that road areas in and around town centres should be made so that all road users are confident of using them. By slowing down vehicle speeds in high pedestrian areas like Orewa Town Centre, everyone should feel safe while moving around.
We are also aware that during the summer months, the population of Orewa swells significantly as people come from all over the region to enjoy the holiday hotspot. We want to make sure everyone who visits, whether they be young or old, feel comfortable around the roads. The changes we will be making will help do this.
The improvements will also help compliment safer speed limits which are scheduled to come in effect on 30 November 2020. These safety improvements will make the road feel more natural to drive 30km/h on. They will also give more confidence to other road users to move around the town centre without the fear of being killed or seriously injured on the roads.
Download the indicative drawings of the safety improvements (PDF 1MB)
Learn more about speed calming measures and their benefits.
Safer speeds
There will be safer speed limits implemented on some roads in the Orewa Town Centre from 30 November 2020.
These speed limit changes were consulted on as part of the Speed Limits Bylaw 2019. Auckland Transport is a Vision Zero region and has a goal of zero deaths and serious injuries on the region’s roads by 2050. Safer speeds are the most efficient and cost-effective way to do this.
Speed limits will be reduced to 30km/h on the roads included in the Speed Limits Bylaw 2019.
For a full list of the roads changing from 50km/h to 30km/h from 30 November 2020, please check the table below.
| Street | Description |
| Alice Avenue | Between Florence Avenue and 15m north of Florence Avenue. |
| Bakehouse Lane | Full length. |
| Cammish Lane | Full length. |
| Empire Road | Between Hibiscus Coast Highway and 40m west of Hibiscus Coast Highway. |
| Florence Avenue | Between Centreway Road Hibiscus Coast Highway. |
| George Lowe Place | Full length. |
| Hibiscus Coast Highway | Between 35m north of Marine View and 40m south of Empire Road. |
| Keith Morris Lane | Full length. |
| Marine View | Full length. |
| Moana Avenue | Full length. |
| Moenui Avenue | Full length. |
| Riverside Road | Between Hibiscus Coast Highway and 60m west of Hibiscus Coast Highway. |
| Tamariki Avenue | Full length. |
| Tenzing Lane | Full length. |
Timeframe
Construction of the changes will take place from late September to mid-November 2020.
These improvements are part of AT's commitment to reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads by 60% over the next 10 years.
The safer speed limits will come into effect from 30 November 2020.
Find out more about why these changes are needed and how we're reducing speed limits.
Public consultation
Before consulting publicly on the proposal, we ran three community liaison group sessions with local stakeholders to co-design the safety measures in partnership.
The local stakeholders included the local board and business association (Destination Orewa Beach), who support the proposal.
We then publicly consulted from 25 May to 22 June 2020 and received 179 responses related to the safety improvements.
To let people know about the consultation we:
- Mailed 4669 letters with free post feedback forms to property owners and occupiers in the area.
- Emailed information to other key interest groups.
- Set up a project webpage and an online feedback form on our website.
- Shared a media release on the proposal.
- Posted about the proposal on our social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Neighbourly.
The top feedback themes were:
- 50 people were supportive of the proposal.
- 42 people thought there were too many speed bumps.
- 21 people thought the need for the changes needs to be considered, particularly due to COVID-19.
- 16 people like improved safety.
- 14 people like improvements for pedestrians.
- 14 people want Orewa Town Centre to be a lower speed zone.
- 14 people would like to see Centreway Road encouraged as a bypass route through Orewa.
Read the public feedback report (PDF 1.1MB)