Damage at Shakespeare St roundabout
Updated Saturday 20 July – 11.50pm
*Reports suggest the truck and trailer unit carrying the house came from the Low Level Bridge and turned right into Cook Street without going around the roundabout. The News will attempt to clarify this.
July 19 5pm
A house removal company’s truck and trailer unit was captured on CCTV cameras driving over the verge and onto newly-laid soil and grass at the Shakespeare Street roundabout in Cambridge this week.
The corner of Cook and Shakespeare streets where a house removal company’s truck and trailer unit drove over the verge damaging newly laid soil and grass.
Waipā Service Delivery group manager Dawn Inglis said the council had been in touch with Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency’s oversize permitting office to get details about the company so the council could recover its costs.
Dawn Inglis
The truck and trailer entered the roundabout from *Cook Street and drove over the verge on the corner of Shakespeare Street – outside Liquorland – making a huge gouge in the soil.
The News was alerted to the damage on Wednesday by readers who suggested the roundabout’s new design was the problem, but Inglis rejected that.
“We are confident the design is appropriate for the types of traffic using the roundabout and this has been subject to external audit.”
A vehicle also mounted a concrete verge on the opposite side of the road causing damage to more soil and grass.
“As such, we believe that if drivers are mounting the grass verge that this is either to avoid a collision or is intentional behaviour,” she said.
“In the meantime, our contractor will repair the damage.”
It only took a matter of weeks before newly-laid soil and grass was damaged on the corner of Alpha and Victoria streets.
Elsewhere in Cambridge, other vehicles have also damaged an area on the corner of Alpha and Victoria streets opposite the Town Clock.
The grassed area is at the bottom of the Victoria Square steps and vehicles have for years cut the corner by driving over the verge and onto the grass.
While the Town Clock was undergoing renovation, parks’ staff topsoiled the corner and laid new grass. Within weeks, vehicles were once again cutting the corner.
Inglis said the council had no plans to put battens or bollards on the corner to prevent vehicles mounting the verge.
“We will be putting more grass seed down, but with the winter weather, grass growth will be slow and patchy.”
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Below are examples of heavy traffic using the Shakespeare St roundabout.
Truck and trailer approaches roundabout
Truck and trailer enters roundabout
Truck and trailer gets around the roundabout
Truck and trailer unit comfortably gets around the verge, around the roundabout and into Shakespeare Street from Cook Street. 
A horse float about to enter the roundabout without mounting the concrete verge.
