Furious residents ask why notorious Auckland road hasn't had upgrade in more than a decade

Monday, 12 March 2018

Residents of the East Coast Bays have waited for more than a decade for Glenvar Rd to be upgraded.

More than 250 people attended a public meeting to demand immediate action from Auckland Transport on the poor state of a notorious North Shore road, referred to locally as a 'goat track'.

The East Coast Bays residents filled the hall of Long Bay Baptist Church on March 8 to question officials on why long-awaited improvements to Long Bay's dangerous Glenvar Rd had not occurred.

Members of the community said they had been waiting for more than a decade to see realignment at a dangerous intersection and upgrades on the road occur and were sick of seeing it fall by the wayside and bumped down the priority list.

It's pretty tough to turn into Glenvar Rd.

Every day, cyclists, motorists and pedestrians took their lives into their own hands to use the stretch of road, which intersects with East Coast Rd, an arterial route, residents told the meeting.

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More than 250 residents attended a public meeting regarding Glenvar Rd on March 8 to ask officials why work on the 'goat track' had not begun after more than a decade of waiting.

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It's pretty tough to turn out of Glenvar Rd.

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Caroline Knox and Faye Christian will be taking submission forms asking Auckland Transport for action on upgrades to Glenvar Rd around to their neighbours to sign.

Residents struggled daily to get in and out of the road, which sees cars reduce speed from 80kmh to 50kmh just before the intersection.

'Why don't we get councillors to walk that road and they can see how dangerous it is?' Phil Costello, a resident of Glenvar Rd, asked.

Glenvar Road, East Coast Road intersection.

Residents of the East Coast Bays say they are tired of seeing Glenvar Rd's realignment and upgrades fall by the wayside.

Cynthia Gillespie, Auckland Transport's chief strategy officer told residents to continue to be a 'squeaky wheel' on a lack of improvements to Glenvar Rd.

Auckland Transport chief strategy officer Cynthia Gillespie and East Coast Bays MP Erica Stanford listen to questions from the community during the public meeting on Glenvar Rd.

Auckland Transport's Cynthia Gillespie, East Coast Bays MP Erica Stanford and Hibiscus and Bays Local Board chairwoman Julia Parfitt are working together to get action on Glenvar Rd.

Albany Ward councillor Wayne Walker, who attended the meeting, told Stuff he did not feel safe when using Glenvar Rd.

'It's a really dangerous intersection, there is a lack of time if you're turning right in or out. It's also a really hazardous road to walk on, as you can barely call them footpaths. It's not a safe road.'

Glenvar Rd had been left out of the draft Regional Land Transport Plan and was not on a list of 300 worst intersections in Auckland.

It was, however, one of the three key priorities for the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board.

'It's something that should have happened over seven years ago. It's something that was needed then, but is needed even more now ,' board chairwoman Julia Parfitt said.

Todd Property, which had been working in partnership with AT to build Glenvar Ridge Rd as part of its Long Bay Development, said in a statement they had repeatedly asked AT to prioritise Glenvar Rd's upgrade, in order to rectify serious safety and capacity issues.

East Coast Bays MP Erica Stanford was gathering submissions to take to AT and the Capital Review Committee in April and had so far collected 750 submissions.

AT's chief strategy officer, Cynthia Gillespie, said she could not guarantee anything would come out of the submission process, but encouraged the community to continue to raise its voice.

'The squeaky wheel does get the oil.'