Whakatāne Crossings

In 2020 the Client sought to improve the conspicuity of pedestrian crossing locations without delaying motor traffic and settled on flush red "courtesy" crossings. 

These have raised concerns, especially amongst the elderly and mobility-impaired community as they do not clearly establish who has right of way and drivers are not slowing down. 

As co-authors of the Pedestrian Network Guidance, ViaStrada was well-placed to summarise best practice for the Client. ViaStrada then assessed the 37 “courtesy” crossing locations to align the treatments with best practice better.

A key innovation is a tool that automatically determines the level of legal and best practice compliance for every crossing point identified in the GIS map system, and then automatically prioritises improvements or investigations. This is supported with a webmap to show the locations, priorities, and assessment data.