Ire over cycleway bollards being hit

the NZTA says it is having to replace too many bollards near Queens Garden, as they are often...
The NZTA says it is having to replace too many bollards near Queens Garden, as they are often struck by cars or - as in this case - trucks. PHOTOS: GERARD O'BRIEN

The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) is fed up with motorists who keep hitting bollards on the cycleway near Queens Garden, and says the amount of maintenance work it has to do is causing delays.

Transport agency maintenance contract manager Nick Roger said crews ended up having to block a lane of traffic on Cumberland St to give themselves room to work on the flexible bollards, which held up traffic.

``The cycle lane is for cyclists, not car or truck wheels,'' he said.

``Some replacement bollards in recent weeks have lasted less than an hour before being damaged again.''

It was particularly important to be careful with the construction of new cycle lanes in the area beginning. .

The NZTA said in a statement it cost about $150 to completely replace a bollard.

With 50 bollards in the area fully replaced in the past year, the agency has spent about $7500.

A staff member at the Leviathan Hotel on Cumberland St agreed cars and buses were constantly hitting the bollards.

Generally the drivers just kept going, and he had never seen accidents caused by vehicles running over the bollards.

However, he did collect the 4-5cm steel screws which attached the bollards to the ground whenever he saw them lying on the road, as they could puncture tyres.

Spokes cycling club president Jon Deans said the bollards had been being knocked over for years, and it was of concern because it showed people were cutting into the cycle lane.

He suspected one or two people did this deliberately, rather than it solely being an issue of bad driving.

elena.mcphee@odt.co.nz

 

Comments

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Spend the money on realignment of that section then.
Obviously at 50kph it's hard for a truck n trailer unit to make the turn. It's not a gradual turn either, its straight then instant angle, no flow.
Nzta, just engineer a proper solution instead of whinging about replacements

What do you expect when you clutter up the main roads with all these things, this never used to be a problem as they were not there. These roads were made for motor vehicles to travel on. If these things GS are deployed to protect cyclists I think we need something a little stronger than flexible plastic.

Didn't read all the article haven't been in Dunedin since these were installed but what is this telling you NZTA? come on wake up. It is telling you a number of things 1. You have stolen part of the roads that Car and trucks were accustom to use. 2. it is not safe for cyclists to be using these cycle ways. 3. You have not used tax payers money to the best of your ability you should have picked up that this would have happened, you are the experts. 4. NZTA you wasted tax payers money, a purpose built cycle should be a seprate pathway for walkers and cyclists to enjoy cycling no matter what age they cyclist is. All you have done is create danger for people taking their lives into their own hands. Look at cycle ways in Melbourne, and Gold coast they wind through parks and are mostly away from roads. - What a mess NZTA

Stolen? Weird how people in cars seem to think they own the road.

LOL Nothing but respect for cyclists then and now, being an ex cyclist in 90's riding for several years 13 km each way to work 26 km per day 4 - 5 days a week, plus weekend rides on the North Shore of Auckland, Whenuapia and Auckland City. Most likely more traffic than Dunedin has now, but both cyclists and car users had more respect for each other then. IMO this BS hating of cyclists started when the large groups (10-30 riders) would ride in the mornings block traffic stop off at a cafe in smelly cycling shorts, leave bikes all across the foot path. - Yep 'Stolen' because that is what has happened and because a part of the road has been 'stolen' with more traffic it puts cyclists in danger, if it was done correctly cyclists would be safer. I use the word 'Danger' because a car and truck driver has steel around them where a cyclist doesn't Hope that helps Flatplatypus

Make them out of concrete. That should focus the drivers' attention.

Simple, set up a security camera on the cliff above the carpark and record rego's of cars/trucks which run over it, after determining whether it could have been avoided with more care.
Or, as mentioned, buy part of the carpark and realign that road a little.

The NZTA states that "Our primary function is to promote an affordable, integrated, safe, responsive and sustainable land transport system."

Installing cycle ways on State Highways and any road, be it major or minor, contradicts every one of those functions. Separating cycle lanes from motor vehicle lanes with bollards is bad enough but the placement of concrete obstacles is nothing short of dangerous. Some cycle ways have been made almost as wide as the road allowed for motorised vehicles with concrete obstructions installed on the motorists' side of the road resulting in beautifully wide cycle lanes and unacceptably narrow roads.

Any the above signify an accident waiting to happen - and it will, it's just a matter of time. So when a cyclist strikes a lump of concrete and gets thrown over the front of their bike into the path of a vehicle that happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, who will take responsibility? You can bet your bottom dollar the NZTA won't. If a member of the public placed dangerous obstructions on a roadway, I'd be surprised if they weren't penalised by the law.

The decision makers at the NZTA are dangerous to all road users.

The day bike owners pay $10 per bike Regi and have to get a warrant every 3 months the should be able to use the road . Untill then stop ya moaning about being on the road with real traffic and usr the footpath

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