A new traffic-light controlled pedestrian crossing in Taranaki is being described as a monument to a failed funding model.
The new crossing on State Highway 3 in Inglewood. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Inglewood residents have campaigned for more than 20 years for the crossing on State Highway 3, which has been installed just metres away from where a seven-year-old schoolgirl was killed.
Inglewood Primary pupil Emma Warren died after colliding with a truck at the corner of State Highway 3 and Rata Street while riding her bike home from school in 2017.
The memory was still raw for Principal Karen Patterson who was at the crossing's official opening.
"This is a momentous occasion. I'm a little bit teary actually, but that's okay it's about keeping these people safe."
She said the controlled crossing would help give her peace of mind.
"You know every day in the morning and the afternoon before school and after school we all hold our breath - well I do particularly - and just every time that fire siren goes up between eight and eight-thirty you think, okay is that Rata Street, is that Miro Street at one of our crossings and equally here at the end of the day?"
Members of the Pukerangiora hapu bless the new pedestrian crossing Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Otis Fruen's five children have to cross the State Highway - which doubles as Inglewood's main road - to get to school.
The crossing was great news for him.
"Oh it means I don't have to take them to school every day. It means I don't have to drive them down the road.
"Since it's been up the kids have at least been able to ride their bikes to school or walk and walk home.
"Before that because it's a busy road, you know, I had to drop them off. I wouldn't let them cross the road by themselves. The obvious thing is their safety really."
The young ones were loving it.
"It's cool, fun. We can cross over ourselves now."
Inglewood Primary principal Karen Patterson with the Fruen family Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Inglewood High School principal Rosie Mabin said it was not only the primary school children that needed the crossing.
"Nowadays with young people with their heads in phones they're not always actually looking on either side and thinking about the world around them, so sometimes crossing the road is not all that safe when you think a teenager is old enough to do it."
Inglewood councillor Marie Pearce - who had championed the crossing installation - said children had been taking huge risks to cross the road.
"About 20,000 vehicles go through here a day and 1100 of those are heavy haulage and the children would stand there for several minutes and then they'd run in front of the traffic because they were impatient, couldn't wait any longer and we had so many near misses with children trying to cross this road."
But Mayor Neil Holdom was not happy about having to contribute to the cost of the crossing.
"Well it's fantastic to see it in so that our kids can get across a state highway safely, but the reality is it's a monument to a broken funding system.
"Waka Kotahi it's there road, but we had to fund it. They refused to fund it because they don't actually have enough money to do their job."
Holdom said Waka Kotahi was reliant on fuel taxes and road user charges to finance projects when it should be able to debt fund infrastructure projects as councils were expected to do.
New Plymouth councillor Marie Pearce says the community has campaigned for a crossing for more than 20 years. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Waka Kotahi Director regional relationships Linda Stewart said a funding bid for the crossing was rejected because other projects were deemed a higher priority.
She said the council then decided to go ahead with the project itself using local road funding which attracts 51 percent contribution from the transport agency.
"Waka Kotahi provided the expertise and the funding to do the safety investigation and all of the design work and then made a contribution that the council had to match towards the construction of the crossing."
The crossing cost $570,000 in total to construct.
At the Local Government New Zealand AGM in Palmerston North next month members will be voting on a remit calling upon the Government to start an independent review of the funding and financing of the national transport infrastructure.
Stewart said Waka Kotahi's funding model was already currently under review.
