From next month, vehicles will not be allowed to stop on this section of Ngaumutawa Rd down from ITM. PHOTO/KAREN COLTMAN
KAREN COLTMAN
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To ease congestion, from next month it will be illegal for vehicles to stop on Ngaumutawa Rd outside Tumu ITM down to Edwin Feist Place.
Masterton District Council is responsible for road safety on this stretch of road and made the decision to help drivers turning left out of Ngaumutawa Rd onto State Highway 2 without navigating around parked cars.
Staff surveyed the stretch of road during peak times and assessed that instigating a no-stopping rule would help keep traffic flowing.
Solway Primary School principal Mark Bridges has been lobbying for a roundabout to go in at the SH2-Ngaumutawa Rd intersection for a couple of years.
He had previously highlighted that during peak times, trucks and cars backed up from the intersection right back to the railway crossing.
He said this latest decision “made sense”.
Shareholder and manager of Tumu ITM Corrie James said the new no-stopping rule would not negatively affect his business or his customers coming into the store.
He said this initiative was part of the overall need to improve safety and the flow of traffic in the area.
“We are having discussions with government roading agencies about options at the intersection and I am pleased with their engagement so far,” James said.
“There are options like keeping the High St speed limit coming south from Masterton at 50kmh rather than it increasing to 70kmh before the Waingawa River bridge as it does now,” he said.
James said road transport agencies were starting to treat the highway right down to Carterton as a corridor and reducing the speed down to 80kmh right back to Carterton was on the table.
Another idea being discussed was to install a speed bump north of the intersection.
No decisions have been made because consultation is under way.
In July, the New Zealand Transport Agency announced the plan to build a roundabout at SH2-Ngaumutawa Rd intersection and its design is now under way.
