Six months after applying rumble strips along 30 regional state highways, the NZ Transport Agency has removed 8.6km of the strips because of safety concerns raised by cyclists and a local authority.
System manager Graeme Hall said in a press release yesterday most of the strips being removed were on State Highway 6 between Hawea and Albert Town, around Kingston, and at the northern approach to Garston, in Southland.
"Overall, less than 1% (i.e. 8.6km) of the edgeline rumble strip that was installed earlier this year on southern highways is being removed,'' he said.
The removal is the result of the agency "accepting suggested changes made by local cycling groups and the Waitaki District Council''.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said yesterday he and Crs Craig Dawson and Bill Kingan met agency officials in June to express the council's and Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail operators' concerns about the rumble strips along State Highway 83, used by cycle trail riders.
In May, while the strips were being put in place, the Otago Daily Times reported Upper Clutha cycle groups were concerned the strips left too little room for cyclists on the edge of the seal, forcing them out into the traffic.
It also reported the agencydisregarded its own guidelines which required the strips to be 1m or more from the edge of the seal or, where that was not possible because the road was too narrow, "hard against the edge'' of the seal.
NZTA did not consult local cycling groups, relying on four "independent cycling advisers''.
A media release from the agency yesterday did not say how much it cost to remove the strips.
