26 Jul 2017

Safety improvements are planned for QEII Drive from Innes Rd to Burwood Rd.

This section of State Highway 74 is classified as a high risk rural road as one person has died and 13 have been seriously injured along there in the past 10 years.

Traffic on State Highway 74.

Work is planned to improve the safety of motorists travelling on State Highway 74 between Marshlands and Burwood.

To improve safety the NZ Transport Agency is proposing to install median barriers to keep traffic apart and reduce the risk of head-on crashes.

It also proposing to install flexible road safety barriers on both sides of the road to stop drivers running off the road and to protect pedestrians and cyclists using the shared pathway.

“We appreciate this road is only going to get busier with new residential developments and schools opening in the area. The proposed safety improvements will reduce the risk of crashes, make the stretch of road safer for people who travel on it, and will provide a more forgiving environment for motorists who make mistakes when they are driving,’’ says the Transport Agency’s Transport System Manager Pete Connors.

“A project information sheet is being delivered this month to about 16,000 homes. It outlines what we are planning to do and invites feedback until the end of August. All going to plan, work will be underway early 2018,’’ Mr Connors says.

The work on State Highway 74 is part of a nationwide $600 million Safe Road and Roadsides programme the Transport Agency is delivering on behalf of the Government.

The goal of the programme is to make safer many rural routes on the highway network over the next six years. It aims to prevent deaths and serious injury crashes through relatively simple measures such as rumble strips, road shoulder widening, safety barriers, better signage and speed limit changes.