The changes were introduced last year. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
- St John and Fire and Emergency say Palmerston North road changes have affected response times
- Cyclists feel safer on separated routes
- School loses money due to loss of car parks.
Ambulances and fire trucks say they are taking longer to respond to callouts since a controversial new road layout was introduced on a busy Palmerston North street.
But there is support for the changes made to a 900-metre section of Featherston Street, with a drop in the number of crashes.
The changes - introduced last year - include creating a cycleway away from traffic next to the footpath, reducing car parks and moving others close to traffic, and creating bus stops in the traffic lanes.
There has been vocal opposition, including at well-attended public meetings last year and from businesses along the route, but also staunch support from those who say roads are not just for cars.
In a report to a city council committee meeting this week, emergency services are among those who have shared their views about the route.
The council committee is reviewing the changes a year after councillors voted for them to stay. The work cost $2 million and was 90 percent funded by the NZ Transport Agency.
In a letter to the city council, Hato Hone St John area operations manager Gareth Collings said the street was historically used as an important cross-city route, but was now avoided.
"Due to the changes to the road layout and the inability for cars to move over sufficiently to allow ambulances past when travelling under lights and siren, Featherston Street is no longer a viable option as a key response route."
Using other routes led to an increase in response times, he said.
"This is difficult to quantify, but the general consensus is that response times have increase by some minutes.
"This can have an extremely negative effect when responding to a cardiac arrest."
Fire and Emergency group manager for the district Gary Ward said the layout changes meant fire trucks could be delayed, especially at peak times.
The "lane separators" keeping traffic from the cycleway were designed for fire trucks to straddle, but that would involve queued traffic moving to the centre of the road, which was counter intuitive.
Police Inspector Ashley Gurney said officers knew local traffic conditions so used other roads to travel across the city.
Fire and Emergency says the layout changes mean fire trucks could be delayed, especially at peak times. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
There are two schools on the route, including Palmerston North Boys' High School.
Deputy rector Gerard Atkin said the loss of car parks outside its grounds meant it could not at times hire out its function centre, the Speirs Centre.
"We estimate that this will cost us approximately $14,000 per annum in lost income, which will affect the budget for arts activities across the school."
Sport Manawatū, however, said the cycle lanes were positive, as school pupils had a safer and more inviting route.
Others who bike the road said they felt safer since the new layout was introduced.
Karen Tutt said she biked to work along the route every day, although she said driver inattention still meant riding was risky, no matter the infrastructure in place.
"The changes on Featherston Street are a step, albeit a small one, towards a smarter, more sustainable transport system."
James Irwin, from Streets Ahead Palmerston North - which advocates for active transport - said the changes were positive.
"It feels safer when cycling in the protected cycleway. It feels safer when crossing the road over either pedestrian crossing."
Information from council officers shows fewer vehicles use the route, traffic was slower, and there are more cyclists and pedestrians.
At the sites where counts took place, 88-142 cyclists a day were recorded, compared with 81-118 in November.
The council officers' report said in-lane bus stops had a "less than minor" effect on traffic flow.
Between July and February three crashes were recorded. One was serious, involving a young person crossing the road.
From 2019-2024 92 crashes were reported on the stretch of road.
The council said spending in the area was down about 1.4 percent in the six months since the previous report.
No further monitoring of the route is budgeted for.
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