After weeks of uncertainty for Marybank residents about a speed limit increase through their suburb, the New Zealand Transport Agency has confirmed that the community will be consulted.
A 1.8km section of State Highway 6/Queen Elizabeth II Drive that encompasses the suburb of Marybank was mandated by the Government to rise back to 80km/h after it lowered to 60km/h at the end of 2020.
But on Monday afternoon, NZTA’s director regional relationships for Greater Wellington and the Top of the South, Emma Speight, outlined how residents will be able to have their say on the controversial change in a meeting of the region’s transport committee.
“We have been reviewing the feedback we’ve received across the country,” she said.
“We will be undertaking a speed review for the Marybank-Atawhai section that is currently an auto-reversal, and for the Wakefield section that is currently an auto-reversal.”
Consultation on the two sections, which will begin once the consultation on the possible speed limit increases on State Highway 6 between Nelson and Blenheim closes on 13 March, will run for 6 weeks, and will conclude prior to 1 July – when the speed limits were meant to be automatically reversed.
That process is likely to circumvent the need to increase the speed to 80km/h before lowering it back down to 60km/h should the community feedback be decisively in favour of retaining the slower speeds.
The Government’s policy to automatically raise the speed limits on some state highways across the country had sparked backlash in Nelson where there was strong community opposition to any increases past Marybank.
The pushback prompted Transport Minister Chris Bishop to ask NZTA to engage with the community on the issue.
However, a lack of flexibility within the Government rule for setting speed limits, and statements from NZTA described by local advocates as “very vague”, had left the community scratching its head as to how consultation would occur.
Parents for Active Transport Atawhai members Femke Meinderts and Emily Osborne presented at the beginning of the committee meeting urging action ahead of the slated speed limit increase.
Speaking after the meeting, Meinderts said the commitment to consult was “great”, however she still had frustrations about the process.
“It looks like it’s a win,” she said. “But it sounds like they have to go through the full process, which will cost thousands and thousands of dollars.”
They would rather NZTA reclassify that section of state highway from an urban connector to peri-urban, which would negate the need to consult under the requirements of the Government rule.
“It’s still a pain in the arse that we actually have to do it,” Osborne added.
“It’d be great if they could just say, ‘No, sorry. This has been a bit of a mistake’.”
Nelson’s Labour MP Rachel Boyack was of a similar mind.
“I’m pleased that there will be a consultation … but I do think this has been a farcical process,” she said.
“What a waste of time and money to go through a consultation phase to keep the speed limit at the same limit it is now.”
She said the Government should have amended its “blunt” rule to avoid the situation and save the community’s concerns
Nelson City Council’s Atawhai liaison councillor, James Hodgson, said the initial indication that the speed limit would increase “did catch a lot of people off guard” but applauded the community’s advocacy to get Marybank’s speed limit back “on the right track”.
The region’s joint transport committee agreed to support retaining the 60km/h speed through Marybank, and also signalled its “comfort” with keeping the 60km/h limit on the 800-metre stretch of State Highway 6/Whitby Road outside of Wakefield that was slated to return to 70km/h.
Nelson Mayor Nick Smith said it was “the right thing” for the committee to submit on the speed limits given the public interest.
However, he expressed concern about the politicisation of speed limits and was joined by the rest of the committee in requesting a more “analytical approach” to setting speed limits that balanced safety and economic impacts.
As for consultation on the speed limits on State Highway 6 between Nelson and Blenheim, the committee will submit in favour of retaining the 60km/h through the windy Whangamoa Saddle, and of retaining the 80km/h limit between Marybank and Hira.
However, the committee also wanted NZTA to consider reinstating 100km/h speeds on the longer straight sections of road on the Marlborough side of the highway, subject to the committee’s sought-after analysis.
Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air