Rimu Road improvements set to start

The Kāpiti Coast District Council has rethought the timing and costings for improvements to Rimu Road, which means the scope for upcoming works has changed.

Group Manager Infrastructure Services Sean Mallon says original plans to install a pedestrian crossing with traffic signals between Coastlands and Iver Trask Place have been put on hold for now.

“Over the past few weeks, we’ve been reviewing timeframes, costings and priorities for some of our town centre and related projects.

“The east/west connector road project (to build a through road from Ihakara St heading west) has been moved out several years as a result of changing traffic patterns and funding priorities. This means that now isn’t the right time to install the new traffic lights and pedestrian crossings we had planned at the Rimu Road intersection outside Council buildings.

“Instead we’ll focus our available resources on improving the existing pedestrian crossing and landscaping,” says Mr Mallon. “The traffic lights will be revisited at a later date.”

The revised improvements will be carried out at the intersection of Rimu Road and Iver Trask Place over the coming months.

Site preparations start late next week with work beginning the week of Monday 5 March, and should be completed by the end of June (subject to good weather).

“On the corner of Rimu Road, Iver Trask and Kapiti Primary School we’ll be paving, landscaping and planting. We’ll also create a bay for buses to pull in and collect passengers, so traffic can flow more smoothly,” says Mr Mallon.

On the eastern side of Rimu Road outside Tākiri House and the Coastlands car park, work will include:

• making safety improvements to the existing pedestrian crossing

• improving the access between the footpath and shops

• creating a rain garden

• installing a bike repair stand

• providing more seating.

“As part of the improvements works we’ll install ducting on both sides of Rimu Road so we don’t have to dig up the road again when we decide to install traffic lights later at the Rimu Road/Iver Trask Place intersection. Ducting work will be carried out at night.”

“There’ll be some minor disruptions during the work. A small number of council car parks at the entrance to Iver Trask Place may be temporarily removed and put back when work’s finished. There will also be road shoulder closures and some footpath closures. People who use this area regularly should keep an eye out for signage and take care around the work site.”

These improvements aim to establish Rimu Road as the main street of Paraparaumu and are part of the Council’s plans to revitalise the Paraparaumu town centre, to make it more vibrant, and the primary focus in our District for retail, commercial, cultural and civic activity.

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