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Lower speed limits will be introduced on state highways in Canterbury’s Selwyn district within the next few weeks.
The speed limit on State Highway 73 through Sheffield and Kirwee will drop from 70km/h to 50km/h on October 28, while part of SH1 south of Rolleston will go from 100km/h to 80km/h once road works are completed in the area.
The changes follow speed limit reviews across the district which considered public feedback, technical assessments, estimated safety outcomes, travel times and cost.
The lower speed limit on SH73 comes after truck driver Rob McKinley, 66, was struck and killed by a ute while crossing the road on his way to the World Famous Sheffield Pie Shop on April 1 last year.
Shop owner Ben Holmes said the community rallied to support the change.
“It is a really good result, and the community response has been about making the road safer,” he said.
“The extra 20km/h will just mean the world, making our customers safer.”
The proposals went through public consultation fromJanuary 22 to March 6 as part of a group of limit reviews.
Of the 290 submissions NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi received, 75% supported a lower speed limit for Sheffield. The change is expected to increase travel times by about 8 seconds.
Holmes wants to see even more changes, including extra parking across the road from the shop in Sheffield and a pedestrian crossing.
“We will continue to push for those things, and at the end of the day you just want to make people safe.”
Kirwee Community Association chair Stu Begg said it “was about time” the township got a lower speed limit.
"It’s taken a long time, but it is finally happening.”
The increase in residents has made the intersections off State Highway 73 more dangerous, Begg said.
Sixty-eight percent of submissions supported the 50km/h limit.
The lower speed limit through Kirwee is expected to increase travel time by about 3sec.