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Auckland Transport is removing a troublesome speed bump in Avondale after complaints that it was causing vibrations to nearby homes.

Seven of the raised speed tables were built on and around Avondale’s Ash St, a major bypass road for traffic to and from West Auckland, costing ratepayers $2.2 million in 2023.

Marlene Person, 84, has lived in her home in a lane backing onto Ash St for about 20 years. She earlier told the Herald that vehicles going over one of the raised speed tables on the road shook the whole house and she could no longer sit outside because of the noise.

Person said a neighbour who had since moved away informed her that Auckland Transport (AT) was planning to move a speed bump, which at the time she found hard to believe.

Marlene Person’s home shakes and has cracks from vibrations from a raised speed table at the back of her property. Photo / Michael Craig

Today, the regional transport authority confirmed it was removing one of the speed bumps on Ash St.

The speed table over the westbound lanes near the intersection of Wairau Ave will go “later this month”, AT said.

AT’s transport designs and standards manager Chris Beasley said: “The cost [of the removal] will be minimal, as we are simply taking an extra bit of asphalt away.”

He said it will be removed as part of road maintenance and will coincide with resurfacing.

“The resurfacing costs will also be minimal as a result. When AT resurfaces roads, the top layer of asphalt is removed anyway, and the speed table will be removed as this is happening.”

A speed table on Ash St, Avondale, will be removed. Photo / Michael Craig

Beasley said AT did vibration monitoring near the speed table in May and June last year after people complained.

“The project team [was] receiving complaints that the newly completed works were causing excessive vibrations in a nearby property.”

AT’s monitoring revealed the vibrations were uncomfortable and a nuisance for people living in homes on the street.

The results of the tests were analysed “using the Norwegian, British and German international standards”, Beasley said.

“The analysis yielded results that exceeded the thresholds for human comfort and nuisance but were below the level that would cause damage to buildings,” he said.

“As a result, it has been decided to remove the westbound speed table crossing on Ash St, near the intersection with Wairau Ave.”

In January last year, AT demolished a new crossing on Hayr Rd in Three Kings installed a year earlier and designed to have a life of 40 years. It was replaced with a standard crossing.

Another on South Lynn Rd in Titirangi – whose tremors after every bus passed over it were described as “water torture” – has also been ripped up.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.