Te Uho o te Nikau Primary School board chair Karen Gibson has urged the Howick Local Board to commit more money to safeguard pupils walking to school across a narrow bridge.
The board has already committed $1 million from its Transport Capital Fund to a project yet to be developed for the Flat Bush School Road bridge.
Current discussions with Auckland Transport revolve around a temporary structure to alleviate the problem in the short-term and a longer-term bridge solution. Auckland Transport also has a fund available for road safety improvement projects that the board wants to utilise.
Board members have ring-fenced $1 million to improve safety near the school. Chair David Collings says Auckland Transport will soon release details of a fund it will have available for road safety improvement projects.
"We have talked about a variety of projects to help Te Uho o Te Nikau and earmarked $1 million of our Transport Capital Fund for the project, but we also want to fully investigate using Auckland Transport’s Regional Safety Fund."
Ms Gibson urged the board to encourage others to act as quickly as possible. "We believe the bridge does not meet the criteria for the AT fund because it costs more than $1 million."
She acknowledged the board had shown real will to find a solution but said it could do more and should fully fund a bridge from its own Transport Capital Fund.
The board is in discussions with Auckland Transport to resolve access to its fund, and to investigate how to proceed at Te Uho o Te Nikau. It has asked for detailed design for both a long-term vehicle/pedestrian bridge and a temporary pedestrian bridge.
