Night works to improve pedestrian safety at the Barrington shopping centre entrance have started and will include removing the right turn out of the complex on to Barrington St.
Along with addressing the right turn, there will also be a new kerb and footpath, a marked pedestrian zone across the mall entrance and a yellow line extension which will remove on-street car parks.
Residents and the Spreydon-Cashmere Community Board have called for the right turn to be banned for the past 10 years but were met with many delays.
In the past two years alone the upgrades have been delayed twice. Construction was meant to finish by May 2019 but the completion date was moved to 2020.
Last year, however, the project was pushed back once again to early this year due to final touches being made to the mall’s resource consent, which took longer than anticipated.
The community wanted to see work done sooner rather than later as the problematic entrance put both motorists making the right turn and pedestrians in danger.
The boundary separating traffic and pedestrian access were not made clear, putting pedestrians at risk of being hit by a car.
Board chairwoman Karolin Potter said earlier this month said the works were identified as one of its priorities in the coming months and said she was looking forward to seeing them implemented.
The board’s 2020-2022 plan outlined it would advocate to have the work completed “as a matter of urgency.”
For the next four weeks, contractors will work mostly at night, with some day works to be expected.
The right turn has already been permanently closed, traffic will be detoured to other entrances and lane shifts will be put in place.
Construction is expected to be completed by late March.
