Cones in Hamilton Road
Peter Carr
If all the orange road cones in this country were placed end to end, they would stretch from Cambridge to Timbuktu. Yes….I made that up, but you get my drift, writes Peter Carr.
The plethora of cones cluttering up and restricting the road to Hamilton, near to the new retirement village, have been there so long they are almost drawing a pension. One can only wonder if the Waipā District Council is paying the contractors an hourly rate rather than an all-in price for the job(s). I use the plural for, in a relatively short stretch of road, there are numerous – sometimes linked – projects under way.
New layout on Bryce Street, new roundabout at the velodrome end of the stretch. New cycleway on the south side throughout. New entrance to the burgeoning retirement village and further new entrance(s) to the large housing/school development on fine agricultural soil. Oh, yes, and two new housing developments on the south side on either side of the Te Awa village. All requiring appropriate access and egress in due course.
Now I guess there are two schools of thought here if you are the district council. Should they attack it piecemeal and then permit the traffic restricting carnage to go on for ever? Or just lump everything into one pot and hopefully shorten the period of driver frustration? I do not envy their roading department their choice of decision but some sensible – and regular – update in the local paper (that you are currently reading) would be useful and helpful. One does not need an ombudsman to highlight council secrecy as is currently apparent, but this is public roading serving the public as they go about their rightful free passage.
And those of you who egress Cambridge on the south side towards Te Awamutu had better stand by for your share of frustration. For at long last (and well overdue) the currently extremely dangerous linkage with Kaipaki Road is allegedly going to be serviced with a roundabout – coincidental with the rising from more good land – of a further subdivision.
In an exchange with a council roading manager about three years ago I pleaded for a mirror to be placed at the Kaipaki Road intersection to permit safer egress onto the Te Awamutu Road. I was told that one day there would be a roundabout and anyway, he personally, did not like the use of mirrors. Since when did local body officer’s personal preferences surmount safety issues?
So, to put a cat among the pigeons, is it time for Cambridge to divest itself from Waipā and become a city in its own right using the 20,000 residents’ rule? Should the remainder of Waipā merge with the much smaller Ōtorohanga to create economies of scale?
Now before I am showered with abuse from readers (and possibly the council) please remember this is just an opinion piece aimed at creative thinking among our readers. I understand those longer standing Cambridge residents – sad that the ‘village’ atmosphere is declining in favour of urban sprawl – will fight tooth and nail to remain within Waipā. It was a name that was thrust onto the area by Sir Brian Elwood when he was frustrated by the parochial nature of the 1989 Cambridge and Te Awamutu (then) borough leaders. Somewhat gleefully, named the district after possibly the dirtiest looking river in the North Island.
And before readers explain that the costly bureaucracy that may arise from this seemingly crazy idea, it is relatively easy to purchase services from other councils.
