Mapua Wharf closed to cars

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The Mapua Wharf precinct will be closed to vehicles from October this year after an independent health and safety report concluded that was the only way to ensure the safety of pedestrians in the area.

A report to the Tasman District Council says the Mapua Wharf and Waterfront Park Reserve are becoming increasingly popular, placing pressure on the facilities and creating conflict between pedestrians and vehicles. That conflict is likely to worsen when the Shed 4 development opens in October, prompting council to consider a review of the Traffic Control By-Laws that regulate parking and traffic movements in the precinct.

The by-law presently allows the closure of the precinct to traffic from December 20 to February 7 each year and every Sunday when the numbers of visitors are usually highest. But the independent health and safety report says that’s inadequate and states that “separating vehicles and pedestrians by restricting vehicular access is the only feasible option to mitigate risks”.
Commercial manager Gene Cooper says council has been concerned about the safety of pedestrians in the Mapua Wharf Precinct for a number of years and he is optimistic that the review will be well received.

“There are 800 to 1000 people going through there on a busy day and you only need to sit there and observe things for a while to see there’s a safety issue. It’s the three and four-year-olds that we are worried about – they only need to run off from their parents and not see a ute backing up and we’ll have a tragedy.”

However, Gene says council plans to permit access for emergency vehicles at all times and delivery vehicles in restricted hours. It also plans to create about 100 car parks immediately outside the precinct to compensate for the loss of parking and also cater for the new businesses opening in Shed 4 and future growth.

Council has been using Mapua’s remediated land for overflow parking but it plans to sell that land later this year. The immediate parking issues at the Mapua Wharf area will be resolved by bringing forward funding for Mapua car parking improvements scheduled for 2018-2019 to pay for the new parks.

Gene says there are now also temporary parking restrictions in place in the Mapua Wharf Precinct after construction of the Shed 4 development started on Wednesday.