So, like, picture this: two cars meet at the one-lane traffic calming measures on Birchwood Lane. It’s like a scene straight out of a reality TV show, but it’s actually happening in the outskirts of Hamilton, in this fancy suburb where the residents are all up in arms over the road’s speed limit. Not really sure why this matters, but last Tuesday the residents of Birchwood Lane in Tamahere came home from school and work to find a “new road layout” that was announced by a Waikato District councillor on Facebook earlier that day.
What’s the deal with these traffic calming measures, you ask? Well, apparently they’re like design changes that slow traffic down to make roads safer. On a short stretch of this mostly straight 50km/h road, four chicanes had been thrown up, making the road one lane at each point. The drama unfolded real quick, with neighbors getting into a full-on war of words on a residents’ Facebook page. One annoyed mom even went as far as saying, “Very unpleasant drive to the school and back. So many cars waiting, wondering who should give way. Good traffic flow totally broken.”
By Saturday, someone had the guts to remove one of the structures anonymously and just left it on the side of the road. Like, who does that? The day before, this dude named Peter Mayall emailed the council, copying in dozens of residents, saying the chicanes had made the road dangerous. He was all, “They were put in without obviously consulting the community to address a problem which probably in my mind doesn’t exist.” Seems like everyone’s got an opinion on this whole situation, right?
Some residents think the speed limit is too low on a road that used to be an 80km/h cul-de-sac. They’re suggesting bumping it up to 60km/h. Others are just straight-up surprised by the chicanes and feel like the council should have consulted the whole community. Seems like there’s a lot of back and forth, with one resident even calling the removal of a chicane “bullying.” This Lauren McLean lady is all about supporting traffic calming measures but thinks the council dropped the ball on giving residents enough warning.
But hey, the council’s saying Birchwood Lane is like a “rat-run” for commuters trying to avoid traffic at the Tamahere on and off-ramps to the Waikato Expressway. Apparently, some cars are even zooming past at over 100km/h. Like, talk about living life in the fast lane, right? The general manager of service delivery, Megan May, is all about doing a trial to slow down the traffic, with a budget of $50,000. Let’s see how this all plays out, shall we?
In the meantime, there’s gonna be a “drop-in” session for members of the public in Tamahere on 3 June. So, like, mark your calendars or whatever. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like this whole situation could’ve been handled a bit better. But hey, what do I know? I’m just a fresh-faced journalist trying to make sense of the chaos on Birchwood Lane.