Dunedin Schools Cluster – a precinct approach to safety

Dunedin City Council commissioned ViaStrada to develop an area-wide approach to addressing road safety and parking issues around five central city schools. By considering the whole study area as one precinct (the “Central Schools Cluster”), a series of consistent treatments can be used to reinforce to all users entering the area (especially motorists) that they need to look out for other users (especially school pupils) and behave appropriately. Glen Koorey and Hjarne Poulsen (Dunedin CC) presented the findings and implementation to date at the 2018 Trafinz Conference in Wellington.

ViaStrada assessed current travel patterns, safety data, and spatial information collected from school children and principals. After a joint schools workshop and further consultation with bus service operators, NZ Police, and parking enforcement officers, a short list of options was identified. Potential treatments were grouped into four area-wide strategies that incorporate various components:

• Crossing points: addressing pedestrian accessibility and safety
• Gateway thresholds: for area visibility, crossing aids, and speed management
• Parking streets: relocating and concentrating parking supply
• Speed management: area-wide part-time or permanent lower speed zone

An implementation strategy presented three possible levels of treatment for each component. Each level has different cost, timing and road safety effectiveness characteristics. This enabled some low-cost “quick win” treatments to be implemented immediately, with longer-term projects identified that require more significant expenditure and redesign to make to road environment safer for all road users.

This presentation, by Glen and Hjarne, summarised the approach taken to identify the key issues and progress to date on the proposed treatments. Many of the consultation and implementation methods used in this project could also be applied to other towns.

You can view the presentation here (with further information about this project here).