Education heads outdoors page 4
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Real Estate pages 23-31
July 18, 2022
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November 28, 2018
Hill Street back on planning merry-go-round Brace yourselves, motorists of Mahurangi – the redesign of the Hill Street intersection is back on the drawing board. After decades of debate, designs, redesigns, delays and even a delegation to Wellington, transport advocates believed a plan was finally in place to deliver the much-needed improvements when the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway opened. However, Roger Williams and Dave Stott told a Warkworth Area Liaison Group
meeting on July 6 that Auckland Transport had come up with a new ‘value engineering’ design to cut costs. They said that if it were to go ahead, the new option would not solve any of Hill Street’s long-standing congestion and safety issues, and would be a “total waste of time and money”. “Roads around the two intersections will be reduced to one lane (rather than two), slip lanes have been removed, Kowhai Park will
off the drawing board . . . m SaweII DESIGNER GrahaARCHITECTURAL
exit onto the roundabout instead of onto the existing State Highway 1, and there is no provision anymore for a cycleway/ pedestrian path on Sandspit Road,” they said. “For all the disruption that it will entail, it won’t be worth doing at all. There will be a lot of pain for no gain.” Stott went on to say that if AT could not be persuaded, then it would be time for all community groups in the area to put
pressure on AT’s chief executive and board of directors. Williams and Stott said they learned of the value engineering design during an online meeting with AT representatives earlier this month. They say the option continues to underestimate traffic volumes through the intersection after the link road and continued on page 2
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