Pilot Bay is set to have four pedestrian crossings with the fourth to be sited on The Mall next to the boat ramp carpark entrance.

Councillors yesterday approved the fourth pedestrian crossing after postponing from April to consider the best location in the busy corner where foot traffic from the boardwalk will combine with Mauao base walkers and pedestrians along Adams Avenue.

Four crossings will be installed on Pilot Bay.

TCC transportation manager Martin Parkes was quizzed by councillors about whether the crossing will interfere with vehicle access onto private property, how far the concrete kerb will intrude on traffic lanes, how many car parks will be lost, and why it couldn't be put on the corner with Adams Avenue.

'We did look at the whole area,” says Martin.

'This one site is simply the best, it's the site where we lose the fewest car parks, plus it doesn't affect driveways so much as other sites.”

Other crossings are to be on the Leinster Avenue side of Commons Avenue, between Grace and Pacific Avenues, and at Prince Avenue.

NZ Transport Agency will pay for half of the cost of the crossings, as they are being introduced due to road safety issues during summer, says Martin.

When compared with Marine Parade, which has similar traffic levels and the same speed limit of 30km/h at the western end, The Mall has more traffic accidents.

In the last three years three children have been injured in traffic accidents in Pilot Bay, two of them seriously.

On Marine Parade there are 11 pedestrian crossings between Adams Avenue and Banks Avenue, and there have been no accidents in the last three years.