I recently attended the Waitemata Local Board meeting, hoping to have some questions answered by Pippa Coom regarding the new traffic island due to be built shortly blocking one lane (when a painted “island” would have clearly sufficed) by Auckland Transport on the Northern (bridge) side of the Curran Street, Sarsfield Road intersection.
The existing two lanes will now try to compress back into one lane, AND prevent easy access for traffic turning into that section of Curran Street, from both the western and eastern exits from Sarsfield Street in order to access either Westhaven or the Harbour Bridge.
Traffic already banks up to the top of Curran Street and into Jervois Road in both directions when bridge congestion and on-ramp lights prevent easy access to the bridge at peak times, which now starts about 3.30pm. Auckland Transport are actively making this situation worse for local residents and ratepayers, wasting enormous sums of money and Ms Coom has failed to take any notice of this issues.
By the way, the “street calming” measures in Sarsfield Street/ Curran Street cost (so far) $2,800,000.
During these Covid times, I would strongly argue that this work is irrelevant, unnecessary and unacceptably expensive to ratepayers who have now just been hit with a totally unjustified 3.5% average rates increase.
Ms Coom did not attend the Waitemata Local Board meeting as she was supposedly “busy on other council business”.
My question to Ms Pippa Coom, is: What “council business” could possibly be more important to her and to the local ratepayers, than the Local Board meeting for Waitemata – the very ward that elected her?
Roger Hawkins, Ponsonby