Nelson’s last four schools without variable speed limits will have them implemented during the school holidays.
The Government’s rule for setting speed limits requires local roads outside of schools to have 30km/h temporary speeds in place during the start and end of the school day.
Auckland Point, Clifton Terrace, and Birchwood Schools, along with Nelson Christian Academy, currently don’t have the variable speed limits in place.
But new variable limits around these schools are expected to take effect from Monday July 14 – the first day back for Term 3.
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“The overall goal for this project is to improve road safety through adjusting the speed limits outside schools and ensuring a safer environment for all road and pedestrian users,” said Alec Louverdis, Nelson City Council’s group manager infrastructure.
Auckland Point School principal Sonya Hockley said the variable speed limits, which will be implemented on both sides of the arterial Haven Road and on Māori Road, have been a “long time coming”.
“We’re really excited, because it’s something that we wanted, and it will make a difference.”
The school’s campus was “busy”, being home to a primary school, young parents’ school, and a kindergarten.
“The concern of parents is always the speed of the traffic that flows past our school, and the volumes of it, particularly at the beginning and end of day,” Hockley said.
“We don’t all come at the same time and we don’t all leave at the same time, so having variable speed for 45 minutes at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day will make life a little safer for everyone.”
Clifton Terrace School principal Rob Wemyss said the variable speed limits around his school would be a “positive thing”.
“Around schools, we should be keeping our speed to a minimum anyway, so it’s a good reminder to people.”
However, the main speed limit that had been weighing on Wemyss’s mind was the 60km/h on State Highway 6/Atawhai Drive through Marybank.
The New Zealand Transport Agency had been consulting on raising most of the 1.8km stretch, which lies just two dozen metres from the school, to 80km/h but on Friday the agency announced the road would be remaining at its lower limit.
“To raise the speed limit as they were going to would be just a recipe for disaster. But now, we’ve actually got some common sense being applied. It’s not going to be the detriment of children and their safety by having lower speed limits, so it’s a great thing,” Wemyss said.
“The people’s voice has been listened to, and I’m thrilled.”
Camilla Brotherton, principal of Birchwood School, said the variable speeds were a “good thing”, but didn’t think they would have much of an impact on the school during start or finish times.
“We’re quite a congested space in Stoke, and we’re away from the main road [at] Birchwood, so we don’t have significant issues.”
Nelson Christian Academy principal Jenny Laidlaw couldn’t be reached for comment in time for publication.
Marsden Valley Road, outside the school, will get a variable speed limit.
Ppeedbumps were installed outside the school in late 2023 after some drivers reached speeds of 115km/h on the road.
Nelson’s other schools, which have 40km’h variable speed limits, will transition to 30km/h in the future though the timing is yet to be confirmed.
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