Paines Ford, State Highway 60

Considering safer speed limits

Too many people are being seriously injured in crashes on State Highway 60 between Upper Takaka and Takaka.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has been looking at introducing safer speed limits in places to make this road safer.

To help us fully understand the issues on the road, we asked locals to give us their views about speeds and speed limits, and any other issues for us to be aware of.

In October and November last year we delivered flyers to homes, organisations and businesses throughout Golden Bay, held a public drop-in session in Takaka, and invited people to give feedback online or over the phone.

What we heard

We had many useful conversations, and received more than 700 pieces of feedback. That feedback raised many different issues, and covered a broad range of opinions.

The main themes were:

Paines Ford

Many people told us that speeds felt too fast through this area and they would like to see the speed limit permanently reduced.

Safe access on and off the road

There were many comments about not being able to park safely around Paines Ford, while people also drew attention to other intersections around the area.

Vulnerable people

People are concerned about the safety of children and older residents using and crossing the highway in Takaka. They told us vehicles are travelling at high speed when coming into the village and that some drivers are not considering vulnerable people.

People also had concerns about walking and cycling along the highway.

Dangerous driving

Many people commented on dangerous driving by other drivers, such as driving at high speeds, dangerous overtaking and not driving to the conditions.

Road conditions, signage and other improvements

Other comments we received were about signage, road surface and conditions, and the one-way bridges.

You can read the full engagement summary here.

Next steps

We’ve read all the feedback and considered these insights along with our technical analysis of what is safe on the road.

Based on this we are preparing to come back to the community in the near future to formally consult on proposed safer speed limits.

The formal consultation will cover off what the proposed safer speed limits are and give people the opportunity to let us know if there are any other factors we should consider when making our decision.

We will be in touch in the coming weeks to advise when the formal consultation period will be underway, and to let you know how to make a formal submission.

You can read more about the speed review process here. 

More information

For more information on the SH60 Upper Takaka to Takaka speed review, visit our website www.nzta.govt.nz/sh60-upper-takaka-to-takaka