New treetop walkway causing ‘nightmare’ for locals

A number of Kaipatiki locals are frustrated by a surge in visitors to their once-quiet streets due to the opening of the new Kauri Glen Reserve boardwalk.

Locals like the 18-meter-high bridge but blame the council for the poor planning around traffic management.

“It’s a nightmare, we can’t get out of our house,” said one resident.

The only way to enter the reserve is through local side streets, causing issues for residents.

Locals on Tui Glen Road are “furious” with the increased traffic on their streets.

The resident, who did not wish to be named, said visitors use their garden as a toilet.

“It's terrible,” she said.

“People are parking across others' driveways and are just genuinely really disrespectful.”

Another resident, Taylor Yumn, said his family now prefer not to go out on the weekend due to the traffic in the street.

Safety concerns for children in the street were another concern, said the first resident.

“It's really unsafe, there are kids. Normally children would be able to play outside in our quiet little cul de sac.

“That's not possible at the moment at all.”

The local board has now asked Auckland Transport to look into the situation.

“We are well aware of the traffic issues,” said John Gillon, Kaipatiki Local Board chair.

The number of visitors to the reserve exceeded expectations and the council are now actively trying to solve the issues that have arisen from the increased traffic.

Gillon has contacted Auckland Transport to try and solve the issues through towing cars and the possibility of yellow lines being painted.

“We want to make sure we can do everything we can for the residents, that's going to take a bit of time.”

But the resident, who is also a nurse, said the council is not doing enough, and should have planned for it.

“A 20-minute delay getting an ambulance down the street, it’s life or death, it's not a matter of let's go to AT to get some yellow lines, what if someone dies because there is a delay in getting emergency services down here it's not safe and it's urgent as of now.”