A figure of eight shaped roundabout is being suggested for drivers turning into Matangi Rd from Morrinsville Rd – State Highway 26.
Hamilton City Council has presented an elongated roundabout which would include both the Matangi intersection and the Silverdale one a short distance away.
How the Morrinsville Rd roundabout might look
The road is used by 13,000 vehicles a day. The $11 million project would be funded by Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency.
Motorists wanting to turn into Matangi Rd would drive up to Silverdale Rd, veer right around the eastern edge of the roundabout, then head back in the direction of Matangi Rd.
Matangi Rd resident Cate Prestidge says it would add a few seconds to her journey, but she would no longer have to be mindful of traffic approaching her at 80kph.
She believed drivers would adapt to the layout quickly.
She recalled a neighbour who was killed at the intersection when cycling about 10 years ago and said she had always been wary of it.
Traffic heading to Hillcrest and keeping within the speed limit of 80kph will still see as “blasting” down the road from the perspective of drivers trying to turn right.
The new layout would also make it easier for traffic turning right out of Silverdale Road, she believed.
She said she and husband Warren King, a regular cyclist, would be keen to hear more about what the new roundabout meant for cyclists.
Hamilton City Council has planned community two drop-in sessions to discuss the plans and a shared path connecting the roundabout to the Morrinsville Road overbridge at the Waikato Expressway.
The sessions at Berkley Normal Middle School will be held next Tuesday and on March 15.
A safer intersection and range of improvements are on their way for road users in Hamilton’s south-east on Morrinsville Rd.
