Redoubt Road Safety Improvements

Redoubt Road was once a semi-rural road where people happily rode horses and it was safe for children to cross. Today Redoubt Road is a congested corridor to someplace else. The road has barely changed while the surrounding suburbs have sprawled around the historic redoubt. NZTA have improved connections to the motorway, but Auckland Transport has barely been involved.

AT sorely needs to get involved to provide a safe place for children to cross. Redoubt Road is home to many families with children and the two major bus stops service a school bus route and 3 public bus routes. Everyday I see children running across 4 lanes of traffic to get from one side to the other. The only safe place to cross is 350 metres down the road, and many children take the risk to get home earlier.

I chose to wait at the bus stop to drive my son the rest of the way home so he wouldn't need to take the risk. Each day I waited, I saw too many near misses as impatient drivers also tried to get home faster. I wrote to Auckland Transport and begged them to install traffic signals or a pedestrian crossing. They recognised that there was a need, but refused to allocate funding. It is a disgrace that Redoubt Road has been left for 20 years while this problem keeps growing.

Now Auckland Transport wants to turn Redoubt Road into a 3-lane highway with dynamic lanes.

https://at.govt.nz/projects-roadworks/dynamic-lanes/redoubt-road-dynamic-lanes/

What this will mean for motorists is that the direction of traffic will change between the morning and afternoon traffic peaks. This is similar to what happens on the Auckland Harbour Bridge or Pakuranga Road Bridge. What this means for pedestrians is that there will be no pedestrian refuge in the middle of the road, and the direction of traffic will change from morning to night. The chance of a fatal incident has just been increased.