Hamilton’s most talked about roundabout in years, christened the peanutabout, is open – and that’s good news for many readers.
It was plain sailing, if you’ll excuse the expression, at the peanutabout on Monday after 4pm.
State Highway 26 – Morrinsville Road – was closed at the intersections of Matangi and Silverdale roads in mid-February to enable a $6.4 million peanut shaped roundabout to be constructed.
Residents in Matangi Road in particular had their main route into the city blocked and school drop off times for many parents ballooned as they negotiated through peak hour morning traffic.
For Wintec’s Cate Prestidge a 10-minute journey became a 25 minute one and to avoid commuter traffic making it even longer, she left home earlier, at 7am.
“I’m very happy – I left for work at 7.45am this morning and got to work at 8am,” she told The News on Monday. And of the return trip at 5.30 traffic flow was “pretty seamless going around”.
It was plain sailing, if you’ll excuse the expression, at the peanutabout on Monday after 4pm.
But she warned the roundabout should be treated with respect.
“It’s quite tight and perhaps that’s deliberate, but people must moderate their speed on the peanutabout,” she said.
The new look road comes with reduced speed limits – down from 80 to 50 and 60kmh.
That’s also been welcomed – though Prestidge suggested it could have been done a long time ago to reduce safety issues on the road. Part two of the Morrinsville Rd project, taking the cost to $11 million will involve new cycleways, streetlights and upgrades to pedestrian crossings.
Hamilton City Council said it had completed stage one early and under budget – and the complete closure of the road had enabled that part of the job to be finished six months quicker.
Matangi Rd cyclists Amanda Burney and Warren Kin were impressed.
Burney said biking to work was the “new normal” and footpaths and cycle paths were “heaps better”.
King said it looks nice and new and “even after a few days it feels like the best kind of normal already”.
It was plain sailing, if you’ll excuse the expression, at the peanutabout on Monday after 4pm.
