Otahuhu Town Centre safety improvements Otahuhu Town Centre safety improvements
In partnership with Auckland Council, who is leading the upgrade of Ōtāhuhu Town Centre, Auckland Transport (AT) has changed speed limits under the Speed Limits Bylaw (2019).
Project status: Completed
Project zone: South
Project overview
Auckland Transport (AT) wants to make town centre roads safer for everyone.
Lowering speed limits under the bylaw is also part of AT’s Safe Speeds programme, which was approved by the Board of Auckland Transport in October 2019.
As part of this, Ōtāhuhu Town Centre speed limits have changed to 30km/h. The setting of safe new speed limit changes coincides with the completion of the Ōtāhuhu Town Centre transformation project, which is led by Auckland Council and in 2018, this area was part of the Safe Speeds Accelerate programme.
Key reasons for the speed limit change include:
- High volumes of people walking, especially children and the elderly in this area.
- Reduce speed limits to survivable levels, recognising that many different need users share this space daily.
- Create public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness and well-being.
- The 30 km/h speed limit aligns with high pedestrian activity (town centre) criteria in the Waka Kotahi NZTA Speed Management Guide.
Learn more about speed calming measures and their benefits.
Find out more about why the changes are needed and how we're reducing speed limits.
Project details
Background
Our town centres are becoming increasingly busy as more people walk, cycle or scooter to get around. A safe speed limit in an urban setting like a town centre is internationally recognised at 30km/h.
It is the maximum direct impact speed that the human body can survive without dying or being seriously injured in a crash. If a person walking or cycling is hit at 30km/h, they have a very high chance of walking away from the crash. View the “Death and serious injury percentages” infographic (PNG 312KB).
Keeping this in mind, the AT Board passed the Speed Limits Bylaw 2019 as part of AT’s Safe Speeds programme to set survivable speed limits. This bylaw is also part of AT’s efforts to achieve Vision Zero, that aims to see no deaths on our road network by 2050.
Improvements
AT’s road safety engineers have taken an area-wide approach to set safe speed limits as doing so will have the maximum safety benefits and an improved sense of consistency across Auckland’s road network.
The Ōtāhuhu Town Centre will have new safe speed limits of 30 km/h (down from 50 km/h) on eight roads. This town centre is in the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board area, where approximately 1.6km of road change to 30 km/h under the speed management bylaw.
Please refer to the list of roads that have changed speed limits and the descriptions below:
- Great South Road between 20 metres south of Princes Street and 20 metres north of Park Avenue.
- Hall Avenue between Great South Road and 30 metres west of Great South Road.
- Mason Avenue between Great South Road and 230 metres west of Great South Road.
- Station Road between Great South Road and 250 metres west of Great South Road.
- Gordon Road between Great South Road and 140 metres east of Great South Road.
- King Street between Great South Road and 95 metres east of Great South Road.
- Avenue Road between Great South Road and 20 metres west of Atkinson Avenue.
- Criterion Street between Great South Road and 20 metres west of Atkinson Avenue.
