MEDIA RELEASE

9 February 2017 | BAY OF PLENTY

Have your say on SH33 Te Ngae to Paengaroa safety improvements

The community is being invited to have its say and learn more about potential safety improvements on State Highway 33 from Te Ngae, on the outskirts of Rotorua, to Paengaroa.

The open days, on February 11 and 16, are an opportunity for the public to find out about what could be put in place and say what they think is needed to make the road safer.

Safety measures being considered include widening the centre line, installing side safety barriers, adding rumble strips and providing ways to make overtaking safer.

The open day on February 11 is at the Pikiao Rugby League Clubrooms, in Takinga St, Mourea, from 11am – 3pm and theFebruary 16 open day is at 4 Old Coach Rd, Paengaroa, from 3pm – 7pm. The community can also provide feedback online between now and the end of the month.

Sixteen people died and 46 have been seriously injured in the 10 years to June 2016 on this 36km stretch of the highway, which is classified as a high-risk rural road.

“These crashes affect ordinary Kiwis, whose lives have been torn apart,” the NZ Transport Agency’s Waikato Highways Manager Niclas Johansson says. “Most of these crashes were caused by head-on collisions or by drivers losing control and hitting trees, poles or deep ditches. Most of these crashes were preventable.”

He says 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.

“We encourage local people and anyone that uses this section of SH33 to come along to the open days and talk to our team so that together we can come up with the best safety solutions.”

Construction is expected to begin in around a year.

The Government’s Safer Roads and Roadsides programme is series of safety projects being delivered over six years to reduce deaths and serious injuries to people on high-risk rural highways across the country.

You can read more about what we use to make roads safer here: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/safety/our-vision-vision-of-a-safe-road-system/safe-roads/#safer-roads

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