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Central City Schools Cluster Permanent Road Safety Improvements

Dunedin City Council —

As you’re aware, the Dunedin City Council has been trialling a range of measures to improve road safety in the central city schools cluster made up of Otago Boys' High School, Arthur Street School, Kavanagh College, Otago Girls' High School and St Joseph's Cathedral School.

This followed the identification in 2017 and 2018 of several key issues following consultation with schools. These included difficulties faced by pedestrians when crossing various roads and intersections, problems with parking near schools and high speeds on some streets.

Last year we introduced a range of traffic changes to improve safety by providing four consistent measures to be used on the roads around these central city schools.

Feedback from the schools and community about the trial and monitoring and assessment by the DCC show the measures have slowed vehicle speeds, improved safety for pedestrians at road crossings and reduced parking problems.

Work beginning on 8 July includes:

1. Gateway thresholds

The marked entry points have been effective at letting drivers know they’re entering a school zone and have encouraged motorists to reduce speeds and have provided crossing points.

We’ll be replacing signs at entry points to the central city schools’ area with electronic signs to indicate to drivers they’re entering the schools cluster. Posts at entry points will be replaced with kerb buildouts.

2. Crossing points

The trial crossing points have been effective in reducing traffic speed and improving pedestrian accessibility and safety.

Painted crossing points will be replaced with permanent crossings, surrounded by kerb buildouts and landscaping. More crossings will be installed in Arthur Street, some crossings will be raised, and some will have pedestrian refuge islands in the centre.

3. Parking

As parking was raised during consultation as a major issue, we’ll be changing the layout of parking in parts of Cargill Street, York Place and Tennyson Street from parallel to angle parking to create more car parks to offset any loss due to gateways or crossing points.

4. Speed management

We’ll be reducing traffic speeds by introducing part time 40km speed zones. Electronic signs will be installed around schools to help enforce the 40km speed limit during school pick-up and drop-off times.

To get an idea of the look of the new permanent crossings, you can visit the roundabout intersections of Brown Street and Elm Row and Brown and Duncan Streets. They are the first crossings in your area to have been improved using the new crossing design, incorporating kerb build-outs and pedestrian refuge islands. Parking has been changed from parallel to angle in parts of Elm Row and Duncan St.

We aim to keep disruption to a minimum during construction work and will keep you informed about progress on this project. The project is expected to take seven months to complete at a cost of $1.5 million.

You can find more information about this project at www.dunedin.govt.nz/central-city-schools-cluster. Please contact me on 03 477 4000 or susil.gunathilake@dcc.govt.nz if you have any questions.