The NZ Transport Agency is starting work to improve safety on State Highway 11 in the Bay of Islands. The improvements are part of the NZTA’s Safe System approach, which recognises that while mistakes are inevitable, deaths and serious injuries are not.
This methodology looks across the entire road system to improve safety – including making roads and roadsides safer and encouraging safer speeds and vehicles.
The $1.3 million safety improvements project, starting in June, will involve installing wire rope side barriers, seal widening and profiled line markings (rumble strips) from the Haruru Airfield to the Lily Pond Bridge.
NZTA Northland regional director, Ernst Zollner, says the safety improvements will make the route safer by reducing the risk of death and serious injury.
“Drivers are losing control and running off the road is the most common type of crash on this stretch of road and roadside hazards such as trees, and steep drop-offs mean that these crashes often result in serious injuries,” says Zollner.
“Side barriers provide protection to drivers and limit the severity of run-off-road crashes when they do happen,” he says.
NZTA is expecting work will finish in September 2016 with the road remaining open throughout the work. Traffic management will be in place and drivers may experience minor delays at times.
