Crunch, clank and thwack. Those sounds might be familiar to any motorist who has had to navigate the new raised crossing at the entrance to Dunbar St.
In about half an hour this week, the Otago Daily Times saw at least five motorists scrape the bottom of vehicles.
The crossing is part of the Dunedin City Council's $57,000 safety improvements installed in Dunbar St, beside the Dunedin Courthouse.
Two more speed humps, of different design, have been installed down the street.
Council transportation team leader Hjarne Poulsen said the council had received some comments, which was usual with new traffic-calming measures.
The raised crossing was steep but could be traversed without scraping if it was taken at the recommended speed, Mr Poulsen said.
Two signs on the street adjacent to the other humps say 25kmh.
The area would continue to be monitored but the council was comfortable the design had improved safety for drivers and pedestrians, as was intended, he said.
Pedestrian use of the street was expected to increase with the reopening of the courthouse and the speed humps encouraged drivers to slow down.
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Can quite clearly see cars scraping when going slower than 25kmh. So who do we charge for the damage to our cars, council, the planners?. Utter madness.
I often read articles in the ODT and laugh from a far, Dunedin was my birth city, I'd always visit the town throughout my career in Auckland between 1988 and 2010. I even moved back to the town in 2015 for 18 months because I still have a connection and fond memories of Dunedin and thought I'd love to live in my birth town that I grew up in until 17 years old. The difference I now understand is I've grown up, progressed and developed, seen how other places operate, Dunedin in a lot of cases has not grown, not progressed and in cases gone backwards. The DCC who I'd consider the caretakers of Dunedin from Cull downwards and previous mayors and council have not done there jobs and looked after the town. Looking at this another error by the DCC where the people of Dunedin are to blame and the problem is not the DCC's department , the Swift pictured is not even lowered. If you ever wanted to know what not to do as a Council the DCC would be a awesome benchmark of what not to do. This could help other councils learn and Dunedin could make extra coin from this, as well as leaning themselves of what not to do.
Blind teddy can see the design flaw in the speed hump. The hump is about normal height, but it has a gutter added to the approach side. This results in the overall height being too large.
Mind you, the arrogance once again displayed by council says its all down to someone else. Just another failed road design by a bunch on incompetents which will be dug up and rebuilt at rate payer expense.
They supposedly got rid of the "designers" responsible for the South Dunedin bike mess. Maybe some more need to go. Start at the top this time.
Again KeithMcC bang on the money, the DCC must think people are stupid and fools - shame on them
I also would say KeithMcC is bang on the problem. Coming from a construction back ground I would suggest the lower approach (due to the water channel) is the cause of the trouble and easy to foresee.
No, no. They don't think at all
It makes me wonder how the DCC can be so consistently useless at everything they try to do. It isn't just the roading engineering work, but also the top level decisions, like the decision to remove the railway crossing at the Chinese Garden, the decision that we need cycle lanes everywhere, the badly designed sea-wall at St Clair, the degradation of the city's sewerage and stormwater system, the plan to ban cars from most of the CBD, the decision to destroy the One Way System and approximately every other decision made in recent years by our DCC councillors CEO and managers.
Like Rtn2Dun i too am a Dunedin expat. I am still a keen supporter of Dunedin, and in different personal circumstances, would probably live there. i fly the Highlander flag, much to the chagrin of my Crusader neighbour.
I recently had a Dunedin visitor and among the topics we discussed was the new hospital. I was surprised to hear him oppose the new building. which is planned and budgeted for. "Nothing the matter with the present one," he said.
I couldn't believe that any local would oppose such a new modern facility, paid for by all taxpayers, not just Dunediners. If this is the mentality of Dunedin citizens, i worry for the citys future.
Great more ratepayer money wasted.