Walking to school in Māngere Bridge will now be safer for children, thanks to Auckland Transport’s Safer Communities programme.

The Māngere- Ōtāhuhu Local Board area has a high rate of road death and serious injury. 80 per cent of all road deaths and serious injuries occur on 50km/h roads like in Māngere Bridge.

Nearly half of those deaths and serious injuries involve elderly or children walking or scootering to school.

Māngere Bridge is the second community to benefit under the programme after Mt Roskill.

Safety improvements will see wider footpaths - with clearer boundaries between them and surrounding properties.

There will also be raised pedestrian crossings and raised speed tables to encourage safer speeds.

Bryan Sherritt, AT’s executive general manager safety, says the communities under the programme were selected based on the location of schools, facilities such as town centres, and the number of safe crossings already in place.

He says this is an important part of AT’s Vision Zero mandate that aims to reduce road death and serious injury numbers to zero by 2050.

“Māngere Bridge is a busy, village community and this programme will mean that our children can walk around the village and get to and from school safely.”

Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board chair, Lemauga Lydia Sosene, says the board is very supportive of the Safer Communities programme.

“It will ensure our local children can move around our busy town centre safely. This is so important - especially around peak travel times near the schools.”

Māngere Primary School principal, Stephanie Tawha, is looking forward to safer roads around the area.

The first phase of construction has begun in Māngere and is due to be completed by June.

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